The Cost Of Breeding

Firstly it is important to remember that there is more than a monetary cost to breeding. When deciding to have puppies you must remember it take a lot of time and effort and for any profit you hope to make its not worth the daily challenges unless you love doing it as well. 

It will take an average of 3 hours a day in the first cleaning puppies, helping them feed, cleaning mum, and cleaning their nest and doing laundry. Completing their health records and daily weighing them to monitor their development.

The weeks that follow your time on the puppies in creases washing them daily and washing mum mixing food for them to begin weaning. Advertising your puppies preparing puppy packs and then moving on to the last 2 weeks you are booking 2 or three viewings per day to find homes for your puppies and checking the new potential owners. This is the most demanding time and if you also work full time like me now is the time to take some holiday! 

By 8weeks it's time to go to the vet as they need their health inspection, getting their microchip implanted and their first of 2injections. This is where you decide weather to keep them for another 2weeks unroll they have had their second injection at 10 weeks or they go to their new homes at 8 weeks from the day after the vets and the new family then takes them back to the vet for the second injection which you have already paid for at the vets as this is typically included in a puppy purchase.

Take a look at some of the money I have spent already in preparation for Molly to get pregnant

• £40 vets inspection clear bill of health and extra flee and worming as these can't be applied during the first stages of pregnancy.
• £55 in materials to build a whelping box.
• £65 whelping kit and sterile surgical supplies for delivery
• £150 for the visit yo the stud dog
• £80 on 200 puppy pads cleaning sprays and rolls of tissue 
• £15 on 2 boxes of wipes for the birth and for the first 2weeks of day washes then I switch to water and channels
• Sound £40 on 14 channels each puppy has 2 on for morning wash and one eve then we launder them over night this is to prevent the spread of any infections. This cost also covered several microfiber towels for drying them and we had lots of towels and blankets for their box you need a minimum of 6 as you change it at least twice a day and you need one to put them on while they are out of the box during cleaning. 3 towels per day then they are washed overnight with the channels.
• £25 dog bedding shampoo and fabric softener and puppy shampoo for their full baths in their last 2weeks which they have every 2-3 days depending on how much wee and poo they walk in!
• £25 0n some reclaimed wood for a puppy pen to contain them once they finish whelping at around 4 weeks.
• £5 printing of records and puppy information sheets for puppy packs

As you can see there are a lot of costs already however you would normally wait till u are sure of pregnancy for some of these however I like to be very prepared as I also work full time. So waiting till week 4 or 5 and I may not have time to get it all done especially as we have built our own whelping box and puppy pen.

Take a look at some of the costs still to come 

• £400 vet Bill for 7 puppies to be vaccinated, microchipped and inspected
• £75 for a scan to confirm pregnancy and estimate number of puppies due
• Registration fees these depend on where you register them these can vary greatly.
• £40 advert in the paper but often you need to advertise in several places
• Dog sitter costs if I can't be there for a feeding time or have Togo away over night I may need a sitter once or twice
• Other unforseen complications ring pregnancy or Labour that might require a vet visit

Over all the sale price of 2 to 3 puppies will recoup your costs but you need to have the funds ready for you breeding season. Depending on the breed of dog, where you live and the size of your litter any money you make could be very minimal. 

As mentioned if your going to breed it has to be for more than money, I breed to provide families with the perfect family pets. I believe the lhasa also is the perfect dog. In breeding I help to continue the survival of this fantastic breed. I also enjoy the day challenges that breeding adds to my day filling my time. I don't have any children and so also enjoy the delivery and nurturing the puppies. My favourite bits are ties between bathing them in a kitchen bowl and blistering and brushing then at 7 weeks old and the moment potential owners walk in and see them for the first time and cry aww as they are so cute. 

On top of this I also writing this blog daily and will also be keeping potential owners up to date on their puppiesprogress with lots of photos.