Breeding is never profitable, or rarely, if ever. There is so much more to "breeding" than having two "purebred" dogs mate.
Like most of you girls, we bought our first female purebred golden retriever (sired by champion daw, sige na nga) from a petshop in a mall. Take note, we got her for 18,000! Right now as I think of it, it's too much!
And then I didn't know any better when she was "old enough". We were excited to have her bred! Luckily (we just didn't know how lucky then), we found a great dog to sire her first litter. He was from a Carebear line, which I didn't really know what meant at that time. Had I known that he is from one of the best lines of goldens there is, I would have bought him when the owner was selling him to us for 30k.
Anyway, our Happy (first golden) gave birth to her first puppy. Her only puppy from her first litter. We were pretty much disappointed at first but enjoyed having Prince anyway. He was one of the cutest and biggest dogs we've ever met! Needless to say, we had Happy mated with another golden again, this time, she gave birth to TEN puppies, two with hernia (died) and one stillborn. We weren't so concerned that she seemed to have lost a lot of weight (ribs very prominent) thinking it was pretty normal. But she never grew back to her old size (she's big boned).
Thinking she's too old and too thin to have another litter, we kept one female puppy, Vodka. By this time I had become more proactive in learning about dog care, so I had learned the terms "responsible breeding" and "puppy millers". But being just another kid at home nobody would ask my opinion. So our kasambahay (yes, she acts like our boss) convinced my mom to have Vodka mated with a champion. She just produced her first litter this July. She had 10 puppies, 1 died before they turned 2 weeks. But that wasn't the worst of it:
-Vodka was really tired from labor. She looked the same as Happy did when she gave birth to 10 puppies. Her ribs were poking.
-What was worse was she did not know how to be a mother. She would accidentally trample a puppy. She would pull at one. She was extremely protective that at one point I think she was willing to kill off one of her own puppies.
-Her fur was falling out! The vet diagnosed her with hypo (or hyper, don't remember) thyroidism, manifested when she gave birth (extreme stress). This is something that could affect her for life. We had 8000 in bills for Vodka alone. Good thing the vet was nice enough to nominate Vodka to avail of a 1 month free trial of dog food for sensitive dogs. Otherwise, 3 kg would've cost us more than a thousand pesos!
Never mind that one puppy needed to be on oxygen for 1 night because he couldn't breathe properly! I had SLEEPLESS nights because I wished that I had been more proactive. I blamed myself for not stopping anyone.
After 2nd week, everything was fine. The new problem would come when it is time to sell the puppies! I took extra care in background checks. Never mind that the puppies would stay with us longer, just as long as they go to caring homes. I was particular about the females as I did not want the buyers breeding off of them. Thank God they eventually got new homes, but it took us at most 2 1/2 months. By which time, I had become very attached to each puppy.
BTW, a guy offered to buy some puppies so he could sell them at his pet shop. NO THANKS! I know they'll just put my babies in a small crate and display them, leave food there, and not clean the cage at all. I'd rather my puppies be adopted by caring families than be displayed for weeks inside a small crate at a pet shop.
So, happy ending right? Not really.
I learned so much from this litter. One is that you can never be 100% sure about the "purity" of the puppy you are about to buy. Though I believe that Happy, Vodka, and Prince are purebreds, I can never be sure. This last litter, we have a puppy with a black spot behind his ear. SOMATIC MUTATION is what I researched. But is it? We also have a puppy with a browner face. Is he a mix? Is his fur still changing colors? WE DO NOT KNOW.
Papers can be faked. Just as diplomas can be faked.
Breeding, in most countries, or at least, in old times, was like NATURAL SELECTION. Only the best males are bred with the best females to produce the best specimens, and from there, they pick the best puppy, and it goes on and on. That's why we have breed standards. That's why we have dog shows.
Would I breed again? Maybe in the future. When I learn more about the breed I want. But that takes a lot of learning, and I know I must acquire only the best specimens. But never again will I breed without considering the health of the dam and her future litter. And never will I breed to get money off of them.
I hope you girls learned something from my long post haha. I am not condemning breeders, that would be too hypocritical of me. Although I said I would rather have not bred Vodka, I enjoyed taking care of her litter. But it was an emotional dilemma for me too...
I just want everyone to be aware of the consequences, not just to you, but also to your dog.
