Congratulations you went crazy with me

[Wannabefree]

Yeah I'm gonna hafta see where I can find some of both and price a good breeding pair.

 

[baymule]

Puppy Mill.

All these cutesy pets sound wonderful, but you won't make money, maybe enough to cover expenses. Time to get real and face the facts. I raised show rabbits many years ago. I sold lots of show prospects to other rabbit breeders, 4-H and FFA. I had around 300 rabbits at any given time. I butchered and sold the culls for meat. I went to shows and was ranked #1 in the state and #3 in the country for my breed. There is no way I could have made a living at it, even at that level.

Back to my opening statement. Look up mini dachshund dogs. Our daughter wants a dapple puppy. For a non-breeder, non-show quality puppy, they still want $800 to $1200 and you don't get the registration papers until they see proof of spay or neuter. If I paid that damn much for a puppy, then it is MINE and I can do with it as I see fit. But not with these breeders. They all have their "we don't sell to puppy mills, pet shops, etc, all our dogs live in the house with us and blah blah blah. My advice would be to buy "show quality" pups and actually go to some shows. Buy some good stock, in the most desired colors and raise puppies.

http://www.debbiesdachshunds.com/puppies-for-sale.htm

http://www.lenasminidoxies.com/

http://www.louiesdachshunds.com/

http://www.downhomedachshunds.com/Pupspage.html

It is insane how much they want to puppies that have "limited registration" I have no idea how much they want for show quality. You would have to present yourself as a budding show person to get them to sell you a registered pup with no neuter/spay restrictions. The "colors" bring the high prices.

And that's my two bits worth.

 

[tortoise]

No money in breeding purebred dogs. I worked for a breeding kennel with miles-long waiting list and puppies were $2K and up. They lost money every year. When I bought my poodle 6 years ago, the breeder (whom I'd known for years and was candid with me) stated they'd lost $5,000 on a single litter. The breed's market had crashed and they could only sell puppies for $1K, when they previously sold for $4K and up.

I've been immersed in the dog world a long time, only recently stepped away. The thing about reputable purebred dog breeding is there's TONS of testing needed to be done, depends on the breeds, but for poodle its OFA hip X-rays, eye certification and genetic testing. That's why the dogs are so damn expensive. If you really want to sell dogs at high prices, you have to have top competition dogs - whether that's conformation, agility, flyball, herding, weight pulling.... whatever. If you're selling high priced dogs for purpose, you have to prove that your breeding dogs are superior. That means training, grooming, hiring a handler or traveling all over competition circuit. That's why purebred dogs are so damn expensive, even when sold at a loss.

The other way is literally puppy milling or backyard breeding, which... well... it keeps the veterinarians in business. The kinds of crazy these people bring into the vet clinic is unreal. Dogs neglected during whelping, emergency c-section, and the pups are already dead because of the neglect. Plenty of people try to get a litter of puppies to pay for XYZ and end up losing a thousand dollars and get no puppies at all. The way people do it is getting colors of dogs that are mismarked,disqualified from show, so they can get decent dogs on the cheap from show breeders and sell them as "rare colors". But hey, people fall for that BS all the time.

The other thing about dogs is you cannot cull puppies. Ever. So developing a breeding program without investing thousands upon thousands is near impossible. Not like rabbits where you can breed heavily, buy and sell breeding stock freely, and cull aggressively.

Dog people are a special kind of crazy.

 

[Hinotori]

Sorry, going to rant here for a moment. Not directed at anyone here. It's because of the dog talk and what's going on in this area lately

What gets me is the morons selling dogs for the high prices that parents most likely came from another puppy mill. No testing on parents. No health guarantees. But they think if they charge more for registration because AKC means 'quality'. Or the ones selling crossbred mutts from untested parents and charging even more than purebred dogs.

With one of the local Facebook groups I'm in, I see people selling 'last in litter' 'price reduced to 2000' for mostly mutts that aren't even crosses of the breeds being claimed. Mostly pitbull mixes. Dumb (cencored myself) puppy flippers. Lately, more often than not we hear about people buying these puppies and the things have parvo. After selling, the seller immediately deletes their (fake) Facebook profile and turns off their phone number. Big warnings about them in both the pet and local buy/sell/trade groups and tons of heartbreaking stories.

 

[baymule]

I am not advocating abuse like that. I am advocating good bred dogs, but not at those terrible prices. haha, just like show rabbits I guess, no money in that either.

Well, @Wannabefree looks like you are S.O.L.

 

[lcertuche]

Mama and sister has raised dogs for years and sold puppies. To me animals are either meat or pets. I know you can't keep every critter and it helps to defray costs of vets, feed, etc...Wait a minute, what was my point?

 

[Wannabefree]

I'm not looking to make a killing on any one thing. I know better than to put all my eggs in one basket or bank on a single thing as a means for monetary gains. I have good business sense. I've always made my animals, whether livestock or pets, profitable investments. It depends on how you look at things. And I am completely ethical in all my deals. It is possible, if you can balance head and heart and not keep too many breeders that the feed/vet bills will break you, or look at it as a cash cow, fast and easy money opportunity. And more importantly, know when to fold, when to designate them simply as pets and discontinue breeding BEFORE you lose your azz. Will I ever be a millionaire? Nope. Will I ever make a decent yearly salary? Nope. Is that the whole point? Absolutely not. I like my work like I like my portfolio, ocassionally experimental, and heavily diversified. The value of learning, to me, is just as, if not more important than the income. YOLO! I'm a risk taker. Which is why I am researching heavily and doing nothing on a whim

 

[Britesea]

The talk about culling puppies reminds me of a family story. When DH was a boy, the family first moved onto their new farm. Mother made sure that all the children understood that livestock was going to be eaten, so don't get too attached. Each child got involved in 4H, and big sister's project was apricot tea cup poodles. When her bitch whelped, everyone crowded around to look at the tiny adorable balls of fluff. The youngest boy was allowed to hold one and while tenderly stroking it with 1 finger, lifted his eyes and asked "When do we eat them, Mama?"

Big sister was NOT AMUSED...

 

[tortoise]

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ha! I bet she wasn't!