Dog Breeding
Breeding Border Collies or Golden Retriever
Profit or loss leader?
Your dog or bitch must pass their eye test before being bred from
If your motivation is make money from your Border Collie or Golden Retriever bitch you are likely to be very disappointed! Your bitch will need to be hip scored, this is an expensive procedure and will involve a general anaesthetic, her hip score may be too high for her to bred from and the cost of the proceedure will be for nothing. You will need to have her eye tested by a specialist vet from the BVA (British Veterinary Association) Eye Panel, this too has to be paid for and may involve travelling some distance and of course your bitch may fail in which case you will not be able to breed from her and again the cost of the procedure will be for nothing.. Your bitch may refuse to accept being mated, she may be aggressive towards the stud dog or for physical reasons you may be unable mate her. If you get a mating you will have to pay a stud fee of a few hundred pounds to use a reputable stud dog, and all this without any guarantee of a single puppy. Of course you can use "the dog next door" but the value of any puppies will be correspondingly lower and unless he is hip scored and eye tested you may finish up unable to sell your puppies at all or at worst being sued for selling "faulty goods". Many whelpings do not go smoothly, at best you will need a visit to the vet to check your bitch a few days after whelping, at worst a caesarean may cost you several hundred pounds and several visits to the vet for follow up treatment and the cost of antibiotics. There is also the cost of worming the puppies 2-3 times and any veterinary attention they may need.. The average Border Collie bitch produces four to five puppies, the average Golden Retriever six or seven, if all goes well and all the pups survive and pass their eye tests at 6 weeks (for which you will have to pay), you will have somewhere between three and seven puppies to sell, and you will still have to pay The Kennel Club or ISDS to register the puppies. Without a reputation, recommendations from local vets or connections in the breeding world you will have to advertise in the local papers or newsagents to sell your pups further adding to the cost. The price people will pay for such puppies is low and if you can't sell them easily you may finish up having to give them away to friends or relatives. Even if all goes well and you sell them all you will almost certainly still finish up seriously out of pocket.