A good sheepdog, anyone in the business will tell you, can cost up to €20,000.
A quick calculation - and allowing that not all dogs are equal - suggests there was well over €2 million worth of sheepdog in Co Offaly yesterday.
Over 30,000 dog lovers came to the beautiful Charleville estate on the outskirts of Tullamore, Co Offaly, over the past four days to take part in the World Sheep Dog trials which have been staged here for the first time in Ireland and the second time ever.
It was a brave achievement which drew the top dogs from 21 nations, 241 sheepdogs and 191 handlers who competed for world honours.
Yesterday, when the midland mists had blown away, the remaining 16 competitors and their dogs had a difficult task competing in the hottest day of the year - hard on man and beast.
Dogs and handlers did a series of tests, collecting two batches of sheep from two different areas almost a half a mile away from the grandstand.
Then, the dog had to drive them through a series of gaps, divide them into two groups and pen them. Thirsty work, indeed.
All this was going on under the watchful eye of Offaly ministers Brian Cowen, Minister for Finance, and Tom Parlon, Minister of State at the Department of Finance.
Mr Parlon - known unkindly in civil service circles as "The Minister for the Gulags" - would have scored heavily yesterday had he been able to lure some civil servants to Tullamore, which looked delightful in the sun.
There were also events other than the dog trials. Wexford, they say, is the slipped disc capital of Ireland because of its fascination with tug-o-war and there were four teams from there yesterday sweating more than any of the competitors at the football finals.
At the sheep dog trials, Ireland's best score was in the team event with a bronze medal. The highest placed Irishman in the individual dog trials was William Goligher, with his dog Moss.
But the world's top dog was English, York, which with its owner, Gordon Watt, took the gold medal, a trophy and a cheque for €4,500. Nigel Watkins of Wales won silver and the bronze went to Serge van der Zweep of the Netherlands.