Took the poopies to the vet today for their second set of shots, lots of folks do their own but ever since Lindy got Parvo after I did shots myself  I now always just go to the clinic for their shots.

While I was there with the babies someone asked me about how much I charged for puppies and when I told them they said “wow you must make a lot of money”.  When I tried to explain that breeding and raising puppies correctly has costs but I could tell they were no longer listening but looking at 3 puppies $800 puppies and thinking “WOW” $2400 sitting in my lap.  I could see the $$$ signs forming above their head and I quickly jumped in with a but……………  The last time I was at the vet I spent $900 and when they asked why I was able to complete my comments about the cost of breeding a litter correctly.

I told them about the money it took to show and finish my girl’s Championship, I told them about the cost of the pre breeding health tests (hips, eyes etc) and about the stud fee plus you have to prepare for vet bills during the birth.  I broke it down  for them a bit: 

$800 Stud Fee  +  $900 in vet bills (Xrays and whelping assistance) = $1700

To date $250 for vet fees, microchips and registration fees etc:  =$1950

 I had a litter of 4 puppies and I’m keeping one since the whole reason I breed is to make better puppies not more puppies.  This gives me 3 to “sell”  for my puppy price of $800 each so we are now at $2400 – $1950 = $450 profit.  But as they say on TV, “wait there is more”.  I had expenses for the whelping, lots of laundry and of course the care and feeding of these puppies so maybe I’ll get close to breaking even this time and not lose money.

Of course if I did it for the money I wouldn’t be doing it this way and I would not be able to offer the guarantees and support I offer my puppy people.  So I really think the next time someone asked me about how much my puppies cost, unless they are wanting a Solstice puppy I just think I’ll evade the question.

I’m know there are breeders, good breeders, who do make money on their litters, I just haven’t been lucky that way yet and someday I’ll have a nice easy litter that comes with very little expense and it will help make up some of the losses from previous litters.  I am looking forward to that day.  It will be nice when the dogs can pay some of their own expenses. I also know good breeders who charge more and charge less and it works for them.  But the morale of the story is good breeders spend money to insure they are improving the breed and giving puppies the best start they possible can and when things go right they make money but that isn’t the reason they breed.   If someone is looking to make extra money, breeding dogs should not be on the list of high profit endeavors.

I wasn’t sure I was going to post this to the blog, we dog breeders don’t like to talk about money (unless we are moaning about how much we spend) most of us really don’t want to know how much our beloveds cost.   I thought what the heck if it will shed some light on our practices and make it known why well bred puppies cost more than the ones for sale in the local parking lot or on the craigs I might be doing a good thing.

Comments and questions are always welcome.