It’s easy to imagine an English Bulldog breeder pairing a male and female Bulldog together and waiting for puppies to be born.Then simply selling those puppies for huge profits with little or no work involved, but there’s so much more that goes on concerning breeding English Bulldogs. From start to finish there are hours upon hours of work and lost sleep put into breeding the female and raising her pups.
1) Once the female has gone into her heat cycle there are multiple tests that are needed to determine the right time for her to be bred. These Progesterone tests call for many trips to the veterinarian and will generally cost $75 per visit. Unless the breeder times it perfectly, there would generally be at least 2 visits before you can safely perform the insemination with a high likelihood of success.
2) Once she’s ready, she can be artificially inseminated either surgically or vaginally. Because English Bulldogs cannot conceive naturally due to the anatomy of their body, the average cost for donor sperm will be $750 (each sample) plus $100 for overnight shipping. There may also be a separate charge by the insemination vet for receipt and storage of the donor sperm (generally $75).
- There is also a small chance that the first insemination does not
impregnate the female and you would need to pay for a second
sample for another $750 plus the reception fee by the vet.
3) A few weeks after breeding, the female gets her first ultrasound to confirm pregnancy which will generally cost $100.
4) At this point, the breeder will begin preparing for the new litter which means sundry costs such as towels, puppy training pads, puppy food, ingredients for homemade milk in case of rejection, etc, etc. These costs will add up quick leading up to the birth.
5) Before giving birth to her pups, the Dam is taken back to the veterinarian for an x-ray. This x-ray helps the doctor to determine just how many puppies are inside of her for an easier delivery. Around 62-63 days in the gestational period the pups are usually ready to be born. Generally the X-Ray cost will be roughly $150.
6) Most people have heard that Bulldogs require a c-section for their puppies to be delivered, but they may not know why. Simply put, the traditional, vaginal birth is much too dangerous primarily because the puppies’ heads are too big to make it through the birth canal. If a puppy should get stuck while the mother is in labor it would result in almost certain death for at least one of the puppies if not all. What you may not have heard about the c-section is that it can cost as much as $2,000 when completed by a professional and quality doctor. The c-section, from start to finish, usually takes a couple of hours.
7) Now the fun begins. English Bulldog need constant 24/7 monitoring, especially in the first 2 weeks. The puppies are susceptible to a miriad of viruses, bacterial infections and parasites. Add to that a bulldog mother has very bad spacial awareness and can very easily step on or roll over on a newborn pup, killing it instantly. Trips to the vet for a sick pup are common and costly. It usually involves an exam, some time in an oxygen tank, a script for Clavamox and other misc items to keep the pup alive. If the mother rejects a pup, that will require hand feeding the pup. Alot of breeders will make their own mothers milk instead of buying off the shelf milk mix. If you want my recipe, just email me.
8)At the 4th week, the pups should be off the teat and eating a mush concoction of nutrients, dog food and hand made mothers milk. They will quickly move to sterilized water. At this time they should also be standing and walking. If you have a swimmer (pup who is unable to walk), the pup will require substantial time working with it to learn to walk including physical therapy and hobbling. This may require a trip to the vet to make sure there are no broken bones or torn/damaged tendons. The X-Ray will cost $150. You dont want to hobble a pup with deformities. Its a sure fire way to lose a new puppy.
9) At week 6, its time for their first shots and microchipping, which on average will cost $250 depending upon the type of/provider of the microchipping. Vegas Bulldogs always uses HomeAgain and BuddyID.Com Microchip providers.
10) Also at week 6, its time to advertise on our website, facebook and a one time ad in the newspaper ($60). Obviously getting the word out and building a client base is the long term name of the game. Provide high quality, great pedigree and healthy English Bulldogs and your sure to get more customers via word of mouth and positive reviews.
11) At week 8, its time to deliver. Generally if the pup is being shipped locally, we at Vegas Bulldogs will deliver the pup to the owner along with a new bag of dog food that the pup was raised on along with the AKC paperwork, dog collar (spiked of course) and 1 year guarantee.
In summary, you can now see how expensive it is to be an English Bulldog breeder. There are many more costs that I did not touch on to keep this article as short as possible but losing a newborn pup to health problems is one of the most costly issues facing breeders. Additionally, it is humanly impossible for one person to do this and its VERY difficult for two people to raise a litter. For the first 3 weeks, most breeders will incur labor costs to help perform all the tasks we just talked about. I hope this article helped and if you have any further questions, please email us at info@vegasbulldogs.com Cheers!