How Much does the Dog Breeder Make? (10 Answers)

Q: How much does the average dog breeder make?
I know that the numbers vary a lot due to how many dogs they have, how much they sell them for.
But if you are a dog breeder yourself, or you know someone...
How many dogs do you have? And how much do you make annually with your dogs?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Kim S
it depends on what dog it is and current fads, my mom used to sell Shih Zhu puppies for like 1500 dollars, she had pedigreed dogs. She really wasn't a professional breeder since she only had a few bitches and one stud, so you figure a litter of about 5 puppies you could make like 7500 dollars, her dogs pedigree stretched all the way back to China in the 1800s. if you are talking about Puppy Mills that's a whole different story and you should never get into that.

Photo Credit: Ferlinka Borzoi (Deb West)/Flickr CC

Answer by Kat W
Lots of "variables' in this question…BUT
The first litter that a breeder has? chances are that there is NO money made…because of the cost of :

1) purchasing the female
2)getting the needed "shots" and registration papers
3) the cost of any shows or other "titles" that the female may get
4)testing for health issues, that "vary" from each breed
5) The stud fees
6) the travel expense to get the female to the stud dog…quite possibly having to spend the night in hotels…waiting for the mating to happen.
7) the cost of the puppy food and care for the first 8-10 weeks of the pups life.

The above things are the "needed' items for the first litter…
this doesn't include ANY of the time the breeder spent socializing the pup in order to get that pup to be a "great companion" for the puppy buyers or the time that is spent cleaning up after the pups…lots of time and energy is spent on "good pups" for those first 8 weeks…not to mention the time spent in talking with the new "puppy owners" that might be interested in one of the pups…and it doesn't include any of the time that a good breeder spends "talking" with the puppy buyers AFTER the pup leaves the breeders home…the breeders "job" doesn't end at the sale of their pup…it continues in the form of advising and support, to the new family, for the entire life of that pup…

Now after the first litter? there MIGHT be a profit of some sort…

Answer by Verci
Anybody who says you don’t make money breeding is a liar! They will tell you that cause they don’t want the competition at the end of the story. You can make a decent living out of it depending on where you are located, what type of dog you breed, the number of female dogs you own, and of course, you need a lot of dedication and space to breed.

You do not have to spend extra money if you don’t want to but the first shots for the puppies and deworming are necessary as many people won’t buy a pup without the first shot. The extra costs come for sure but that’s only in an emergency situation such as C section, and pup formula if the dam isn’t producing enough milk for the pups.

There are certain risks as well no doubt where you will actually be in negative for example Your dam needs a C section( quite expensive) Delivers only 2 pups and one of them dies…. right there you just paid close to 1K or more for the C section and you got 1 pup left so if your lucky you can sell the pup for the cost of the C section and then you break even but then you deal with your own dog recovering from the surgery and often times when C section is performed dam needs to be spayed ( again extra cost) or in worse example pups die and so does you dam then not only you lost your pet you also lost your money on the surgery, pups, etc.

You see breeding is a risky business and you have to count on the worse happening and be ready for it.
If everything goes smooth you can make up to $3000 or more per litter…. ( twice a year) but if problems arise well money goes into drain …. note: C sections are often preformed on toy dogs such as Chihuahua, Shih Tzu, pugs, and other small breeds.

So, in the end, you see you can make some money but you can also lose a lot including your own pets.

Rumble Video: Breeder Was Going To Throw Out 'Defective' Mastiff Puppy Until This Happened

Answer by nicki
a breeder that has about 20 female dogs can make 200,000k per year, but do you know what it costs to run a facility. remember these are animals and not factories. people are so uneducated.

let s say I have 12 pups and sell them for 1000. that 12,000 grand.
split that between 12 months in a year. that's 1000 dollars per month, divide by 4 weeks, that's 250.00 per week.
approx 40 bucks per day.

now subtract food and vet bills and care for the animal. How much profit was actually made.
It's a hobby for people that have money just like horse racing.

if you have 3 females and none of them get pregnant, it's a 2800 cost per year even if the dog doesn't get sick.
The bottom line is you make more NOT even having a dog. LOL

I'm a german shepherd fan for 30 years.

unless you scooped poop, you don't know what you're talking about.

most dog breeders are retired or their spouse works, most people actually have real jobs.

the REAL money is actually in dog training, Schutzhund training, not Petsmart training.

