I am curious to know if there is anyone out there who knows of anyone who breeds quality labradors as their only source of income. I realize some handlers do, but they also handle dogs and generate income from this. I love breeidng and raising my Labradors and would love to do it exclusively while doing a little showing for myself. I am not really sure if anyone does this and so am not sure if this is a feasible goal. I am not talking of puppy mills or trying to become one. I just think it would be great to help perpetuate the traits that make this breed so endearing to us and give people that want a Lab with good looks and a great temperament more opportunity to procure one. Many breeders breed on a limited scale and thus a lot of pet people have trouble finding quality dogs and wind up buying from BYB and puppy mills. I believe if this could be done it would provide a nice alternative to the general public. Does anyone out there no of anyone who breeds labs as there exclusive means of income?

yes I sure do know of more than a few

yes I do too but they all will tell you they don't make any money (right)and in fact lose money

Well like always say money isn't everything. In fact its a fair trade of in my opinion if you are doing something you love. Does anyone know of the websites of these breeders or kennel names so i might track them down and contact them myself.

Good Luck, with the economy the way it is, there are less people buying any dogs. I would think in order to have this as your only source of income, you would have to breed many litters in a year. So, would this put you under the hobby breeder category? You would have to check out with each state and you also have to pay state taxes and IRS taxes and probably have to change your income tax and claim your kennel as a business. That is if you are going to do that or just not report anything. There is allot to consider and we are also fighting new state laws with how many dogs you can have and breeding. You might want to think more about this.

Perhaps a suggestion would be to combine a boarding kennel/grooming/training business with the Labrador lines you want to breed, raise, and show. This way your business has a diverse income base and you are no longer "puppy dependent" for income. There is nothing worse than "having to breed a litter" for income. I have found that people make bad judgment calls under those circumstances

Yup yup:) that is my personal dream...a very nice but small upscale type of kennel completely separate from my dogs. Maybe a very small office are with a retail wall of not made in china dog toys and treats...oh yes, I love to make home made treats:) Nothing to crazy, maybe room for 20 boarders max..in a nice rural are that is central to some large cities (we are contemplating Murphy NC right smack in the middle of Atlanta, Chattanooga, and Asheville)
Something that would actually help SUPPORT my hobby breeding that is certainly not a money making venture
Annie

You'll need to meeting local zoning ordinances too. Hope you have plenty of acreage.

Oh yes I also know a couple.They do quite well have a large breeding operation more then 6 litters a year.
ships them over seas. keeps up with the joneses by showing.

I feel there are enough breeders out there as well as rescues to fullfill he need.
I would not advise to breed for profit. Like another poster said. Have other support in your business. Do not deend on breeding for profit.
Yes, we all know those breeder who say they don't make money and are always in the hole. They would not keep doing it if tis were true.

Yes, I know of a gal that totally supports herself with the income from her labs..I would say she has around 8-10 litters a year. All her breeding stock have their clearances: OFA hips and elbows and Cerf. With each puppy she gives health clearances and hips and elbow guarantee..She also has some very impressive lines that she has bred to...So she seems to have made it work for herself...Her dogs seem very well cared for. Her web site is up to date with pictures of her kennel and yard area for her dogs...

I know a couple that retired and their income is from breeding now.

I'm nauseated to think that someone would crank out puppies to pay the light bill. No wonder the AR people are after us.

In general, I do not think that breeding just to pay the bills is a good idea. You must think of the animals first. When you depend on breeding and selling pups to make a living, it is very easy to find yourself breeding dogs that aren't the best quality just because money is tight and you "need" a litter to cover your ass.

While some good breeders do make money, most do not. Just because somone makes money breeding does not mean they are a bad breeder, but it does mean they have a lot of work because they must have a lot of dogs, 10+, which means a lot of money on training, clearnaces, shows & other competitions if they are to do it right. Needless to say, all this also takes a lot of time.

Making money or not, to be a good breeder you must only breed dogs that are sound in both health and temperament, you must properly socialize and train them to keep them healhy, active, and happy. And you must be prepared to care for all your pups; meaning caring for them when they're born until they all find responsibly, loving, and happy homes suited to their needs, and then be able to take any of them back at any time if the person you placed it with is no longer willing or able to care for it.

Bottom line is, 2 dogs or 20 dogs, lossing money on a hobby or making a little extra to mpay some bills, you need to do right by the dogs, their pups, their new families, and your breed.If at any time you lose site of this, you are no more than a back yard breeder, or worse, a puppy mill.

I don't see how you can breed litters to 100 % support yourself. If I tried that I'd be homeless. Out of 3 litters from our latest girl, she had 3 pups the first time, 10 the next and then 4 surviving ones on her last litter.

What if you have to pay for $1000 C Sections ? What if you have Singltons ? You'd have to have 15 breedable bitches in your breeding program and breed them all at the same time just to make sure you had enough puppies to pay the bills ???

I do think the general population is getting overstaturated with Labrador puppies so then you would have to lower your price on each puppy unless you can afford to hang on to them longer, either that or sell all your puppies into breeding homes just so you can command big bucks, claiming that your pups are all show quality or excellent brood bitch and stud dog puppies.

There is nothing wrong with breeding Labradors for a hobby you love but don't do it soley with the idea that you are going to sustain your life or your familie's lives on that income only. You may be very disappointed not to mention the lives all your breeding dogs and bitches would be living if you had to collect so many of them just to make a profit.

Some breeders have made quite the business co-owning many of their puppies in their litters where they get to raise the puppies and sell them then the bitch goes back to the owner. Then there is always the business savy breeders who run puppy brokerages but they don't look at it that way.

