Cost of puppies and reasons for breeding.

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TayloredEq

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www.tayloredequestrian.com
Reading an earlier post about someones puppies not selling and having taken on a litter for someone back in November I wondered what everyone reckons is the cost of a litter of puppies.

I took on 7 GSD pups and I reckon that it cost me between £100 and £150 per pup to raise them.

I have loved being able to have the puppy I have kept since he was 4 weeks old, and I hope that our relationship will continue to be as good as it is now but the experience of trying to sell on the rest of the litter has made me think that I NEVER want to breed myself. So this leads me to my next question - why do you breed?
 
I don't want to think of the cost
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My reason? I want to improve the breed and bring back a good old fashioned labrador to NI which you just can't seem to get anymore! (They are working bred dogs, and I will not breed unless I can guarantee homes for at least 6 puppies)

We have not bred any pups in years but have now got a new bitch that we are hoping to breed when she is old enough, depending hip/elbow and eye scores are good enough. If not, no pups.

Contracts will be drawn up with new owners so that if for whatever reason they can no longer keep the dog (regardless of age) will we take it back and rehome it or keep it or if they are having problems with training, we will take it back and train it for them.
 
i have only bred once, my very sweet jrt bitch (fab temperament, good sort, rough coated, etc) with my jrt dog (also a v good sort with great temp), i had homes guaranteed for 3 and wanted to keep 1. she had 5. she decided she'd only eat roast chicken for the whole time the pups were on her, she lots tons of weight in the few days before i relented. her chicken habit (2 every 3 days) cost every penny i made from the pups...!
i love the fact that i have had the one pup from birth and she is totally devoted, a really lovely girl. i probably won't breed again though, as i think there are far too many unwanted dogs around already... i think you should have to have a licence to breed any dog, we need a shortage of them all to ensure they are treated properly.
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If done correctly, there is prob, little profit, but if done on the cheap, no wormers, or vet checks for the bitch or health checks, or vaxes for puppies, and they are sold on a 6 weeks with only 2 weeks worth of puppy food going into them, no heat lamp or extras to shell out for, and esp if it's a small breed, that can bring a decent amount of money, a breeder or a back yard breeder
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, as I refer to them, will make a small mint, and it will probably top up their weekly benefits
too
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I am against breeding....but I think everyone can understand why!
I respect those who safe guard their produce and do what is best for bitch and puppies, and offer life long back up, after all we rescues do, and we make no profit and do not intentionally breed.

We even go so far as to spay, any bitch we get in that are pregnant, no mattter if pedigree or not(like the westi, we are spaying tomorrow,......we have to many adults to worry about, without the added pressure of homing puppies, and chasing up their neuters, or indeed keeping them in rescue until they are neutered.

I simply could not breed myself, even though I have had ample opportunity, what with te daily choice of pedigrees coming through my doors, but I simply could not live with the though of a puppy I had bred, ending in the wrong hands, or worse, the puppy or it's future off spring, bouncing around off a kennel wall in the pound
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it's never fail safe....evn rescue back up, is never fail safe.

Back to the OQ, there is profit to be made
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believe me......im not saying it's made in a responsible manor, but it's there to be made.
 
I always feel guilty admitting I have bred litters after Cala has posted
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However, I hope Cala considers me a responsible breeder and knows that if I do breed from my current youngster it will only be after a great deal of consideration. Regarding the OP, you also have to take into consideration the stud fee for the dog as most people use other peoples dogs to bring in new lines, I'm not sure what the current rate is in GSDs but suspect it would be at least £400 for a top quality dog (I may be way out here). Also the cost of having the bitch x-rayed and hip and elbow scored, probably £100 plus nowadays, worming the bitch and increasing her food once in whelp etc, and of course if something goes wrong, vets fees at whelping.
Why did I breed, well ,because I was showing my dogs there was always the aim to improve my stock and the dream that maybe I would one day produce a superstar. Becaue my mother had bred GSDs for years there was always a waiting list of people wanting pups, in many cases those who had lost dogs they had had from us in the past. Although I haven't bred a litter in 8 years I still get contacted by people wanting pups who already have a dog from me, and believe it or not 2 people are interested in a pup from Evie, and she is only 7 months old.
Sorry turned into a bit of a ramble, all I can say is that if I bred pups to make a lot of money I would be very disappointed. I love having pups around, but will be thinking long and hard before I have another litter, that is if everything is in the right place with Evie when she reaches 2 plus years.
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No need for you to feel guilty.....you are indeed the responsible minority
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, the ones that should feel guilty are those that are irrisponsible,both u and SM, you actually make me have respect and hope that there are indeed a small responsible minority (jsut say mind u)
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CALA*goes back to being her usual grumpy self*
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I normally stay well clear from posts like this but having just added pictures of my new puppies i feel i should add my comment
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I bred for myself, i show my dogs and have a keen interest in my lines and generations. I only have a litter when i am wanting to keep one for myself. My puppies are KC reg (also waiting for my accredited breeder to be accepted), wormed, 6 weeks insurance, starter pack, raised in the home with my children involved, full life time support from me and from healthy (all tests needed on parents done ie hips) parents with excellent temperaments and confirmation.