Answer by intrepidmalinois
A good breeder is lucky to break even, for too many reasons to list. Their reason for breeding is not for profit, but to produce sound dogs who fit the breed standard as closely as possible, not just in structure but also to continue the instincts within the breed for which that particular breed was originally developed, to correct structural faults and health problems.

This is the reason, "good" breeders who place some of their puppies in "pet" homes require that the pup be spayed or neutered. This is not to say that the pup is not healthy, but it may not meet the strict conformation standards for breeding, which is the purpose of dog shows. These shows have qualified judges who know the standard of each breed they judge, the dogs are being judged for fitting the standard closely enough to be bred.

Backyard breeder and puppy mills, do not hold to these standards, conformation or health-wise. They attempt to capitalize on the expensive, time-consuming tedious efforts of "true" breeders, who breed solely for the love and improvement of the breed.

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Answer by Apacapacas
For a backyard breeder who gets into it just for the fun, there's almost no profit at all. All the income goes to taking care of the mother and her puppies. But if you want to get into breeding as a business, it's a life-long commitment, because it will take fifteen to twenty years just to see if your selective breeding program has really improved the breed's health, conformation, disposition, or whatever other traits you're looking to improve. If you're just in it for the money, it probably isn't worth it.

Answer by Kat
I know many collie breeders. Most of them only have one litter a year.
Before they breed their dogs they have to them tested at their vet. for STDs. (yes dogs have sexually transmitted diseases too) Which costs $.
Then they have to do progesterone testing, to see when the dog should be bred. (Which means more $ paid to the vet.)

Then they have to pay the Stud fee – Which is usually around $ 500, but sometimes up to $ 1,000.
Then they have the cost of checkups with the vet. to make sure their pregnant dog is healthy and the puppies are doing ok. And the cost of feeding the mom and puppies a high-quality dog food to ensure they are all getting proper nutrition.

Then once the puppies are born, they will have to go for eye checks, health checks, and first vaccinations….all of which comes out of the breeder's pocket.

All of this and then there is no guarantee how many puppies will be born if any. And none of this is considering the cost in the event of problems which require surgery, etc.

Finally, there is the cost of showing the b*tch and/or stud dog and earning their championship titles. (Reputable breeders wait until their dogs are finished champions before breeding them.)

Most reputable breeders break even on the cost of having a litter, while some may make a small profit. More often they lose money on the litter. The reputable breeders are not breeding to make money. They are breeding to produce their ideal of the breed standard. They have carefully thought out the planned litter, researched the parent's pedigrees and considered all the potential problems.

Most of them will have people on a waiting list for puppies, so they already know their puppies will have good homes. Breeding a litter should never be done without careful planning, as there are just too many dogs and puppies in shelters without homes.

It's the BYB breeders who have multiple litters and the puppy mills that actually make a profit.

Answer by Laynnie
I have males so for me it's a bit different.
If you are the owner of both the sire and dam and are looking into breeding for profit don't bother. There is a lot of time and money that goes into even 1 pregnancy, both animals need to be vet checked before breeding, momma needs various vet checks during preg, then at due date there may be complications or she may need a c-section, etc. after she needs at least 1-2 checks to make sure she is still ok and there is no lack of calcium, etc. then all of the puppies need to see the vet regularly before they are even given away. Depending on the breed you have docking of tails, dewclaw removal, worming vacs.

over all the profit depends on the pregnancy, the last litter we actually had we made no profit at all, the vet bills due to complications with momma were more than what we sold the babies for. But the babies went to good homes so it's worth it.

I have 2 males, only one is a sire the other is not breeding quality (but he just about died at birth so I kept him)
my family has the dames and there are 3 different ones.

Answer by DK
Anybody who is claiming that you can ONLY make very little next to no money is either really bad at accounting and finding ways to stay professional while keeping costs down… or just flat out does not know what they are doing.

Some people here have SOME knowledge on the subject but obviously are either talking to the wrong people or doing the wrong things. I've been successfully breeding now for 6 1/2 years making upwards of $60K a year. It took about a year to start making this extra bit of money but it was well worth it. Note: I do not 'show' these dogs even though they are AKC registered… they're strictly bred to be family pets.

Anybody saying different, is either A.) a breeder and doesn't want competition, B.) as mentioned before just really do not know what they are talking about or doing, or C.) Works for SPCA.
Anyone trying to get into this field should not be discouraged by all the negative comments on this site. It can be very rewarding… particularly if you love animals, a specific dog, and giving families a new family member they can cherish for years.

Answer by Panda
Dog breeders can make about 20-30 grand a year to only 5 grand. Depends on how lucky they are.
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