Even if we don’t have puppies getting microchipped and vaccinated, our weekly costs are on average $4500. If we sell ONE puppy a week, we aren’t even covering wages. Breeders are in it for the love of dogs not for the money, so don’t get offended when a breeder turns down an offer of $500 for a puppy.

 

To break down some of these

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FOOD

Our puppies alone, go through 2 boxes of mince a day, that’s $196 a week

Our adult dogs go through 2.5 boxes of meat a day, that’s $175 a week

Our puppies also go through about 1 bag of dry food a week, that’s $67

Our Adults also go through about 1 bag of dry food a week, that’s $68

The puppies also get 3 bags of vegies a day with their mince and dry, that’s $105 a week

So just in food, that equals $611 a week to ensure our dogs and puppies are fed top-quality food.

 

HAVING AND RAISING A LITTER OF PUPS TO 8 WEEKS

First up is food. To feed eight pups for 8 weeks not counting the first 2 to 3 weeks will cost a minimum of $588.

Before we choose which dogs to mate, they both get a full DNA profile done by Orivet labs. This will cost about $215 each even with our breeder discount, that’s $430.

Before we even mate our girls and boys, they both need a pre-mating check, to ensure they are healthy enough to have puppies. This will cost on average $150 each. That is $300 before we even think about having pups.

Then there are extra costs for a pregnant dog like vet checks and extra food but if all goes well it’s not a lot extra.

After the pups are born, they will get worm and flea treatments every 2 weeks from 2 weeks of age until 8 weeks of age. If top-quality products are used this will cost about $10 per pup, per treatment. So, if you have 8 pups and there are at least 4 treatments, that will cost $320.

Within 8 weeks of the mother giving birth, she will need a postpartum check to make sure she is recovering well. This will cost on average $150.

Once the puppies are between 6 to 8 weeks of age, they will all need to be vet checked, vaccinated, and microchipped. The vet check will cost only about $50, but times 8 is $400. The vaccinations will cost about $120 per pup but you can expect to pay more, $120 x 8 is $960. Then there are the microchips, which can be anywhere from $80 - $150. Let’s just say they are $100 per pup, that’s still $800.

When the pups hit 8 weeks of age and are ready to go to their forever homes, there are even more costs. First, there’s the change of ownership and microchip registration which we do for you. This costs $25 per dog. Then we provide you with 6 weeks of free puppy insurance, we give you a puppy pack valued at over $100, We provide you will 5 free training sessions that we pay $85 per puppy that is under 12 weeks of age and more if they are older.

Once all the puppies in the litter have gone home, the bills are not over yet. We then must register the litter with MDBA at $55 per puppy.

So in total (if all goes well) raising a litter of pups to just 8 weeks will cost at least, $6068 just to have ONE LITTER! That is not even including staff wages! Quite often we have litters of up to 12 pups and sometimes we have them until 12 weeks, which will cost, up to $12,136.

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OTHER BUSINESS COSTS

Public Liability insurance $5448 a year

Wages up to $1000 a week depending on staff

Work cover $2656 a year

MDBA fees $100 a year

DAB $240 a year

Adult registration fees $1800 a year

Council fees and permits to build infrastructure $18,900

Audit fees $3,400 a year

Adult annual health checks $120 per dog per year

Quarterly worming for adult dogs, $10 per dog every 3 months

Annual C5 booster shots for adult dogs $100 per dog per year

Total for a year - $67,064 and this isn’t all but it’s the costs we have to pay before we can even make one cent!

We also aim to donate around 6 to 10 dogs per year so that’s a loss of between $20,400 and $34,00

 

NOW WE HAVE A BACKYARD BREEDER

They might have one or two dogs that cost $500 each.

They quite often don’t DNA test so you have no idea if the pup is actually healthy or not, that’s $0

They usually won’t worm them or treat fleas, that is $0

They will not get pre-mating checks or post-partum checks, that’s $0

They may or may not microchip them but if they do, that’s $800 for 8 pups

They wont have membership fees, audit fees or any of the fees mentioned above, that's $0

They usually sell them before 8 weeks of age to cut costs

Because they won’t vaccinate them, that will cost you 3 x $120

They will most likely feed them cheap food so probably $100 in food

The puppies often live in a small cage or on a chain and get little to no human interaction or love.

You may think it’s great buying a pup for $500, but you will be up for so many costs and have no health guarantee or insurance or a lifetime guarantee like you will get from a breeder.