Dog Breeding

Alright.

 

Ok, Peachybaby, if you want to breed (and I'm not saying you should) this is how you do it. Start with Champions. Those that have been at the top of their breed. Cost, very, very expensive. Make sure you can go back at least 5 generations to make sure they have no issues. You will need vet certificates to verify that any animal you have is free of hip dysplasia etc. That doesn't 100% guarantee no problems but it helps. ie, rottis tend to get bone cancer. More money. Then there is the feeding, top quality food. Training. Any good breeder treats the parents as pets not as live stock. Then all the vet bills to make sure mom is fine during the pregnancy. Then the vet bills for the pups to vaccinate and verify that they are not going to have problems. More money. Then you need to interview the prospective owners. A couple of times. And do home checks. You need to have contracts made up that they will return the dog to you if there are problems. Be prepared to get dogs returned because the new owner just couldn't be bothered with training. Also that the pups, if not being shown should be fixed.


But before you do all that, spend some time volunteering at the nearest shelter for at least 6 months. You may change your mind.

 

BTW I also agree that we have a human overpopulation problem but of course that will never change as long as people believe they have the right to reproduce, whether they can care for their children or not. Also, the Catholic church needs to look at what is more moral, ruining the earth with overpopulation or birth control.

 

I have volunteered at two pet shelters in my life, one being the Winnipeg Humane Society and the second being Darcy's Arc, which i volunteered almost a year.

 

Ok, how about a different point of view. I agree that there are many unwanted dogs in the world, and it would be great to have a home shelter because the SPCA is over crowded, however, you have to get zoning permits, have proper pens, and get a license which is expensive. And you have to pay for all the food and vet bills yourself which too is expensive..I used to breed german shepards, I had two very high end shepards, I still have my breeding bitch but she's 11 now so she spends her day playing and swimming in our pond. We had nothing but good expierences with it. My vet whos a very close family friend helped us threw the pregnancy, she was there for the births where we had 6 beautiful puppies, 5 males, 1 female. We kept one of the males, his name is thor, the others we sold for $800 a piece, so yes we made some money.

However, the people who bought the dogs from us had to sign a contract stateing at any time if they ever chose not to care for the dogs anymore to return them to us free of charge, and that they had to notify us of any address change so we knew where our puppies were, and that if at any point we heard or saw or thought that any of our puppies were being mistreated we were allowed to remove them. One of our puppies now works for the courts at night, protecting everyone.


Now before I get any shit about how we dont need more dogs etc. .. I know, I work at the OSPCA in dog rehab, I see the dogs that no one wants and I brought one home last week to be my new companion, but I dont think that everyone should try and discourage someone from doing something that she wants, I think it's more important to inform her of both sides so she can make a educated choice for herself.


Any questions peachybabe please feel free to PM me.

 

So you only had one litter of puppies?

 

We had one litter yeah, my mum who owned the breeding bitch found it very hard to part with them so she decided not to breed anymore, then shorty after our breeding male was posioned by our next door neighbors and died.

 

What do you want to know? You get to dogs and put them together, then the female has pups, when they are old enough go to homes of proberly people you know for the first litter, the people then relise they cant have a puppy because they are mental so put it in a rehoming centre. For the second litter (not long after) you do the same and she has puppys again, this time you wanna make some money so sell them on, again the owners thought having a puppy would be quite, but it turns out it isnt 24/7 so put it in a rehoming shelter or use it for breeding.
You sit down oneday and decide that your bitch isnt getting pregnant for the millionth time so take her to the rehoming place as well and she dies after a life of sex, birth, feeding, sex, birth, feeding.

Why dont you start breeding yourself, have a baby, then have another one, then another instead of using animals

 

Sorry if youve already posted this somewhere and Ive missed it, but can I ask what breed of dog you're planning to breed?

The main thing to remember is that breeders DO NOT make money from breeding. Sometimes they break even, often they LOSE money. The only reason someone should be breeding dogs is to improve the breed, and for that to happen they need to understand the breed standard, associated health problems, and genetics.

COST OF HAVING A LITTER

Okay, let's see. Both dog and bitch should be health certified before breeding.

Hips - $30
Elbows - $25
Thyroid - $15
Heart - $15
Patellar Luxation - $15
Deafness- $15
Eyes - $17.50


That is $132.50 each

Tests for Brucellosis (disease of reproductive tract) and Bortedella (STD) - $60

DNA test - $15
$40 to submit DNA test results to AKC.

Stud fee for a Champion dog can be as high as $2000. Let's say $1000. When choosing a stud dog you have to find one which compliments your bitch, ie if your bitch is shy, you need an outgoing, friendly dog.


I suggest you take a course in dog genetics to enable you to make the best choice of stud dog for your bitch. Choose wrongly and you'll regret it, for instance - if your bitch can be agressive but has good conformation, you could breed her to a dog with poor conformation but good tempermant in the hopes that the pups will have good coformation and good tempermant. However, you could end up with agressive pups with poor conformation.

