Continued from Breeding and Profit

My God what breed are you in! In my breed, the Stud fee is the Puppy price, which at the Mo is £450 (maybe £500 now).

An imported Champion male had sired 10 litters in one year which is highly unusual, due to the fact that most of the bitches were by or closely related to the other available studs. That would be £4500, but he will only get to sire the odd litter now to the end of his days. I doubt he will have recouped his Quarantine and purchase in that one year.

Aside from Imports most males, even Champions may only sire half a dozen litters in their life! My Champion biutches sire had been top dog in our breed with over a dozen CCs, and at the time I used him this was only his 4th litter at nearly 5 years old, though there has been renewed interset in him since my bitch has done well. He is now almost 7 and has mated or sired 5 more bitches/litters.

The above is one of the reasons I find it amazing when posters ask about having their dog used at Stud, when they don't ewven show or work their dogs!

The astronomical sims quoted were for the owners of the top working springers in the UK. The one that earned 50k has another 8 stud dogs, so you can imagine that he is pulling in around 200k per year in stud fees.

What makes me really sick is when you look into what these people do, they register their stud dogs in the names of old age pensioner relatives who pay no tax. The particular dog I used whas apparently owned by kennel owners father?

They can use their dog at stud 10 times a week and the tax man never knows unless they start pulling records from the KC.

As a breeder of pups I feel slightly offended when people accuse me of making money from dogs. I am guilty!!!!

I am guilty of providing the most highly bred pups I can, that are from the most well cared for bitch's possible that are fed on the best food with the best socialisation I can give. I provide the best backup with a 24hr per day advice line. I evenlook after pups I have produced when the owners go away on holiday. What do I charge them? I don't, I get them to bring there own dogs food and get them to accept that it will need a bath when they get it back as it will be running in farm fields with my dogs.

I maintain a website where owners can see weekly pictures of their pups and get a newletter every few days outling the development and interesting events they have experienced.

If I paid myself in relation to the time I spend on my dogs then I would not appear to make a penny, in fact they would owe me.

There is a world of difference between puppy farmers, proffessional breeders and those poor misguided souls who still think that to let a bitch have just one litter will calm her down is the right thing to do.

I would caution anyone against breeding dogs unless they were prepaired fully for what can happen. To prepair cost serious money up front. I even go to the extent of importing special none shatter heat lamp bulbs from Germany, that is how ridiculous it gets if you want to produce the best.

My philosophy is never breed from a bitch unless by doing so you are trying to produce better than what you have got!

As such I do not keep my own stud dogs and I will travel to use a stud, in fact 9 weeks ago I was in Holland using a Dutch police dog champion as a stud to my Malinois. How big a dent do you think that trip put in my profit????

So finally I would like to say that if you are going to make money from breeding dogs then make dammed well sure you can live with yourself and sleep on a night, knowing that you have done all you can do to produce the best quality pups that are going to have the best start and remain happy and healthy for the rest of their lives.

Ian

WOW - not a lot I can say to that, other than good for you. It sounds as if your puppies have the sort of start in life that all good breeders strive for.

Keep up the good work,

Fiona

Have looked in my SBT annual for 2000 and found that the highest no of studs in a 6 year period is 70, so about 12 a year at £150-£250 a pop (so to speak), and stud fee isn't even the puppy price. How on earth can soooo much money be made from one dog? Maybe he was talking about the total amount ALL his dogs have made, cos can't believe all made from one dog, poor thing must be absolutely exhausted, but happy i suspect :p

Hi,
I am talking about a dog that year after year is the top producing sire of ESS in the UK. He pulls 50k every year.

The other dog was the Irish Field Trial Champion. I was sat in the owners lounge when he told me he had made 33k in the last 12 months. The stud fee is £250.

Wow that means he must have mated with nearly 200 bitches a year - now that is a lot even excessive for one stud.

Just out of interest how many litters were registered for Ess last year does any one know? I just wondered if that many bitches going to one dog would create a narrowing of the available gene pool?

Thats about 4 bitches a week, bet half the male population of this board envy his stamina! A well used stud in our breed would probably get 10% that number in his lifetime!!! :D

I expect that the tax people do check out KC records, it is not rocket science to realise that many people do make money out of breeding dogs and not declare it. The tax people keep all sorts of records about peoples activities. We were investigated once (all was fine I am pleased to report) but they even had press cuttings about our activities which we found pretty suprising.
Unless the KC's records are protected somehow but I doubt it

Stud fees are like cars the more a dog is sort after and the more he has done the higher the fee but there are people who have a good example of the breed and do not want to show etc, and the fees are then priced accordingly, we all have to start some where!

In some breeds like mine stud fees are pretty standard whatever the dog (but there again it is mostly shown dogs that are used). It is usually the current puppy price. I know in some breeds where dogs get used more, or where litters are very small that often the stud fee is quite a lot less than the price of a puppy!