Health and happy homes first

Choosing whether to breed a litter from your working bitch is a big decision with many factors to consider, the least of which should be the potential profit, says David Tomlinson

- David Tomlinson

DURING the Covid years there was a small fortune to be made from breeding a litter of puppies, such was the demand. An acquaintance bred a litter of cockerpoo puppies because he wanted a puppy from his bitch. He ended up pricing them at £3,500 each to ensure that he got genuine buyers and not individuals planning to sell them on at a profit. Once he had purchasers he approved of, he reduced the price by £1,000 but still made a tidy sum.

The puppy market has now returned to something like normal, which means not only far fewer puppies being born but much more sensible prices being set. You can, if you do your research carefully, find quality retriever or spaniel puppies at less than £1,000, though there are still some optimistic breeders pricing their puppies far too high and having to reduce them as they remain unsold. The worst nightmare for any breeder is ending up with 15- or 16-week-old puppies that nobody wants: peak sales are always in the eight- to 10-week-old period.

Thus my first advice to any amateur breeder contemplating having a litter of puppies from their bitch is to make sure that they have several confirmed orders before the puppies arrive. The best thing to do is to put the word around among your friends or shoot members that you are planning to breed a litter. Assuming that your bitch is known to be a good worker, is nice-looking and of sound temperament, then you might well be surprised by how many people will want one of her puppies.