I have supported GSD rescue and help raise money for biggsd, (last year my forum raised over £400 through calendar sales) I know it is easy to knock breeders but without SOME of us there would be no pedigree dogs (i for one love my GSD's and Whippets) and most people have their breed, and those that dont love the crossbreds. I am not saying therfore lets all breed (and i am all for more controls on breeding) as i cant stand backyard breeders or Joe blogs mating his bitch with John Smiths dog coz it would be good for her! but we are not all bad!
 
I sell my GSD's for around £500, up north you will pay £700 and from the big kennels £1000 upwards!!! We all have the same outgoings on health tests, stud fee's, worming, top quality feed, paperwork, bedding, toys, vet checks, advertising and not to mention the hours of time raising them. So some peeps make more of a profit than others and are often chucking out 3 times the amount of litters in a year
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I wasn't in anyway having a go at you SFS. I have looked at your website quite a few times, and you seem to have the same aims as I do when breeding.
Quite interesting the prices you quote, because when I was breeding pups were more expensive down south than up here, or more to the point in the Manchester area where I used to be based. I feel quite guilty now because Evie was a gift from a breeder in the M/C area, from well known winning lines (her sire is a Zamp son
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). We go back a a long way and he bought his first Shepherd bitch from me but even so he was very generous to give her to me foc
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As you say though you only have to look at some of the big breeders websites and see how many litters a year they are producing to realie they are probably making a nice profit.
 
Oh gosh i didnt think for one minute you were hun xx and you know how much i love Zamp!!!! I agree South used to be pricer but i think alot of the big kennels are up North (i often struggle to find a good stud down here) so they then "compete" with each other
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To me them maybe
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, I did say.......there are irrisponsible and responsible, though it seems increasingly more of the irrisponsible these days
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Again, if u safe guard and back your off spring up for life, puppy,that's fine by me....less for us to deal with, but the reasons again, I could not, is that.....there are too many still can and will be bred from that puppy, and so it goes on.

I tend to steer clear of the puppy/breeding posts.........keeps my stress levels down
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My parents and grandparents always bred for the love of it. My granddad trains gundogs, and therefore for them it was the pleasure of watching them go from cute puppies to working young dogs, and was never a profit issue.
With our old JRT we had one litter to calm her down, but the puppies turned out so beautiful we had quite a few litters out of her, again for the enjoyment, I don't think there is much profit to be had out of JRTs- trained gun dogs have a larger profit margin.
 
Last year at this time I was raising one of my bitches pups, well she was, I just paid for them.
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The cost was around 1,200 for 4 puppies. This included heating oil to have the thermostat kept up 24 hours a day. Electricity for heat lamps once pups moved out of my house. Food bills. Evaporated milk. My puppies left at 6-7 weeks old so I wasn't even the one to pay for their vaccinations.

I breed horses, I do not breed dogs. My bitch did not seem to be aware of this, and neither did another farmers dog (from over a mile away). My 3 big bitches were spayed after the puppies were born at a cost of over 1K. I now have the one puppy I kept and the other newish puppy to have spayed in a couple of months time once they have both had their first season (the homebred had hers a couple of months ago, but the white pup hasn't yet). Yes yes, I'm a believer in that too, Lol!
 
Yikes, gone up then. Is that with a GA as my lovely vet does them with just a sedative which is cheaper (and better for my nerves). He is also very accurate at predicting scores, usuall within 5 which makes waiting for the scores to come back les stressful!
 
Yes, inclusive of the GA. Lucky you, I'm sure if I went in with my dogs and tickled their tummy's they'd quite happily stay in position for me LOL.
 
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To me them maybe
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, I did say.......there are irrisponsible and responsible, though it seems increasingly more of the irrisponsible these days
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Sorry i wasnt digging at anyone just putting my views across, maybe a little strong but had these debates before on other sites so guess i went for defense LOL
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