To Breed or Not to Breed (Ont561)

To Breed Bulldogs or Not

My husband and I are looking into breeding English Bulldogs. The question is if it is worth the initial investment and time required to be with the dogs, train the dogs, show the dogs, breed the dogs, and how much the puppies will sell for. According to the AKC there are approximately 350 AKC approved breeders in the United States and only one of those are in Arkansas.

We would capitalize financially by selling the puppies from breeding from champions. Concerns are if we have the time to train and show for championships. Furthermore, will we have time to be with the females and males (they require a lot of human social interactions). We need to know the going prices of puppies, the how we are going to house the dogs, and what veterinarian we will use for shots and surgeries (females require a C-section to have the puppies). Most of the research will be done via Internet (AKC website and links) for statistics and information on breeding English Bulldogs.

It will cost us approximately $1000 to build proper housing for the bulldogs that includes the housing for the future puppies. We have a male bulldog, therefore we need a female. The going prices for females are $1500 to $2500 (it just depends on the champion bloodline of the dog). Raising the female, training, and showing the female will cost around $500 (this includes shots through the year). Females are ready to breed at the third cycle (around 18 months). There will be trips to the vet for progesterone checks and then artificial insemination. After that there will be a ultrasound and then additional vet visits until the puppies are ready to be born then there is a c-section. Total cost from beginning to birth once a female is ready to breed is around $900 (Bullwrinkle, 2008).

After the puppies arrive there is the time issue needed raising them to 8 weeks of age. Female bulldogs can easily kill the puppies by rolling on them, therefore, it is required that the puppies have 24/7 human...