What are the market statistics for dog breeding?

Question

I am looking for the value of the dog breeding market. As many details as possible.

Answer 1

I would imagine it's in the Billions overall. You have to be a lot more specific.

Answer 2

I've read the comments here and don't think they are correct. Maybe for breeders of small dogs....I have a golden retreiver and I breed her for 1 litter. My boys want to be vets so they watched the whole process from breeding to birth to taking care of the puppies (stating this so i don't get 150 emails saying i am a horrible, money hungry person! We had 1 litter then spayed her). We used a reputable breeder. She wanted a $500 stud fee. When I explained to her about the kids, she agreed to take 2 puppies. I bought Lily special vitamins while she was pregnant and took her to the vet once for an x-ray to see how many puppies there were (waste of money - they told me 7 maybe 8 and she had 11). The birth went well, so no expense there. When the puppies were 3 days old, i took them to get their dew claws removed. $3 a puppy....$33 total. The breeder had the deworming medicine and came to my house and did this for me for free. I went through ALOT of puppy chow but that is to be expected with 12 dogs. The breeder had a friend who is a vet and she came to my house and microchiped, dewormed and gave them their first shots and a check up for I think $50 a dog. The breeder had bought the shots and microchips online, which i think anyone can do (this was part of the $50). The puppies sold for $550. I had given several away (2 to the breeder and 3 to friends), but If I sold them all it would have $6050 minus expenses which were not more than $1000 even if you had added in the $500 stud fee.
OK, I think you can make alot of money even doing this the right way....BUT it is alot of work. Thankfully I have 3 boys that want to be vets and took care of most everything with some supervision. but I can see this being a real time consuming thing. It was a great experience and i'm glad we did it but we aren't doing it again. It was a lot of work and we were very sad to see the puppies go.
Hope this helps

Answer 3

I am not sure what you are asking here. But I make a stab at it. I think you are asking if you make money breeding dogs. If this is so. It things goes perfect then maybe you can break even or make a little all depends then there is the down size of something going wrong.

My baby girl is going to have puppies at the end of May , God willing, The vet isn't sure if she will carry them for that long. She may absorb her puppies. She has been at the vet every week since I notice something wrong, which was at the beginning. With the vet bills and the meds she is on , this part is very costly. My main concern is her right now. As a few days ago she is doing fine, but still not sure of the puppies.

So to answer your question when things go good you break even when things go bad it can be very costly.

Something you need to know before you go into breeding.
The only people who really make money are puppy mills because they don't care about their dogs, just the money.

So if you want to get two dogs, male and female, throw them in a cage and breed them until the mother dies of over breeding with no medical care then you can make money. People like that don't need to be breathing perfectly good air I can be breathing.

Answer 4

Amazing answers here today. A breeder does not make money and breeds because he has nothing else to do. Outstanding!!!!!! Now, let's get real for a moment. I am not a breeder, but, I happen to know several who are world class breeders and whom I deal with to get my dogs from. Let's say they breed a shepherd female of outstanding working quality and a male of the same caliber. Both dogs are titled in the work ring and maybe the conformation ring as well. Both dogs have proven themselves in the field. Let's say that this female has 8 puppies and things go well as far as having the litter. These puppies will be sold for about $2000-5000 a piece. The breeder not only accomplished his goal of putting out great dogs for the world to work with, but also made anywhere from $16.000-$40.000 from that one litter. Let's say that there was a problem though and it cost him $2.000 in vet bills. He still makes a lot of money. Where is the break even or lose money part? I know of no breeder that breeds world class animals to lose money or not make any. Think before you talk. We are not talking about breeding "pets", we are talking about breeding work dogs that cost serious money. This is not backyard breeding, it's a science. Why do people have such a problem with reality?

Answer 5

Puppy mills make money breeding dogs, because they are high-volume and low cost -- they feed crap and cut corners to improve profit.

Backyard breeders may make money, again because they cut costs, don't do genetic testing, etc.

I breed 1-2 litters per year. This usually means an average of 8 puppies per year, and I will always keep at least 1 or 2 of those puppies. I don't breed if I'm not planning on keeping something from the litter.

OFA (hip dysplasia) testing is about $100 per dog for the xrays, plus $30 fee to OFA. Eye exams cost about $25/dog. Depending on whether or not I have the stud dog in my kennel, this may be both parents or just one.

Stud fees are generally about $500-600 in my breed.

In addition, I spent $7000+ annually on entry fees, gas, hotels, and equipment to show and work my dogs in order to prove them worthy of breeding.

I don't even know about dog food. I suspect that's close to $3000 annually for my kennel.

If I sell 6 puppies at $550 (keeping two and using the average stud fee as a selling price), I make $3300. Of course, I also refund $50 to my puppy people for spaying/neutering, so subtract $300...so I make $3000.

I would have to breed 4 times as much to break even...of course, then I'd be doing more genetic testing and paying more stud fees, so would I break even?

You can make money breeding working dogs, if your name is well respected. And you can make money breeding pets, if you breed in huge quantities and don't test, pay stud fees, or use any sort of venue to prove your dogs.

But generally, breeders of well-bred dogs don't make money.

So, if you are asking about the "dog breeding market", you're either going to be asking about puppy mills, or specialty breeders of trained working dogs. The rest of us don't find much "value" in the "market", just in the dogs themselves.

Answer 6

What do you mean? The only people who make money from breeding dogs are backyard breeders and puppy mills. A reputable breeder will be lucky to break even.

Answer 7

Properly done you lose money on litters..ask any reputable breeder. With the Puppy Lemon Law if you do a shoddy job you risk losing lots of money in lawsuits..