[FlDebra]

I wanted to write once more to our newfound critic. I want to assure you that selling for $1500 is not making money off the pups IF you do it right.

When you total the vet visit, physical exam for bone structure and stds, blood tests for STDs, BAT, OFA and CERF certifications all done on BOTH the dam and sire prior to the mating, then the things you need to buy for whelping, all sorts of books, feeding, and housing of the mom and pups. I bought bottles, syringes, formula, goat's milk, hemostats, a container I made into a whelping box, a heating pad, heating lamp, a play pen, a play yard, lots of blankets, towels and cloths for the delivery, Nutrical drops and gel for puppies, calcium supplement for mom, I paid for a vet office visit when the pups were born, bringing in mom and pups, then day 3 I had to bring in the puppies for tail doc and dew claw removal more vet $$, another vet visit for mom when her calcium level dropped, lots of puppy food, puppy vaccines at 8 & 12 weeks, toys, volumes of puppy pads! I had 4 pups and they all went to family and friends. Then there were the Health certificates from the vet, registration papers for the litter. I was in the hole BIG TIME! Not to mention two full years of studying, reading everything I could get my hands on, taking my dogs to other breeders to see what they thought of their conformation, watching another litter being born, talking to everyone who would give me their opinions, ensuring my girl and boy had the best of everything so they would be more than healthy before they bred and I would be knowledgable as I could be when they needed me. So in the hole but I could not have been happier! I see all of those pups often! They are thriving!

So, second litter I ought to make money right -- WRONG! I did get to reuse some of the things I bought before, but I had all the vet bills over again and this time......day three brought more than docking the tails and removing dew claws from the pups. Mom was deathly ill. I was in contact with the vet's office each day. Told them something was not right, but there was no serious symptom, no fever yet. So, I got an appointment for the next day. She just went bad so very fast. I got her to the vet an hour or so early for her appt and said "someone has to see her now!" They finally took her back and worked on her for quite some time but she did not make it. So there I was with 5 newborn pups depending on me for every two hour feeding and I had lost the sweetest girl I had ever had. I felt so very guilty for even breeding her in the first place. If I had just spayed her as a pup, she would be with me today. But no time to dwell, I had pups to raise. If I got a quarter an hour for all the time I spent with those pups ensuring they had more than enough attention (I owed it to their momma) then I would have made megabucks! But I didn't -- I gave away 2 of the pups to family again, and sold 3. I sold them for less than I paid for their parents, but that was only because of my lack of experience. I figured I was not offering the years of experience and history that my breeder had offered me. She had been working on her line for over 20 years. Big difference. You pay for the knowlege and work the breeder has done with her line as much as you pay for the individual pup. But -- there is no way my selling those pups came anywhere close to my expenses! Especially when you figure I lost my girl! That was an irreplaceable loss in my heart.

If you can read all that and still think a good, experienced breeder who has put her heart and soul into her line, should not be able to ask $1500 for her pups, I do not understand you and maybe you just came here to stir the pot???? Not sure why the chip on your proverbial shoulder but settle down, sit back and read the experiences of some of these fine breeders and you could learn a lot! I know I have over the years and I still learning all the time. I learned I don't have it in me to be a breeder but I am so thankful others will do it so I can always have yorkies in my family!