Try to set up as many scenerios as possible before you consider breeding soley to support yourself. If your girls don't whelp as many puppies in a litter as you would have hoped, then what ? If one of your dogs or puppies get ill and you need to take them to the vet but you don't have the money to pay for it because your females are not producing large enough litters ? Do you allow your dogs to suffer and go down hill because they are dependant on good care only if your bitches whelp enough puppies each time ?

If you are solely dependant on breeding puppies what happens if some pups in a litter are born with serious inherited problems? Is there a temptation to sell them anyway just to keep food on your table? My vet once told me that breeding dogs for a livelihood is the slippery slide to doom. He has seen so many sad cases of pups being sold that should have been euthanised instead. Breeding for profit is turning dogs that should be our companions into commodities. A very sad situation.

....and not to be a complete downer, but sadly it has happened that an infectious disease has wiped out entire breeding programs...what then?

there is a lady in labs that claims over 100k on her income taxes as her income for breeding labs per year.

The only person I know who has tried to do this has struggled financially and made some really poor breeding decisions just to get a litter to sell from dogs that should not really be bred. They owe thousands of dollars to the vet and don't register litters promptly if at all because of the fees they owe. They lost an entire litter because they could not afford to go to the vet for a C-section. They don't do proper clearances on their breeding stock for the same reason.
If you don't have a spouse/partner with another source of income then don't do it.
If you were already a professional handler with a good clientele I would say go for it but you really do need another source of income. Otherwise you will just become another BYB

I do not believe it is a realistic goal to breed dogs as anyone's only source of income.

I do believe everyone should be able to make money doing what they love, however in terms of breeding, there are just so many things that could happen to make it a very unpredictable and unreliable occopation.

Chances are you'd end up going bankrupt if you were to attempt it while still doing right by the dogs--meaning getting all clearances done, having emergecy vet fund available, waiting until the right age before breeding, etc, etc, etc.

There are just no guarantees when it comes to profiting from such an endevor, not to mention all the stress it can cause. You plan, God laughs. Mother Nature has her own ideas. So many things can go wrong that could cost you everything.

IMO the only way it would be *remotely* possible is not to breed puppies for income, but to get a good enough eye to be able to get promising adolescent boys and good enough at picking handlers, shows, and schmoozing in general, to get those studs that are bred 5-6 times a month.

There are a very few kennels, I'm sure, that on a year-to-year basis (of course not in the first decade they were in dogs) could live off stud fees & related alone IF everything else was tightly budgeted and their lives literally revolved around their stud dogs.

This is someone breeding dogs as an "only source of income" and he makes me sick!
http://www.puppyhavenkennel.com/

oh my goodness.
That is so horrid.
Everything you don't want for any dog.
What is so insane is how they brag about the wonderful kennel and show pictures so proudly of these sad looking creatures in such dreary cages. The ROW of Whelping pens made me sick. And what was this brag about how they even let the dogs have sex? like this is some sort of great perk of being in their little hell hole?
How can this be so out in the open and ok?
Annie

Unfortunately, Millers are not illegal and they come in all shapes and sizes...

Just like anything else, it is possible and OK if your do everything RIGHT.

There are wonderful breeders who breed 10+ litters a year and there are wonderful breeders who breed 1 litter a year. There are lousy breeders who breed 10+ litters a year and there are lousy breeders who only breed 1 litter a year. All the blanket statements make no sense and are not helpful.

This person only asked if it was possible to make a living breeding labradors.

Your right and this should just stay on the subject, it is very interesting!

**Just like anything else, it is possible and OK if your do everything RIGHT. **

Of course it is possible. Invest less, sell more. The dogs become commodities that to be moved out like last year’s automobiles. You’ll sell to questionable people because they have the cash and you have another litter on the way. Leftover and gangly puppies don’t bring the same dollars as round, fluffy ones. Bitches that gave you all their uterus could produce can’t retire with you. Unproductive dogs can’t take up needed room. Showing and proving your dogs is an investment that doesn’t necessarily add to the per unit price of your pups. Neither does breeding to outside studs but you’ll have both parents on premise and can advertise that advantage to your puppy buyers. Your 80-100 puppies won’t have the same handling, socialization and cleanliness standards as 8–20 with the possibility of a champion or two would, but that doesn’t pay the mortgage. You can make money, but you will become a K-Mart breeder and will deserve to be distinguished as such.

Just want to point out to "on the subject" that your response to the poster about doing it right doesnt really make sense because what you are describing is NOT doing it right!!! I do agree like anything else in the world it really is possible to actually do it right, I mean REALLY REALLY right

**because what you are describing is NOT doing it right!!!**

Curious didn't ask how to do it right. She wants to make money at it. According to her, good Breeders breeding on a limited scale is a problem. Because of that people have to wait. Curious wants to supply the impulse buyer so they won't run off to puppy mills or BYBs. Never mind that 90% of Lab rescues are owner surrendered once the impulse wears off.

A mere 200 out of 130,000 earn their championship each year, but apparently there is still a short fall of pet puppies and Curious intends to fill the void and because she ‘loves’ the breed she won’t be a mill.

Breeding 10 litters a year profitably was a moral question whether Curious intended it to be or not and that's how I answered it.

Thanks for the reply "on the subject".

I certainly do NOT agree that good breeders breeding on a limited scale is a problem. That doesnt make sense either to me. I was ONLY referring to being able to sincerely do this right, right all the way even if you do have more litters a year then someone else would feel is appropriate. I know numerous that do, all corners of the country, and they really do it beautifully. Kudos to them, may not be for all of us, but can't take away from the fact they really are doing it well, properly, and completely responsibily. Thanks for responding.