| Karen e-mailed me, " I want to buy one of your female pups for breeding. I have a male short coat Chihuahua. He is not registered but I was told he is a per bred and I really don't think it matters if the pups are registered or not. I think it would be fun to start breeding Chihuahuas and I feel I could support myself with all the money I will make from the pups." |
| Karen I feel you need a "reality check" all about what a responsible breeder is all about. You have seen the beautiful pictures of pups in the magazines, the picture-perfect whelping boxes and X-pens, a proud mom dog in perfectly groomed condition gazing into the camera as her litter of pup suckle on her. But that is what the photographer want you to see, but that is not what breeding is like. Responsible breeding is really not a as simple as you may think. It is not as simple as putting two dogs to gather and in ending up with healthy, happy puppies. There is a good reason why dogs are registered with the Canadian Kennel Club. You can not say that a dog is per bred if it is not registered with the CKC. If you are going to breed and want to tell people that you are a responsible breeder you must start out right. All of your dogs should be registered with the Canadian Kennel Club, so that you know if they are related and if so how far back in the line. You must do research on the line the dog comes from to make sure that health issues do not run in the line. Have you done the research into the breed as well? By crossing two different breeds does not make the pups healthier, if you don't know the history behind the dog's family line you have no clue what health issues will come up in the pups, but do you care? If you are a responsible breeder you will care. Dog mating is not pretty. It's exasperating, messy and unpredictable. Expensive purebred dogs are not let out in the field to take care of everything themselves. Even if they are perfectly capable, breeders have to be there to supervise or to take the dogs to the vet's office various expensive test and artificial-insemination options. You'll do it again tomorrow, or the next day, and then the day after that. Then you'll wait. There's no way to tell if a bitch is pregnant until about four weeks later, so guessing and checking, fussing and feeling, poking and prodding makes no difference. Pregnancy is why you feed the bitch's bottomless pit, estimate how many puppies she's having (while agonizing over whether she is or isn't having any at all), make sure you have all your tools, set up your whelping box, lots of towels and more. Chihuahuas are not wild dogs and if let to free whelp by themselves they may not have any problem, but if they should you don't want to let it up to nature. A responsible breeder is there at the birth and stays with the her female through the whole time no matter how long it may take. A responsible breeder knows how long to wait before the first pup if born before they know that the female needs to be taken to the vet for an emergency c-section. Which is a lot higher in toy breed dogs then medium to large breeds. It takes approximate 63 days before the pups are born from the first breeding date. No matter how prepared you are it typically commences when you decide that she isn't ready today, and give up and go to sleep. She will do it according to the book: the one she wrote, not the one you read. If the pups are born to early four or more days you can loose all the pups because they may not be developed properly. You also must be prepared to hold down a female that has to have a c-section because 95 % of females that have a c-section will not take their pup. You will have to also stimulate the pup to go to the washroom, because the female will want nothing to do with it. If the pup won't nurse of the your female, you will have to know how to tub feed the pup and feed around the clock until the pup starts feeding on the female or you will have to slowly start bottle feeding them. How will you feel if one of the pups should die, at birth or hours after being born or one week or one month or two months? It does happen. You must think of how would you feel. Whelping is bloody, gross, slimy and disgusting and will last until it is over. You'll be covered in bodily fluids, your dear sweet dog will eat the placenta (if the placenta doesn't come out your female will be at risk for toxemia, she can die or you could ruin her whom and she will never have pups again), every thing will be wet and smelly and you'll wash several laundry loads worth of towels, rags and blankets. Each precious puppy born must have you help take it out of the wet and slimy sack they are born in. You will also rip the sack that has protected your pup during it's fetal life and have to clamp the umbilical cord and cut it. If you let the female do it "naturally" you are putting not just the pup at risk but the female as well. Sometimes the sack is very thick and it will take the female to long to rip it open and the pup can drawn and the female could rip the umbilical cord and the pup could bleed to death or get umbilical hernia and you will have to put the pup through a surgery to fix it. A responsible breeder would never put the pups life or the females life in jeopardy. The pup must be dried, inspected, weighed (weigh chart must be made to keep track of pups weight so if they aren't gaining weight you will know something is wrong and you and take action) and identified. When a pup takes its first breath, its body takes on firmness and is no longer limp. The puppy is alive, wriggling and nursing and know your work will really begin. But don't spend too long admiring because the next pup is on its way: you have to keep watch of your bitch and the first puppy that's got buried under a towel in the birthing box as she starts to dig and mess up the blankets under her. Many hours later you will have a litter of puppies. You might have spent the hours assisting in delivery, or waiting and worrying about an emergency c-section at the vet's office. You may have had to deal with malformed or dead puppies and you've only just begun. Every delivery is different every time your female has her litters. If you decide to go out for a