[gemy]

First yes it is expensive not only to buy a show potential but to show and do the tests.

If a breeder avails themself of the health clinics often run at major shows, the cost can be contained to somewhere around $500-$750. Dependent upon how much you test for and the area of the country you are in.

Let me give you a for instance; at a show that has a CERF clinic I pay approx. $60 for a CERF but if I were to do that in the city I live in and see an individual opthamologist it would cost around $185.

Do you have an idea or a hope based on health testing that the pup you take into show will pass? Of course you do. For those of us passionate about health we insist on certain tests from the breeding pair being done, and they passing them. But for many conditions this only means the parents do not have this or that disease. This is why genetic markers, genetic tests are so important to find and to fund the research for same.

WE do play Russian Roulette in one way, we hope our pup(s) will pass all the stringent health tests, but for many things we truly do not know if they will, we kind of gamble on it, not stupidly we have investigated the lines as well as we can, and we hope along with the breeder this gal or male will pass.

And the key of a breeder is if they will pull from their breeding program ones that don't pass or pass now at 2yrs old but at 5 or 6yrs old fail. And yes we swallow those costs.

It is why it is so very very expensive to breed responsibly. And btw health tests are only one part of the equation; temperament is so very important, as well as coat, color, bite and other qualities.