"To Breed or Not to Breed?"
Breeding, and doing it correctly, is an expensive undertaking. By the time you have picked out a good Dam, waited for her to grow old enough (minimum age: 18 months or 2 years before breeding), picked out the best Sire to mate her with, gone through all the health checks they need, you have invested a lot of time and effort. You have potential extra expenses during pregnancy, such as the time and expense of whelping (either you take time off from work or something goes wrong and you have to take her in to the vet). You need to keep the puppies for a minimum of 8 weeks before sending them to their homes; you need to advertise and find good homes for the puppies, you need to make sure they have had their shots before going. You may have possible vet bills if the puppies require extra attention. If some of the puppies die, or you have a smaller than usual litter, you may not get as much money from the sale of the puppies as you had thought. There are even potential problems later on with unsatisfied customers! You are better off consulting with a financial wizard about investing the money you would otherwise spend and lose on breeding!
Here is an example on how quickly expenses can accumulate, which we personally had to deal with;
Dam with excellent health history, temperament and attributes you are looking to add within your own lines( 2 years of researching pedigrees) |
$2000 |
Sire with excellent health history, temperament and attributes you are looking to add within your own lines( 2 years of researching pedigrees) |
$2000 or stud fee |
Vaccinations for the male and female |
$250 |
x-rays for hips and Elbow certification |
$450 per dog |
Special dietary food |
$50 per month 3 months $150 |
Special food for pregnant Dam |
$50 per month 2 months $100 |
Vaccinations/dewormer for puppies(2,3,4,6 dewormer and 6-8 week shots) 10 puppies if lucky |
$300 |
Emergency Vet because Dam had difficulties during pregnancy/whelping (3 AM in the morning), wake the children up to head to Vet. (If you're a parent you know how that works!) |
$350 |
Had a litter of 12, one died shortly after giving birth and the other was a still born. If you had a large litter then you better make sure you have puppy milk available to help Mom feed. Also, with a large litter, those puppies will be taking a lot of their mom's calcium she needs for herself. You need to supplement these to make sure she doesn't get cramps or weak from the lack of nutrients |
$40 minimum ( $9 for quart) $20 for Calcium supplement |
AKC litter registration |
$70 |
Depending on how much you were planning on charging determines how much advertising you need. Cost of one advertisement on terrificpets.com lasting 2 months |
$60 |
The Dam starts to get sick after 9 weeks after the birth. She is rushed to the emergency Vet Friday at 5:30 PM. Vet is unsure what the problem is. The blood work came back negative with a slight elevation of white blood cell count. She has a fever of 103.6 (normal 101-102). Given antibiotics and told to monitor her. Have to get the kids a quick meal because it's late and they haven't eaten yet. |
$380 |
At 12:30 AM Saturday morning, Dam has not improved and is looking terrible. Brought her back to the emergency vet, x-rays, intravenous antibiotics and rehydration. Needs to stay over the next 2 nights until regular vet is opened. Thank God my significant other is here so I don't have to wake the kids up. |
$370 |
Vet determines the Dam has Pyometra. Most likely due to the difficult birth from the 12th puppy. She is going to have to go in for emergency surgery on Monday for a hysterectomy. No more litters are going to come from her. A day is taken off from work in order to get her to the Vet and time again Tuesday to pick her up. |
$580
|
Total of the last 3 months bills |
$7100 |
We know how difficult it can be for a responsible family to come up with a mortgage payment, yet we feel it should not prevent them from enjoying a family pet which is guaranteed to have "Good Health" and "Temperament" which they can enjoy for years to come.
We kept two puppies to add to our breeding stock, to continue the line. That left us with only 8 to sell ($6000). We lost $1150 dollars with this one litter, plus a good Dam and 2 years of breeding (potential loss of $15,000+, not including expenses, within those 2 years).
Some people love their dogs so much that they think it is a great idea to breed them. Unfortunately, it is never that easy. The expenses above, is a small portion of what could occur. We failed to include a whelping bed, messes from the puppies, marking system and so many others small details. Fighting among the grown-ups while hormones are raging can add to the vet bills and potentially your own doctor bills! Regular preventative medicines such as Frontline and Interceptor adds a lot to the overall costs.
When you see a local advertisement within your paper or on the internet, claiming AKC registered puppies for $500 or less, you can almost always guarantee that the breeder failed to take the proper measurements to ensure the Health and Temperament of the puppies or parents. "You get what you pay for!"
Eventually those puppies may end up in the SPCA, on death row or suffering for the rest of their lives because of the mistakes people make when good intentions become misinformed or lack of knowledge. This is big reason why we only give Limited AKC registrations. As you can see..... we do not breed German Shepherds for the money, because we have yet to see any. We do it out of love for the breed and the ability to pass that love down to a family who desires it and is willing to share their own.
We could have cut some corners in order to save money, but how many corners are required to be cut? When does it become a health risk for the puppies or adult GSD's? Eventually you are being more harmful to the parents and puppies and giving a reason for animal activists too stomp their feet and point fingers.
A less expensive hobby may have been a better idea, but we would not have been able to enjoy or share the pure unconditional love God has blessed his creation with. To us.... the love we receive from our German Shepherds or the faces of new owners when they pick up their new family member, is a reward that doesn't have a price.
Next Topic-Methods of Breeding