Costs Prior to Delivery:
Health testing costs to screen for genetic disorders will vary depending on whether you breed Labradoodles or Goldendoodles. This list is the bare minimum of health tests, as other tests that merit being done are not included. Good breeders often also do blood work to check for thyroid function and also and cardiac ultrasounds, for example. But let’s start with the basics.
Hip tests:
PennHIP $400-$1200 depending on region of the country
OFA, Hip and elbows $300-800 depending on region
CERF (eye exam by a certified veterinary opthamologist) $50-200 depending on region
PRA $165-195
von Willebrand’s $150
Brucellosis test, if natural breeding $75
Progesterone tests if AI $300
Shipping of semen if AI $300
Stud fee:
Usually the price of one pup. Let’s be generous and say you will get $1000 per pup, for F1 pups. Higher generations sell for more, and the stud costs are much higher ($2000-$3000). Even if you plan on selling the pups for much less, that is what the stud fee will run. If you don’t have an established name, you may HAVE to charge considerably less than the going rate per pup, despite the high stud fee. If you happen to own the boy you plan to use as the daddy, double all the testing costs because he needs to be tested too!
Materials and Supplies:
Whelping box, heat pads, heat lamps, scissors, thermometer, towels, baby scale, tweezers, hemostats, alcohol pads, baby suction bulb.
Build your own whelping box, $100, or buy a whelping box, $200-500
Supplies,$400
So total ranges from $4740-$6620 before your girl has even delivered her pups.
Expected Costs After Delivery
Milk replacement formula, baby bottles, tubes for tube feeding, sterilizing solution, nail clippers $100
Puppy worm medication (2,4,6,& 8 weeks), puppy diarrhea medicine: $100
Food: a pregnant female needs about 4X what she normally eats, and alactating female will also need extra rations. Growing puppies are alsochow hounds. For a good quality kibble, probably $600 will be spent on mom and pups from the time mom gets pregnant to the time pups go to new homes
Vaccinations (1 or 2 sets before pups go home) $260-500
Cost of Hot Water, Electricity and Soap to do 2-3 loads of puppy/dog laundry every day for 8 weeks: Depending on region, $0.50 a load, $100
Electricity to keep pups warm:$50-200
Time off work to monitor mom and pups for first 2 weeks minimum
Different for everyone, but likely to be at least $2000
Chewing supplies: Either $500 to repair the walls the pups will chew, or $100 in dog toys!
Cleaning supplies: Puppies are pooping machines. Do you really want to use your kitchen mop and bucket? Probably not. $80 for soap, bleach, paper towels, gloves, bucket, mop
Advertising to sell pups??? Making a website can be free if you know how to do that type of work but having people find that website on the search engines when they look for a puppy costs between $100-300 / month without advertising. Advertising itself can cost anywhere from $50-$1000/month depending on the media used.
So this is another $3540-$5380 after whelping. Add those up and that is $8280-$12000
This is if everything goes well. If everything does not go perfectly there are:
Unexpected Costs
Emergency C-section: $1200
Emergency trip for eclampsia: $150 (often fatal if not caught early)
Treatment for mastitis $175
Treatment for pyometra (uterine infection) $250, and hopefully she survives……. pyometra is often fatal.
Vet visit for sick puppies: $150-$600
Vet visit for mom dog running a fever, having diarrhea, etc $200
This does not even include the price of the animals purchased for breeding.
This is all factored into the price of a puppy from a reputable breeder. We also offer reimbursement for genetic problems if they somehow show up in our puppies after they go to homes as well as offering to take back or help rehome any puppies/dogs that our families cannot keep.(for the lifetime for the dog).
This list was updated and individualized from a list provided by Helene Roussi,