Hope Springs Kennels: Want to breed?

So you want to be a breeder...

It seems I've been getting many phone calls lately about people wanting to breed their dogs and looking for advice. I always ask "Why? Why do you want to be a breeder?" I think some people may get the impression that I am being rude or hypocritical. This isn't true at all. The truth is that I think a lot of people don't really think about why they want to do it, or they do it for wrong reasons. So I'm taking time to let you know what it's REALLY like to be a breeder, and to share both my experiences and thoughts on some of the answers I've recieved, as well as some points that you might not think about. Now I'm not telling anyone not to breed, but I like to educate... just think before you act...

Because there is good money to be made...

I had to start with my favorite! People think there is all this money to be made breeding dogs. I mean, why not? Let's say that I have 2 litters of puppies, a total of 12 pups, and I'm selling them for $650 each. Well, that's $7,800! Then I can just breed a couple more dogs together and BOOM, I've got a few thousand again, right? Not exactly. Before you let the dollar signs start lighting up in your eyes, let me tell you what it actually costs (per year) to keep Hope Springs Kennels up and running.

Let's start with how many puppies I might expect this year, barring any problems:

Hope gives me 6 puppies per litter.

Sylvie gives me 5 puppies per litter.

Senta gives me 6 puppies per litter.

Chloe gives me 4 puppies per litter.

So in all, I'll have 21 puppies next year. 21 puppies at $650 each is $13,650. So that is our starting number. Now I have to deduct my expenses:

Food & Snacks:

In order to have healthy puppies, you need to have healthy dogs. This means I'm not feeding them Ol' Roy or some other crap. They eat Nutro, and while it isn't as expensive as some other foods, it costs more than Kibbles 'n' Bits. And don't forget, I have 11 dogs to feed. So I spend about $300 a month just on food and snacks. Thats $3,600 a year.

Puppy Food:

This is for the pregnant/new moms and puppies. This not only includes the regular puppy kibble, but the pricey milk replacement formula that I mix into the puppy's food when they are learning to eat solid food. So I spend about $200 a litter for this extra food, times 4 litters. That's $800 a year.

Mom's X-rays:

On day 45 of pregnancy, it can be determined, through an X-ray how many pups a mom will have. Is this so I can rub my greedy hands together and start counting money? No. I have to make sure that I know how many she is carrying to I know everyone made it out during whelping! An X-ray will run about $100 each, times 4 moms. That's $400 a year.

Dew-claw removal

This is optional, but I choose to do it because dew-claws (the little 5th toe on the back of the paw) can get really nasty if it gets snagged on something and can cause major problems. So I have them removed when the pups are 3-days old, before the bone starts to grow. This costs about $15 per puppy, times 21 puppies. $315 a year.

Puppy packs:

Again, this is optional, but I love my puppies and want to help make their transition easier by giving them a taste of home. So what goes into a puppy pack? A disposable camera, toys, treats etc. Then there is all the ink & paper for printing all the tips and information that the new owners and vets need. Hey, I still have to pay for it! So all told, it costs me about $16 per pack, times 21 puppies. Thats $335 a year.

Wormers:

Puppies have worms, its a fact of life. One of my jobs is to try and get rid of them, as well as whatever worms my adult dogs might pick up while outside of my home. The puppy worms aren't too bad, but there is a particularly nasty type called Whipworms that can kill an adult dog so you can only imagine what it can do to a pup. Problem is, Whipworms are hardy little suckers whose eggs can lay in stasis in the soil for years so we have to continually worm for it. A 3-day treatment (for all my dogs and puppies) for Whips is just under $200. Plus add in regular puppy wormer and I spend around $800 a year.

Other medications:

Coccidia is also very common in puppies, and results in the foulest diahrrea you can imagine! I certainly don't want my pups going to their new homes with this, so I treat them irrespective if I've seen signs of it or not. Plus, at sometime, someone will get sick. Whether it be an adult or puppy, and we have the added expense for those meds. Average cost of these meds per year is about $450.

Shots:

I've learned how to administer shots myself, and that saves a TON of money at the Vet's office, but I still have to pay for the shots themselves. In a typical year, I will give about 33 shots, a booster for my adults and each puppy's first shot. It costs a little over $5.50 per shot, so I'll spend about $180 per year.

Groomer:

I have a wonderful mobile groomer that I have used for years who comes to my house and gives me a pretty decent discount. He bathes my adults once a year, and each puppy before they go home. The rest of the time I bathe the pups myself, but when they go home I want them to look extra good, so that is why I call him. Yearly cost: $850 (this does not include tip).

Advertising & website dues

I usually have a pretty good waiting list for my puppies, but there are still times I need to advertise. It is much more cost effective to pay a monthly bill year round to advertsing sites than to do it on a puppy by puppy basis. Cost per year is about $575.

