Originally Posted by sylvan The costs for a true hobby breeder to produce healthy pups bred to the standard cannot be summed up with a simple listing of vet expenses for shots etc...for the pups. The list of expenses is beyond what most people even consider. I've done a brief sum up of some of this before, but let's get Stacy real depressed and do it again.
First, spend a lot of time and money doing research on the breed, going to shows to see good examples of the standard so you know what you're looking at, buying umpteen books on the subject, taking days off paying work to hang out with your mentor and watch and listen and learn.
Then find good healthy examples from healthy pedigrees for your breeding program and expect to pay $2,500.-$3,500. for each one of them. Off to the vet for testing to insure that they are healthy by running a whole battery of tests. Blood Panels, x-rays, bile acid etc... cha-ching..and let's not forget..where do they live? hmmm add in for crates, ex-pens, pee pads, bedding,towels, harnesses, leads, water bottles, food dishes, chew toys, slipcovers for the furniture...cause you know they gotta hang with you at movie time and fence in the yard so they're safe outside and if you're really nutty build them their own decked play areas fenced within your fenced-in yard so if someone doesn't close the first gate..nobody's escaping. Oh, and make sure you've got the areas separated to keep the boys from playing with girls when they musn't. That's all about another couple of thousand.
Continue to spend more time and money learning and researching and keeping current on the latest innovations in vet care, training etc..
Next..while we're hanging out waiting for that magical litter of pups that will make our fortune....we gotta take care of the little buggers. Okay, so premium food, plus the weekly extras like yogurt, treats and the filet mignon you'll even try grinding up to try to get the stud boys to eat SOMETHING when they start dropping weight because someone is in heat and they forget about food. Vitamins, wormers, nutrical, goats milk, esbilac...keep shopping the carts not full yet. Let's consider hygiene, shall we? Flea and tick stuff, heartworm preventative, Weekly baths..that's a couple hours of work, add in for shampoos, conditioners, coat treatments, nail and hair clippers, scissors, combs, brushes, wipes, toothpaste and the stuff that goes in the water for their teeth and still you have a nice hefty bill for yearly dentals at the vet.
Gotta keep the little darling's happy home clean too so add in for mountains of paper towels, cases of Odo-Ban,sweeping and mopping supplies and the amount of time you spend bent over picking up poo and doing dog laundry.
So now whoopee, you've had a successful tie and are expecting a litter. Whelping kit including box, hemostats, syringes, ky, heating pad, digital thermometer and scale...etc... check(yes, you get to write another one or two). Then off to the vet for x-rays..cha-ching again and cross fingers for a free whelp. Good news, this one did fine and you only missed one week of work waiting for the 'day' and 4 nights of sleep 'til the little angels were out of the woods. No big deal supplementing just one every couple hours round the clock. Now let's do tails and dew claws and immunizations and spend lots more time socializing and training and monitoring their growth and testing their temperment so you can match them well with the new owners...who? oh yes, the people that you have decided should be a good placement and you've spent time teaching them about care and training and after spending hours on the phone,on-line, answering inquiries, hosting visits from a whole slew of maybe interested people. (some of this is fun, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but it does take a lot of time). You also realize you are at their disposal permanently. You will gladly take calls in the middle of the night to hear about poo.
OOps, forgot paperwork expenses...registration fees, licenses, microchipping..
Now, all that big money that you just hauled in from the sale of those pups...well, you can't touch that for a year, because you have a money back up to purchase price guarantee to cover congenital problems. Well okay, you've done your homework, so that shouldn't be an issue, but still..you gotta wait...so you're still in the red.
Next breeding girl doesn't take, oh well, wait 6 months try again.you still love her.
Next litter, not so great, uterine inertia, emergency C-section (in the middle of the night of course) no viable pup and a mom who throws a blood clot and goes into a coma and requires ICU. Kiss $5,000. goodbye. After a week in ICU you bring her home and nurse her back to health for the next few months. Special diet, syringe feeding..lots of TLC and you don't want to take a chance with her again...so add in the loss of the $3,000. you paid for her. No pups, no profit and you've been taking care of her for a couple years so let's just call it 9K down the tubes....gulp.
Don't forget puppies sometimes do crazy things just to keep you on your toes. Diarhhea and throwing up over a holiday weekend for no apparent reason...they just thought you looked to well rested and you really wanted to spend $450. at the ER for tests and pedialyte.
Do we hope one of these pups produced has show potential?..heck yes, that's the whole point of knowing you're on the right track...so add in for training time, handling classes, show expenses and more time running around.
Are we getting the picture yet? It's a hobby, done correctly and with just the normal amount of good and bad luck, a very expensive hobby for people that love the breed and don't like to add up sums...
Now I will try to not think about this again for awhile...and if I forgot anything, don't remind me, okay? |