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Originally Posted by Marlee Well I understand the idea of 1500 per pup sounding outragous, at one time I stood in your shoes. . . |
Marlee, I'm with you. Anyone who doesn't understand why Yorkies cost so much just hasn't thought it through.
When we bought Bailey a month ago, we thought we might breed her - once - primarily to get another puppy for ourselves a year down the line. Then I started thinking it through, and talked to our vet. Actually, I talked to two separate vets. Some of the serious things that come into play are (I believe these are all correct - if not, someone please correct me):
* High stud fees - routinely $1000 or more.
* Small litters - typically 1 to 4 pups, so very few sales over which you can spread the cost of producing the litter.
* High risk of C-section births (Risk goes up as size goes down) at $1000 or more for the surgery, not to mention the risk to your little girl's life or health.
* Increased risk to your female's overall health. If she's spayed before she ever comes into heat, her risk of several serious diseases is a tiny fraction (less than 10%) of what it would be if she were bred.
* Vet bills associated with the pregnancy
* Vet bills for docked tails, dewclaw removal, and shots required up to the age that the puppy is sold
* Even the little things like food and maybe some puppy toys add up.
* And last but certainly not least is time. To make a great puppy available to someone wanting to bring this baby into their home, you have to spend time with it - with each and every puppy in the litter - in order to have well socialized puppies at the time they leave their littermates.
By the time we had Bailey for a week, we had decided we would have her spayed as soon as it is medically sound to do so - and work at finding a good, loving, reputable breeder to buy our next Yorkie from. I'm glad there are good people out there willing to take on what is required to produce a puppy for sale - but I'm not going to be one of them.