TRULY IS THE QUESTION!!!!!!!!! If there is ANY doubt in your mind then the answer is NO! There are so many things to take into account. It is not just a matter of throwing a male and female together either. It really is a lot of work. You need to do some major research.

Here are some questions to ask yourself before even considering breeding.

Q: How does your dog compare to the breed standard set up by the parent club for that breed (you can find these breed standards on the AKC or UKC websites).

A: If your dog doesn’t come very, very close to the standard then again the answer would be no!

Remember NO dog is absolutely perfect, even those that are in show aren’t perfect. *Evaluate your dogs faults. If your dog has any faults like a bad bite (either over bite, under bite, or wry jaw), only has one or no testicles, has patellar luxation, hip dysplasia, bad elbows, cataracts, progressive retinal atrophy, epilepsy, Addisons disease, or any other life threatening genetic fault then again the answer is NO! No matter how beautiful your dog is!

Q: What are your reasons for wanting to breed? A: Just breeding the dog one time because you heard that it makes for a better pet is not a good enough reason. Or just because you want your kids to experience the “miracle” of childbirth is not a good enough reason. Rent a video!

Please do not contribute to the great problem of homeless pets in the world. Just breeding your dog because they have the cutest personality and you think that you should pass that on is NOT a good reason.

Also cross breeding different breeds just because the puppies are cute and you think you will make a ton of money is NOT a good reason! If you want a mixed breed please go to the pound and find a dog that desperately needs your help and a good home. They are finding that may mixing of breeds are causing major health problems like bad livers, heart defects, eye problems, etc.

Q: Is your female big enough to breed?

A: My rule of thumb is that if you have anything under 5 lbs then you should not breed it. Remember the smaller the female the bigger chance that she will have to have a c-section. And THAT can be a life threatening situation. Also those adorable little teacup sized puppies often have many health problems such as liver shunt and can end up effecting the quality of the life of the puppies.

Q: Are you just in it for the money?

A: If so then you are very mistaken. In fact most breeders go into the hole more often than making any money. There is a lot of responsibility and money involved in raising puppies. You are responsible for bringing each and every puppy you breed into the world. And that responsibility shouldn’t end after you sell the puppy to its new owners.

You have to pay out good money for well bred dogs of show/breeding quality in the first place. In today’s market you can expect to at least $2000-$5000 per dog and then maybe more. Then you have to have the dogs checked and vaccinated by a vet. Many times to just walk into a vet for a check up you are paying at least $50-$100 to get into the door. Then you have your shots on top of that. They can be anywhere from $20 up per shot. Then if there are any minor health issues such as kennel cough or ear infections you will be paying upwards of $100 to treat those. You have the cost of AKC and any other paperwork you may have.  That can run $15 dollars and up per registry per dog.  Then you have to pay for groomers and any equipment needed. In many cities the price of having your poodle groomed has drastically gone up. Toy poodles can now cost anywhere from $30-$50 dollars and that is just for a pet clip. If you want something fancy or are having to hire a show groomer to keep them in coat you would be looking at closer to $100. Standard poodles for a pet clip are close to $75-$100. And for something fancy you could be up to $150.

Now that your puppy is growing up you have to take into account the genetic testing required for that breed. Toy poodles (if you did the very least) you would want to do the PRCD PRA test for the eyes at a cost of close to $195 plus there could be a small fee to have OFA publish the results on their site, and the test for patellar luxation. Luckily this isn’t an X-ray and is just done by your vet. So you will have vet costs of $50 or over and it costs $15 to have OFA publish the results.

For standard poodles to do the very least you would want vWD, Hips, and eyes.

The test for vWD run $140 plus any fees to have OFA publish the results. Hips will depend upon your vet. They require the dog to be put out to do an X-Ray. You are usually looking at $100-$300 for this test. Eyes are to be CERF’d every year. This has to be done at a clinic and in most cases they are pretty far away. The price depends upon the clinic and how many dogs you are doing at one time. Usually around $20-$40 per dog.

There also may be other tests that your breeder requires of you.

