In a message dated 12/4/01 5:07:44 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< Some people must be making money..come on...get serious. Amen Jo Ann !!!! Lots of people are making lots of money. We always here about the litter with all the health problems but what about the litter of 6 with no health problems? thats between $9,000 and $18,000 being raked in BEFORE you count the puppies back and other schemes. A lot of these breeders give their own shots so if things go well vet costs are minimum. Heart certs and eye certs from sponsored health fairs at shows.... and an OFA xray. You can actually produce healthy puppies with all the proper medical testing for a reasonable price IF things go well. And I won't even get into how much the mills are making with minimum or no health care or expenses to speak of. Sure if you add in everything you ever do related to dogs you can ALWAYS show a loss on paper. That $5,000 import dog, trip to crufts, pro handler bill, food, toys, hotels and airlines to travel around to shows, meals, whatever.... No matter what you can find a way to show a loss on paper. To me the cost of a litter are those expenses directly related to the litter. It is the health tests on the parents (and often the breeder only owns one and pays for one dog) Stud fee, and medical costs of having the litter and associated with care of the puppies until they are placed in a home. THAT is the cost of the LITTER. Weigh that against the selling price of the puppies and any "puppies back" so many people get and many many people are making money on THE LITTERS. Many choose to then spend even more then they make on the breedings on showing, and traveling to shows, and pro handlers, hotels, air fare, advertisement, campaigning, etc.... Thats not losing money on breeding thats an expensive hobby, sport, or occupation that can not be supported on the money made by breeding alone. A skier pays a lot to enjoy their sport. Scuba diving .. maybe more Sky diving, expensive sport Mountain climbing lots of expensive gear. People who do these things pay a lot of money througout the year and their expected return is the joy these chosen activities bring them. I will never understand why it is so prevalent in breeders to view their investment in their chosen activity as a loss, one that they should strive to recoup through their dogs, instead of viewing it as an investment in the joyful pursuit of something they love doing. The pay back should be the dogs and the love and joy they bring to the breeders and so many other families. Those who view breeding with a "balance sheet" mentalilty are really viewing it as a business. The dogs are assets. These are not the people who will champion the welfare of this breed moving forward. Sure there are litters where there are sick puppies, C-sections, the bitch dies, no puppies live that are pure losses. But for everyone losing money there is another making money on this breed. Why are so many afraid to admit it? It is not a crime and frankly many of the responsible breeders DO re-invest the money they make into their dogs and for their welfare. One way or another all of the cash changing hands in the breed right now is NOT doing the breed any good at all. Dave CastleMyst Cavaliers http://members.aol.com/CMystCavs ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 1999 by its original author.