Vitamins for pregnant bitch - $40

Bitch must go to the vet at around day 30. Alot of breeders like to use an ultrasound--another $200.

$1000 should be put aside for an emergency C-section.

At around day 50, you have to take days off of work to be around the expentant mother 24/7 to make sure nothing goes wrong. If you have a 9-5 job and an hourly wage of $15, you will lose around $1500. Then you have to stay with the dog and puppies until the puppies go home. 8 weeks - $6720

At 3 days, the puppies will need their first vet check, and the mother will need a check too.

Each puppy will get dewclaws removed ($50 per puppy -- for 8 puppies that's $400). Some working breeds have their tails docked ($10.00 per tail, that's $80). Vaccination for eight puppies, $70 each, is $560. Deworming - $400. Puppies may need to be tested for skin problems, coccidia, and parvo -- $1000.

The breeder will need supplies before all of this happens. Whelping box, whelping box heating pad, incubator, weight scale, indoor puppy pen, first aid, emergency supplies, dishes. About $1000.

Food to feed puppies for two weeks - $40.

Registration fees for AKC - $400

Puppy kit to be sent home with new owner - $20 per puppy, $160 for 8 puppies.

Thats an average of $6000 PER LITTER, not taking into account that stud fees may cost more than this, the bitch could experience complications welping, and the money you lose taking time off work to stay at home to rear the pups.

You say you'd be doing it for the love of it, rather than the money - in that case why not foster puppies that need hand rearing from a shelter, where you can get all the fun of raising puppies without the expense and worry of finding them good homes?

 

Well if thats how you feel about it right on. And i think its a bit more complicated than that. And i have worked in a pet shelter or rehoming center as you call it, and its very seldom that we got pure breed dogs in there, not saying that we didnt or it never happeneds. I think that a lot of people on this board think that no one cares for animals. Like come on, i do... im sure you do and there are pleanty of people out there willing to put in the time to take care of a pet that they paid $500 or so dollars for

 

Thank you for your help. I was really looking for the amount of money i would spend. Im not really looking to make money on this at all, just like a hobby. I am looking to breed australian shepherds, to me they are the best.
Hmm fostering puppies, i never really thought of that.... that would be a pretty good idea too, i might take that into consideration as well... thanks for the tips.

 

Most pure breeds sell for $1000+ for show quality and $200+ for pet quality.
If you really want to do this find a breed that you love. Get one dog at first and train them show them get them rankend. ( this will help when selling the puppies because you can then say that the parents where champions). After about a year or 2 get another dog. Do the same things get them ranked.

After the female is over a year old (you don't want them having puppies their first heat) you can pair them. If you are going to use a stud service make sure that you can trace the bloodline back atleast 5 generations so that you can see if there was any inbreeding done. (also look at this when you are choosing a dog to purchase). Also to insure the health of your dogs and the puppies don't not have a litter at every heat.


there is a lot of work that goes into this. Check out the Akc websire and the CKC website. they have info about what you want to do. If you have any quesitons about this stuff PM me.

 

Bortedella (STD) - $60


Bortedella if for Kennel cough, it's not a STD it's passed from dog to dog without having sex

 

yea i was going to ask about bortedella, because when i was a volunteer they gave something like that to the dogs for kennel cough.
Umm...yea - i have been to both of those websites, they are actually bookmarked on my computer

 

Right ok so you have worked in a place that has animals who need rehoming, you must know the desperation of them animals, sure there are some animals who have nice owners but how can you make sure 100% that the pups you breeed are going to good home and wont be given up for adoption.

You need to seriously think about this, instead of breeding you could put your efforts into rehoming animals.

Its never something I would do and I can say i have never brought from a breeder and never will

 

You get the people that buy the animal to sign a contract that if they can't keep the animal any more they will return it to the breeder. As you breeder there is a responsibility to keep in contact with the people who bought the puppies. A good breeder takes responsibility for the dogs even once they are sold.

 

wiggy - yes i do understand but the dogs that i own are some of the best taken care of, i would never hurt them or put them in danger. In order to be a breeder you have to do home assessments to make sure that you will be ok to give them that puppy.
With the children people bring into this world there are always risks just like any other thing you plan to do in this world. Your child could mess up their life make mistakes and wrong decisions and all that they could get murdered or anything under the sun. But that doesnt stop people from spreading their seeds.

 

Your dog might be well looked after but will the pups, can you make sure that they will be 100% cared for and loved?
What if you sold your pups onto people who only wanted to breed from them, Thats alot of dogs coming into this world when we are so crammed full that most places either turn anaimals down or kill them!!!
I do think with the state most kennels are in at the moment its very very irresponsible of you to breed.

 

Well thank you for your opinion but there are a lot of problems in the world and breeding isnt the biggest... but maybe you should read what everyone else has already covered the topics that you are bringing up and they have given reasons why this wouldnt be a problem or the biggest issue