You also have to take into consideration that many dogs that are purchased with full rights are done so on co-own contracts. Co-own contracts can very from breeder to breeder. Many require that the owner of the dog, show that dog to its title, before the dog is even bred. In most of these cases the breeder will stipulate a handler that has to be used. If sending a dog to a handler you are looking at a very minimum of $5000 to get started. They will charge you for boarding, feeding, grooming, any vet costs, and of course entry fees to each show for that dog. It wouldn’t be unheard of for a dog to take quite a while to finish and then you are looking at a cost of $10,000. Now say you have your dog titled and the genetic testing completed and are ready to breed it. Most co-own contracts stipulate that you have to breed your dog to one of the breeders dogs. If the breeder does not live close to you then you will have to ship your dog. Shipping both ways will be around $200-$800 depending upon the size of the dog and the type of transport or airline you use. You will also have the cost of the health certificate on top of that which can be around $20-$75 depending upon your vet. Some breeders despite the co-own will charge you a stud fee. Stud fees can vary widely. This cost will be more for a male that has a title. You are looking at $400-$1000 or a pick or two of the litter for studding. Some breeders co-own contracts can require you to also give up a certain amount of pick of the litter puppies to them. Now at $2000 and up for a puppy, that can run into a lot of money.

Say you run into complications and you have to be able to afford a vet for those emergencies. The new trend in many cities is the emergency vet clinic. These clinics are PRICEY! I have had several people tell me just to get in the door to see the doctor they are shelling out $300. If you have to have a c-section its costing some people $3000. And there is always the possibility of the heartache of loosing the puppies or even the mother.

Now you start into the expense of raising a litter. Moms after all doesn’t care for them forever. There is money out for vaccinations ($20-$40 buck per shot each time you go), wormings ($10-$20 each time they are wormed), puppy packets ($10-$30) that most breeders give, time and effort (cant put a price on this) in raising the litter, costs for advertising the puppies (can vary greatly but not surprisingly can exceed $100), vet checks before leaving the breeder ($50 or more), AKC and other paperwork which starts out at $25 per litter plus an additional $2 per puppy so if you have a large litter it can add up fast, and so on and so forth, not to mention the expense of great quality puppy and dog food ($25-$40 per bag).

Then you MUST take into consideration, what will happen if you have to hang on to the puppies for a while. The dog market has dropped drastically in the past few years. You have to be willing to either lower your price on your puppies enough to find them homes (which may put you in the hole even further) or be willing to hang on to the puppies until the correct buyer comes along. This will drastically raise your expenses.

This is also why prices for a great, well bred quality puppy are expensive.

Q: Are you willing and capable to extend this amount of cash to breed?

A: If not then again the answer to breeding is NO!

Now after all that is said and you have done some thinking and more research about it and deciding that this is something you really want to do, there are some other things you need to think about.

*Make a list of your dogs faults. Remember these should not be major health or life altering faults. I am talking about little faults like maybe the hair of your dog is a little too straight. You want to breed to improve your breed not to harm it. Or maybe The eyes are set a little too far apart or too close together. Just little things that can always be improved upon in your dog. You will want to find a mate that offsets these faults. Always breed to the faults of your dog. You are striving for the perfect puppy. That puppy that just takes your breath away when you see it. That will knock any judges socks off when entering the ring. That is what you are breeding for.

*Also remember that Health more than anything else is the most important thing, whether that puppy is going to be a great show dog or just a pampered pet!!!!!!!!!

*Not every puppy in a litter is going to be show quality regardless of what the parents look like. And you should be prepared to find awesome homes for your puppies that is suited to the needs of each individual puppy.

*It is important to make sure that your mates are compatible. Inbreeding and line breeding should only be done by the most experienced of breeders that know their lines and know their dogs.

*Males usually should be smaller than you females and that is not just in their size but in the size of all the ancestors in those lines.

*I personally don’t recommend breeding for the extremely tiny. There is a lot of heartache there and you must be prepared and know what you are doing to have happy healthy puppies.

* As far as what you are breeding for (besides that perfect puppy) in color, size, or conformation, there is a lot of opinion out there. Especially when it comes to colors and especially in the poodles as a breed. I say do what makes you happy. Do what you want to do to achieve that perfect puppy. A lot of breeders specialize in a few colors or in a few sizes. Decided ahead of time what it is that you want to achieve and then go for it!

*There is a lot of controversy about there about breeding and what a breeder should be and shouldn’t be. If your are breeding for the best and doing your best at it that is about all one can hope for.