Since today seems to be dog breeding question day?

1. I never actually decided to get into breeding, I just fell in love with some show prospect chis that I fell in love with but couldn't afford at the time

2. This actually ties into #1 - I formed a great relationship with the breeder above who ended up mentoring me and since at that time I couldn't afford my own dogs, we co - owned several together in the beginning and it was our dogs that were bred

3. There have been some stressful and one heartbreaking moment (the only puppy I ever lost), but for the most part it's been so rewarding

4. Unfortunately at this point I can't say that I've quite achieved my breeding goal in any dog. I split with my mentor several years ago because I developed different ideals for the breed than she had. I have one gorgeous boy at the moment (not of my breeding though) who needs 4 points to finish (I'm broke and can't send him back out yet) that I'm dying to work into my breeding program and see what he produces.

5. Not yet, but I haven't produced a litter in almost 3 years either

Actually I bred cats.

1. I fell in love with a breed and decided I wanted to show them

2. An older Gr Ch female. (same as Ch in dogs) Friends were getting out of breeding and wanted to sell a retired Gr Ch with a dynamite pedigree. I lucked out

3. I was a very small time breeder always with only a few cats. No real regrets

4. I bred several Grand Champions, (and Grand Premiers - neutered and shown) and several regional best of breed

5. Now retired, several breedings I would not have done and breeders I would not have worked with

1. We have a large number of livestock and live in a place with a lot of predators. To protect so many we need a high number of dogs at any time usually six per herd. The cost of finding and buying dogs is very high for the quality i want so we decided to breed them ourselves.

2. First breeding dog was female. She produced 5 pups, 2 are still with us working now, 1 was killed, 1 sold to owner of the male and the other was sold on.

3. No.

4. The male from my first litter. A tireless worker.

I got into breeding afghans (had only 4 litters) because I just totally fell in love with the breed. My first afghan was a male, but although he was a champion, he was never bred because he just wasn't good enough, mostly his temperament was "iffy". My 2nd afghan was a ***** who I bought as a young adult and she produced 2 litters for me.

No, I in no way regret it. I loved (almost) everything about it. I don't know about all breeds, but afghans tend to attract some seriously weird people so you need to do a lot of weeding out of prospective puppy buyers.

I had one male puppy who was taken as a stud fee by an all-breed judge who was one of the initial afghan breeders in the US. This puppy went to the US and did some really nice winning there. Other than that, produced some truly lovely dogs.

I wouldn't get into breeding nowadays, but I don't think I'd change anything substantially. Nobody did contracts back then for puppy buyers - that's the one thing I'd add.

I only bred Shar Pei fighting dogs in my life. I would half to say no I would rather deal with just a single dog from the rescue myself these days. The pups are not much trouble to get rid of but hard to really know if their going to good homes. The Shar Pei has such special health care problems it's hard to find a proper breeder. Only thing I hated the most was these people coming to my house a lot to buy them too. My Shar pei's lived for over 11 years and that was pretty old for them. I always had to make sure their skin was clean and healthy. It was a mess all the vet trips the Shar Pei takes.I decided to breed those dogs because their so unique. I also wouldn't sell a family with young kids a male.I would never breed one again. These days I try help people find themselves a dog at the shelter. I got to the point where I just felt that the shelter pets can never get a chance in life like the pure bred can. So now feel like that adopting is best. I use to have dogs that cost over a 1000 dollars too.

COSTS OF HAVING A LITTER

All of the tests listed are necessary for the health of the ***** and her litter and also to screen for possible genetic problems that could occure in future generations.

NORMAL EXPENSES

BEFORE THE BREEDING

Shots, Worming $ 75

Brucellosis Test (Doggy VD) $ 25

Hips x-rayed (for dysplasia) $ 200

Elbows x-rayed (for dysplasia) $ 75

Thyroid Test $ 50

ACVO/CERF (eye exam $45 per/8 years $ 360

DNA Test For PRA (eyes ) $ 250

AT TIME OF BREEDING

Stud Fee $ 500

Boarding Expenses $ 200

AFTER THE BREEDING

Good Quality Food $ 90

Whelping Box $ 100

Whelping supplies-scale, blankets, towels, etc. $ 100

AT BIRTH

Vet check for Mom & Pups $ 75

Dew Claw Removal $10 per puppy $ 100

AS PUPPIES GROW

Clean Up material/garbage bags $ 25

6 week vet visit with shots $ 250

Newspaper Ad $ 40

Puppy Food $ 90

X-Pen for Puppies $ 75

Safe Toys $ 50

APPROXIMATE TOTAL COST

Not including problems $2,730

PROBLEMS OVER & ABOVE THE NORMAL COSTS

Troubles during delivery/C-section $ 850

Trouble after delivery/ Mastitis $ 300

Supplements if your ***** won't nurse $ 150

Euthanasia for physically deformed puppies $ 50

Trouble if a puppy/puppies don't do well $200+++

PARVO and possible loss of some or all puppies $3000+++

Other associated difficulties too many and too varied to mention

but they can and do happen $200+++++++

These figures are based on a litter of 10 which is an

average sized litter for a larger dog)

(These figures only include dollars spent and not time spent)

Source: http://www.godivalabs.com/cost.html