Breeding a French Bulldog Litter for 'Fun' – Part Two

Part One

I’ve been engaged in a back and forth correspondence with someone who contacted me by email asking about breeding a litter. I’ve removed all of their identifying details. Here’s the second part of our emails.

Her response to my earlier email:

Wow! Are you serious!! I am imagining you have detailed the steps in an attempt to show me how silly my question was. Sorry. From your web page I assumed you were a tad more genuine then you have come off in your email. Maybe “genuine” is not the word I am looking for. I thought you could provide direction or information that was attainable. I do hope you got some amusement out of writing your response. Good luck with your special dogs. You must be proud!

..and my reply, after the break.

Well, I’m confused. I thought you were *serious* about breeding your male, so I responded to you in a serious way!

These steps weren’t sent frivolously – they’re what I have to do every time I breed a dog. Umm, hello? Frenchies are hard to breed. Just because you think I’m being… mean, or whatever, doesn’t change the fact that they are expensive, difficult and sometimes just plain impossible to breed. And here I thought you’d appreciate my taking the time to seriously consider your offer, and let you know what’s involved. Silly me, all you wanted was an answer of ‘sure, let’s throw them together in the yard and see what happens’.

Good luck with your special dog, and with the education you’re about to give yourself in how to go deep into debt trying to breed a litter of French Bulldogs. When your vet bills hit $5,000, you can write me back and I’ll commiserate with you.

Carol

Well, it seems she wasn’t too keen on that reply, either. Here’s her reply back to me:

I wanted to inquire about purchasing, not studding him. I wanted advice, not sarcasm. If you think you were not being over the top and rude, you need to take a good look at yourself. Please don’t contact me again.

Well, duh. Silly me. Barb was right – she wanted to buy a bitch, not breed to one of our girls. My mistake, and one I felt the need to correct with a final email –

Oh, you wanted to purchase! Well, your initial email wasn’t really clear on that. Purchasing is another issue altogether.

In your area, a decent show/breeding potential bitch sells for anywhere from $3500 to $5500, depending on who you contact. Most breeders are going to insist you put a title on her, before allowing her to be bred. As well, you are now definitely going to need to do health testing when the bitch is old enough. This isn’t something frivolous, either – in many states, puppy lemon laws will allow purchasers to sue you, the breeder, for the recoupment of veterinary costs for treatment of congenital issues in a puppy they’ve bought from you. If you can’t prove you exercised due diligence in attempting to prevent these from occurring – ie; by health screening the sire and dam – you can also be sued for damages. So, health testing isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s in your best interest financially.

You’re also still going to have to jump through all of the hoops I first wrote about to get this bitch bred to your male. Without timing testing, motility testing on your male, and usually artificial insemination, you are not going to get your bitch pregnant. It’s just a simple fact of life – getting Frenchies pregnant is hard, and expensive.

Your bitch will need a quality diet and supplements during her pregnancy, and an ultrasound or x-ray to let your vet determine how many pups she’s carrying. Then comes the c-section, usually to the tune of at least $2000, and in some areas up to $3500.

Then there’s the round the clock puppy care – Frenchies make, in far too many cases, horrid moms. Be prepared to bottle feed, and possibly tube feed.

You think this is all me just being cruel? It’s as far from that as possible. I just spent over $6,000 to get a litter of two pups, one of whom died after I’d spent two weeks bottle feeding him every three hours. I still have to pay for the surviving pup’s shots, care, chipping and registration, not to mention all the work I’ve missed.

When my ex and I broke up, I didn’t whelp a litter for FIVE years (update: actually, almost six years) – because I couldn’t afford to. Vets don’t care if you’re on a fixed income, or have two kids, or have a husband on disability. Bills need to be paid, and they can add up FAST, trust me. Ask my friend Sue, who just paid thousands of dollars for a show/breeding bitch, only to have her develop pyometria within weeks of bringing her home, costing her thousands more in vet bills to cure, and possibly leaving her with a bitch that will never be able to conceive.

You think this is sarcasm, or cruelty? It’s not, but you can ignore it, or take it as it’s meant – as a warning sent in hopes that you’ll consider how truly daunting, heart breaking and expensive it can end up being to breed a litter ‘just for fun’. Just for fun, or in dead seriousness – the bills and the work are the same.

Don’t worry, I won’t write to you again. I’ve said as much as I feel could possibly make a difference. It’s up to you to listen, or ignore my attempts to help. I do plan on using this correspondence to teach other people how seriously I take this issue, so I guess it’s not all a loss after all.

I doubt I’ll hear back from her, but if I do, I’ll be sure to enter it here.

Part One

Carol