long period of time and she starts her labor while you are gone you, risk loosing the female and or the pups if she should have any complications. Remember that at three days old the pups will need their dew claws removed. You also will have to watch that your female doesn't step or lie on a puppy: weigh them every day to ensure each pup is eating and gaining weight : check the temperature so that it isn't too hot for the bitch or too cold for the pups. Clean the discharge that leaks from the bitch. Make sure your female stays with the pups long enough to feed them and sit and watch each breath and movement with sense of never waning wonder as each puppy lives and grows. Unhealthy puppies are more work and cause more heart bread. Sleep is something you'll learn to value since you will get very little of it. Most breeders sleep in the same room as the puppies or in the room next to the pups and keep one eye open all night long for the first week or so. While taking care of puppies you'll also be taking care of puppy purchasers. One of the most time consuming but important things a responsible breeder does is educate people about their breed, which means never ending phone calls and e-mails. In between sleeping and phone (e-mail) conversations you'll keep an eagle eye on every vital sign of the whole family and take endless pictures. At 14 to 18 days, their eyes and ears will open, legs will start working better and little bumps will protrude on the gums. The little slugs have turned into little seals and begin traveling around more. Pups wander around aimlessly and fall on their faces and tumble into each other. Your bitch will clean up anything the puppies eliminate, which is handy and gross at the same time. You will do the rest: clean up the bedding, cut puppy nails, feed your female continually and talk on the phone/e-mail some more. The first three weeks are the lull before the storm. The work really starts when the pups are four weeks old and older. The pups need to start eating puppy duel (grown puppy food and goats milk mixed together). Puppies will walk through the food, lie down and pee in it, and your bitch will eat it if she can get to it. She will also clean the food off the puppies , but not very well, so you'll have to clean them up. When the pups start eating puppy food, the females will stop cleaning up after them when they have to go to the washroom. Poo and pee will have to be cleaned up by you, not their mom. That is when you must start paper training them, to make your job a bit easier. You will need lots of newspaper and hot soapy pails of water with bleach in it to wash the floor behind the pups until they get the hang of using the papers and paper box. In between cleaning you'll weigh each puppy a couple of times a week, take pictures, talk to potential new owners and start to enrich the puppy's world. Pups need to be stimulated, socialized and handled. They need toys, noises and places to explore. Watching puppies discover the world is a delight. Sitting in a whelping box with one to three pups at five weeks old is a trial. They pull on shoelaces, pounce on toes, scratch at faces and get close enough to bite your nose (their teeth are like razor blades) and places to explore. You will have by now clipped the pups nails once ever week from birth so that their nails are not catching on the bedding. The weeks pass and before you know it, the time will have come to say goodbye to the little fur-balls and send them off to their selected, screened and approved homes. You've done your best to find good homes and owners where the puppies are going to be happy. In some ways you can't wait to be rid of the little monsters but it will pull at your heartstrings every time a puppy leaves. But at least you will get paid, right? Just don't do the math and you'll be happy with the cash. If you add it up you can make a little money breeding dogs, but you can't make very much. Breeding is a passion, you won't get rich in the monetary sense, but you will be rich in dogs and friends. I miss everyone pup/dog I sell and try to keep in contact through the years with the new owners. It is like having a part of you go every time a pup leaves your home. Remember during that through the four months; first breeding through to the pups birth and growing up and leaving you will have also to live your regular life (job, family, friend, taking care of your other dogs (if you have more), house work extra). Remember to feed your dog a good dog food, with no animal by-produces or fillers or corn ex. Pup should never leave your home to go to their new home until the pup is no younger then nine weeks old and fully weaned from their mother. Vet checks are a must and pups should have at least one set of shots before going to their new homes. Between six and seven weeks old the pups should be tattooed and or micro chipped. You will have worked over 500 hours before you sell a pup. It has to be a labor of love. |
| Average Cost of Breeding one litter of pups. Veterinarian in Alberta c-section $ 1000.00 Emergency Veterinarian in Alberta c-section $ 1500.00 Pups first set of shots $ 80.00 Pups second set of shots plus Rabies $ 80 plus $27.00 for Rabies. Vet check for females or for pups $ 62.00 each visit Goats milk for three weeks $16.00 Puppy food for one month $30.00 Spay $285.00 Neuter $260.00 Dog food for one dog for the year $270.00, not including treats. Supplies for whelping $28.00, you will reuse supplies. Extra electricity bill and water payment for two months$28.00. Stud fee for a Champion CKC Registered male $600.00 to $1000.00 or the pick of the litter. Price to buy a Champion line CKC Registered Male $1500.00 to $3000.00. I spend an average of $380.00 in advertising and my web site per year, to inform people about the breed and also on advertising to sell my dogs. Not to mention the cost of gas and ware and tare of my vehicle to take the females to studs and to visit other breeder to see if I want to use their males, pick up food and supplies, and much more. Chihuahuas average litter two to three pups in a litter, from a 4 1/2 to 5 lb. female. Membership fee, Register litter and Register individual pup fee with the CKC, click here. |