Registrations:

To register with the AKC, you have to register the litter first, which is $25, and then each puppy is an additional $2. So 4 litters = $100 and then 21 puppies is $42. But then I also register them to myself as insurance that my clients will honor their spay/neuter contract. This is an additional $15 per puppy times 21 puppies is $315. So add that all together, and on registrations I spend a bit over $400.

Adult wellness visits:

Again, to have healthy pups, you have to have healthy parents! So each dog goes in for their yearly examine to be tested for heartworm or other parasites and just make sure they are in good health. Yearly cost is about $800, assuming no one needs an extra visit because they aren't feeling well.

Puppy Vet visits:

All my puppies go to the Vet before they go home to make sure they are in perfect health for their new families! My vet gives me a decent discount, but it still adds up quite a bit. Per year I spend about $1,150 for these visits.

Kennel Improvements:

We would like to be able to put more into the kennels than we have lately, but as you'll see in a minute, we aren't exactly raking in the dough here. But a nice figure would be about $3,500 a year to fix fencing, maintain houses, etc.

SO, if we add all that up together, it comes to a grand total of $14,155. Now let's take away the $13,650 that I get for the puppies, and that leaves me with a LOSS of just over $500. These numbers are if I charged $650 per puppy, which will unfortunately happen beginning in 2008 - So right now I'm actually losing much more.

I want my children to experience the miracle of life...

The miracle of life? How about the miracle of death? These are just a few of the situations that a breeder faces every time she helps whelp a litter:

The possibility of losing the mom. Since most dogs give birth in the wee hours of the morning, you'll be looking for the nearest all-night emergency vet clinic while trying to keep your beloved pet alive.

If a breeder does lose mom, they then have the task of bottle feeding a litter of 6 puppies every four hours around the clock for a month, all the while trying to keep everyone warm and dry.

The frantic efforts breeders put into trying to resuscitate a stillborn pup.

The heartbreak of watching mom searching everywhere for the pup she thinks she dropped but which was quickly tossed into the wastebasket because it was only a blackened, half-developed fetus.

The list goes on and on.

She is such a good dog, we just want one puppy before we spay her...

OK, but what are you going to do with the other 5, just give them away? Most animals that end up at shelters were given to them or "free to a good home". Are you prepared to raise puppies for 8 weeks and wonder if they will end up at a shelter? And if you do put effort into finding a good home, do you have the time to commit to it? I sometimes spend all day on the phone just doing interviews, looking for a home for just one puppy! This past December I had two litters that I was trying to place. For the 11 puppies that I had, I did 98 phone interviews until I thought I had found just the right homes.

I just want to stud my male out to make a couple dollars...

The stud owner has as much responsibility to the litter of puppies as the bitch's owner. He may not be the one taking care of the puppies, but he is still responsible for every puppy born.

And here are some other things to think about:

Poo!

Are you prepared to clean up constantly after 6 puppies that aren't housetrained? Or stepping in a puddle of pee that you didn't see? Puppies are MESSY and they need you to clean up after them.

Lifelong commitment

You are the reason the puppies are here. You are the one who bred them. Are you willing to take on the responsibility of every puppy you breed for the duration of their lives? Are you willing to take back any puppy whose owner can't keep them at any time? You can't just breed and forget about them, you owe them more than that.

How knowledgeable are you?

Are you thoroughly educated on your breed? Are you familiar with all their traits and tendencies? Are you aware of all the genetic and hereditary faults that are associated with your breed? Believe me, you will be grilled by potential owners!

Do you have a mentor?

You can read endless books and browse through countless websites trying to gather information, but nothing can take the place of an experienced mentor! Of course you don't have to have one, but who will you turn to when you have an unresponsive puppy and don't know what to do?

Do you have the emotional ability to raise and care for a pup and then place it?

In just 8 weeks, your puppies will be ready to go to their new homes... will you be ready? While I find myself looking forward to some time to myself after my litters have gone hom, it is always sad to see them go. It's not easy. It's especially not easy on children. Do you have what it takes to do that?

I hope I didn't come across sounding like I was preaching, complaining or sounding like a hypocrite! I'm just trying to make certain that potential breeders get a better understanding of what they could be in for. If you have read all this and still feel that you would like to breed, I wish you all the luck in the world - it is truly a wonderful thing to be a part of. And as far as complaining goes, I'm really not. I make the choice to raise puppies, and I love every aspect of it... well, except the poo! Yes, I lose money. Yes, it is difficult to see my babies leave me. Yes, it is a never ending job. But I love it. I love my dogs and their puppies and the unadulterated joy they bring into our home! It's a tough job, but there is nothing else I would rather be doing!