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doberbutts · 4 years

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smokemirrorswolves replied to your post

“The rising price of puppies is so heartbreaking for a lot of people....”

@doberbutts hey, if you had time at some point, would you care to break down what exactly is reflected in the price of a purebred puppy? I think a lot of people are struggling to imagine what could cost that amount of money, me among them tbh. thank you!

Sure, though I don’t breed, so it’s very possible I might be missing something!

Cost of the litter itself:

whelping box with or without rails

pen

potty supplies for puppies- pads, litter, bags, scoopers, etc

heating pads or lamps

formula and bottles (just in case)

medications and supplements (not always needed, good to have on hand)

blankets, beds

toys

colored puppy collars for identification (not always needed)

vaccinations (at least the first one)

deworming (several)

food (for mom AND pups)

temperament testing (if the breeder does not do it themselves- and even if they do, one must learn how which usually costs $$ or time to be mentored)

if puppy culture is used, understand that it costs a lot of money to get ahold of the materials for it

even if it is not used, proper early socialization, stress response, training and drives, etc require time, money, knowledge, and equipment

at least one vet check before going home

registration with AKC

microchip (some breeders have you do it but all of my breeder puppies had this done before going home)

cropping/docking (if applicable, understand this is why dobes cost so much bc that’s $400-700 PER PUPPY unless the vet cuts you a deal for doing the whole litter)

increased water and electric and trash costs - utilities ain’t cheap

overall time spent with the puppies (most breeders if not retired take off work to whelp and raise a litter... that’s 8+ weeks of either vacation pay or no pay at all)

travel costs to and from vets, new owners, etc

Cost of PRODUCING the litter:

stud dog fee (not applicable if using their own stud)

health testing on the parents (variable, can be as low as $100 per parent or as high as several thousand, obv if they don’t own the stud they don’t pay for that)

if using live cover- either travelling to the stud or having the stud go there

if using AI- that’s already pretty expensive

C-section (if applicable, always good to have the money on hand just in case)

multiple vet visits and travel costs for the bitch (confirm pregnancy, canine STI check, making sure to breed when she’s hormonal most likely to conceive, etc)

supplements and high quality food for the bitch

medications to help induce or ease labor

treatments to help the bitch let milk down or clear an infected/impacted teat

medical supplies for the human to ensure a sanitary and safe environment to whelp (gloves etc)

Cost of the parents:

general care (food, physicals, vaccinations, etc)

titling (if applicable)

training

obtaining the dog in the first place

So what does this exactly mean? Let’s say a low-ball estimate is $8000 for the first two factors combined (so not cost of parents) (and that IS a fairly low estimate, at least for dobermans). Now let’s say that the bitch produces 8 puppies. Selling them at $1000 apiece means the breeder breaks even, and that also means time and money was actually lost as the cost sunk into the parents hasn’t been factored in yet.

Let’s say the breeder owns both parents and bought them at $1000 each. The low end of the average cost per year for dogs is $1500- so with both dogs that’s $3000 per year. Dogs should be at least two years old before breeding, so we’re at $6000 (general care) + $2000 (purchase price) if this is the first litter for both of them. Titling can really depend, some breeds title very quickly and easily for under $1000. Others take several thousands to finish. Let’s just say an incredibly conservative estimate is $500 per dog- we’re now at $9000 for the cost of the parents.

So if that breeder wants to break even, they can’t even just double the price ($2000 per puppy) because they’re still taking a $1000 loss. Now the puppies need to cost $2125.

Let’s hope a puppy doesn’t die, or that no fluke accidents or weird health concerns pop up, because things are about to get even more expensive very quickly if that happens. Let’s say the breeder wants to keep one- that means that there are actually 7 puppies that can be sold, not 8. Now the puppies have to cost roughly $2430 and there’s a very slight profit of about $10 there.

What if they don’t own both parents, just the bitch? Well that takes our estimations down by half, so now the litter cost $12500 to make. The 7 puppies can be priced all the way down to $1785 while taking a loss of a couple dollars. Oops, the stud owner wants one on top of their stud fee, make that 6 puppies- now they’re back up to over $2000 again.

Remember when I said these are low estimates? Okay, so let’s gauge high estimates:

Even with no complications the highest I’ve seen for total breeding expenses was $25000. Even if you sell all 8 puppies at cost, so a zero profit margin... that’s $3125 per puppy.

God help you, and your buyers, if your bitch whelps less than that, if there’s a complication, if for whatever reason a puppy is not sellable.

Creed’s breeder spent $10k on stud fee, AI, emergency C-section, and resulting infection cost alone. Her bitch gave her one single puppy. She usually charged $2k per puppy. Do you see the problem here?

Additionally there’s this weird like... stigma about making money breeding animals. Listen, yes, capitalism ruins everything, and the focus should be on the animals and not the amount of zeros in your bank account... but at the same time, whelping by itself is a lot of work and dogs are a fairly expensive hobby. As a dog trainer, an artist, a programmer... I demand payment and profit for my work. I cannot eat if I only break even. Yet breeders are told that it’s bad to make money off their dogs and that they have to have some other source of income. Why? There’s a line to be balanced here on getting fair payment for the amount of work they’re putting in vs pricing themselves out of the market.

#smokemirrorswolves

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