Want To Make A Lot Of Money As Boxer Breeder? Consider This Worst-Case Scenario

October 7, 2006 on 10:00 am | In Boxer Articles |

Breeding Boxer dogs is a costly business, if done right. It is even more costly - to your reputation - if done poorly. Few make money in breeding, and none become rich. Most breeders are content to break even. Those who do make money usually sink their profits right back into the business. The following scenario happens more often than not, so be prepared for this possible downside if you decide to take the work of a breeder:

Your female Boxer dog whelps a normal healthy litter of five, and you see the dollar signs walking on their toddling legs. You sell the first pup, which pays for the lovely whelping box you built, the vet exam, and the first shots. The next sale goes for the food bill and advertising. The third pup covers the registration of the litter, pedigree forms, worming the pups, and the next shot.

You buy more food and more shots (seven for each pup in the first six months) while advertising for the last two prospective owners, wherever they may be. Finally, one more sells, which means you can reimburse your parents for the stud fee they loaned you. You cut the price to sell the last one (who by this point is out of his cute stage), and pocket the profit. That is, unless you have tail docking, dewclaw removal, ear cropping, or shipping expenses. Wait - Did you forget to deduct the expense of purchasing the dam? You’re in the hole.

Ah, but next time, you think. The females price was covered by the last enlightening experience. You’ll breed to a local stud and advertising won’t be necessary because the last group of buyers will refer their friends and relatives. So the pups come. Or rather pup, because it’s a litter of one. That one goes as the pick pup to the stud owner, since you worked such a clever deal. But you must still pay the food bill, give shots, register, repaint the whelping box, etc. etc.

Well, this can’t happen twice in a row, you think, so you breed the female dog on the next season. The vet said it’d be okay, since she only had one pup. You go back to the first stud, thinking it was likely the second stud’s fault your dog only had one pup. So you pay the fee, paint the box, buy food, and take reservations on the litter. The pups are born, everyone suddenly changes his mind, and the pups hang around for six months. You buy a ton of food, give thirty-five shots, buy a large pen for the pups, and advertise, advertise, advertise. Then you must buy another pen to separate them because the girls are starting to come into season.

You finally manage to give the last two Boxer puppies away, take a breather for a year and breed the dam again, figuring something good has to come of all this. After all, your female dog has three champions in her six-generation pedigree! She whelps eight pups. You have reservations for six of them at one hundred fifty dollars each. At last, you relax. However, they contract a virus for which there is no vaccine when they’re six weeks old, before they can go to their new homes, and you lose all but three. Of course, you’ve already sunk a fortune into food, shots, and so on. You have to keep the surviving three for another month since they might be contagious to other dogs, and it’s cost you eighty-five dollars per pup for intravenous feeding to keep them alive. The six people cancel their reservations because (1) the pups aren’t as cute at three months as they were at two, (2) they don’t want a Boxer puppy that’s been sick, and (3) they already found one from their neighbor. That’s it, your wiped out! Are you prepared for this to possibly happen? Do you have the money?