Seriously, that’s what horses are for!
JK, but from knowing another friend who is into agility/rally/obedience, even though showing (much less breeding) dogs isn’t as costly as horses, when people do it enough, it does add up. And with breeding, if people are losing a great deal of money, that can lead to them making bad decisions to keep going!
I am a very small breeder. I have a litter once a year, or once every two or three years.
My SO is an amazing canine midwife …he has a real affinity for the birthing process. But the care of mother and pups, that’s where I shine! I love raising puppies, I love teaching them and learning from them. And I love seeing them go to their new homes, knowing I’ve prepared them as much as possible for their life beyond this farm. And that I’ve matched each puppy to the best of my ability with the “right” human.
I have trouble re-homing my adults, which is why I have 8 dogs currently 
I love my puppies but I know they are leaving, and I am just the first step in their lives.
But an adult, one I’ve raised from puppyhood, trained, slept with, competed, but for various reasons isn’t going to be a breeding dog is much more difficult for me to part with because he or she is a member of my family…not my child, I despise the whole dog parent vocabulary and “fur babies” phenomenon… I think it diminishes the tribe canine.
My goal with each litter is healthy, happy, well-adjusted Aussies that meet the standards of the breed and whose personality and individuality is nurtured. I honor each puppy’s drive. Some will “hook” onto hens at 8 weeks, others prefer a rolling ball. I had one black-tri girl who was obsessed with the puppy tunnel, and took great pleasure in rolling it when one of her siblings was in it with her, like a hamster. She is now an agility dog
I had one blue-bi pup who was kind of like Ferdinand the bull…he like to watch, observe his littermates at play but didn’t always join in. Then he discovered puddles… so I started playing with him and the water hose: he pounced, he chased, he drank water from the hose. I’d leave the hose running on the ground and he’d roll in the puddle the hose made, he’d bite the hose when I turned the water off. He is now a dock diving dog.
That’s what I have seen - breeding decisions are made based on convenience and price. And/or kennel blindness.
Of course we always want to use the easy and cheaper option, but going out and getting chilled semen is sometimes the better choice versus breeding to the stud you own.
Ugh! Although I’ve seen horse people use the convenience of buying semen to do a, “hey, got this nice mare, I will buy some nice semen and impregnate her to sell the foal for big bucks.” Ha! 
The use of chilled and frozen semen in the dog breeding world makes me envious. We didn’t have those options back when I was showing and breeding. I remember sending an Afghan Hound bitch by air to Chicago to be bred to the #1 Afghan in the country. The flight got rerouted to Indianapolis due to blizzard conditions in the Chicago area, and the folks at Indianapolis were afraid to take the bitch out for a potty break because they had had a dog get away from them a few weeks earlier. After begging and pleading with them by phone to take her out, they finally did and said she peed a reservoir. I can totally understand what a relief it must have been to her!
And then by the time she got to Chicago, her intended mate had left for a show in another state and wouldn’t be back for 4-5 days. I had a choice of bringing the bitch home and trying again on her next heat cycle, leaving her there until her next heat cycle (paying $$$ for board), or using one of the stud dog’s sons or his half-brother. I was able to talk the breeder into letting me use the intended stud dog’s sire, who was getting up there in years and mostly retired from breeding. We knew we had less than a 50% chance of a pregnancy, but I decided to risk it and we got one of that dog’s last litters ever. Unfortunately, the bitch caught a low grade staph infection while there that we thought we had gotten cleared up but she harbored enough of it to pass it in her milk to the litter and we lost all but three of them within the first few days, and one of the survivors ended up blind in one eye from it, so couldn’t ever be shown.
It was a very expensive and sad foray into the breeding world and I didn’t breed again for many, many years (and then with an entirely different breed, and using my own stud dog).
Yikes… those are the things that keep me from ever considering breeding. My mom’s best friend had Afghan Hounds when I was a kid. I used to love brushing them. I thought about getting one at one point, but didn’t meet one whose personality I loved. They all seemed to not care too much about humans.
This reminds me of when my mom sent one of her lab bitches to a breeder in Ohio. When we went to Pearson to pick her up they sent us on a wild goose chase to find her. I was just a kid but I still remember my mom trying to hide her panic. The thought that the airline had lost a valuable dog and a beloved pet. Anyway, we tracked her down, and being a typical lab she didn’t seem to care, she was just happy to see us.
Contacts of the stud owner purchased the majority of the pups. My dad is a pilot and has small planes (Cessna’s), so they chose to fly the pups down themselves instead of driving or dealing with the airlines again.
Our rescue was just asked to take a Great Dane-a-doodle. FFS.
OMG. You have to post a picture of that one. I can’t even imagine what one looks like……
Yikes. A terrible idea on so many levels - but I bet the pups were cute as buttons. When I decided to spay my PWD at 10 months instead of waiting a year it was because her bestie was a Great Dane pup a month younger, and though I’m pretty sure I could have made a fortune off Great Water Dane puppies, there was no way I’d take that risk.
While trying to figure out what horror that could create, the internet informs me that that auspicious cross is in some made up registry as a a “Great Danoodle” (not dane-a-doodle or dan-doodle, but da-noodle? dan-oodle? neither sound great)
It’s everything you imagined. Except worse.
https://images.app.goo.gl/AgvsamZD1kR69NnE8
Interesting on the adult retired show dogs. I deal more with Maine coon cats, and from what I can tell most breeders only keep the males and queens intact for a few years and then they all seem to have success selling them to pet homes. Obviously some stay as THEIR pets, but not most. A few really good cats stay as breeding animals for longer, but that seems less common. And like I said, they seem to sell quickly. Maybe it isn’t true of all cat breeds, and Maine coons might have a supply/demand thing going for them, plus a retired successful show cat is generally a pretty outgoing social cat so that might be a selling point as well. I can see why you would only keep them intact for a few years though, because an intact cat, especially a male is considerably more of a management challenge than an intact dog. But I figure that’s a pretty good life because you’re a show cat for a few years, you get to breed for a few years and then you go get to live the ultimate life as a house cat for the rest of your life. I should be so lucky.
Well, it’s not exactly new; I have breeder friends who have 30 year old semen on ice. But it is more expensive, not just because of the breeding itself, but the monitoring of the bitch - that’s where it usually gets too expensive for people. If you don’t live close to a good repro clinic, you may have to board your bitch there so that they can time the insemination.
My stud dog was to be bred to a co-owned bitch. The breeders had agreed that the first owner would choose the stud for the first breeding, and the second would get the next one. First breeder chose the more convenient option, and the puppies were average at best. The bitch had complications during delivery and the following year was spayed. Breeding decisions are hard. You should never settle on second best and figure next time you’ll spend the money. Because there might not be a next time.
My breeding/showing endeavors were in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Egad, I am getting old!
🫣
http://www.goliathsaintberdoodles.com/Older-puppies-and-Adults-Available-for-Sale.html
This is just south of where I live. A hoarder/puppy mill posing as a “Saint berdoodle breeder”. She’s supposedly selling puppies for up to $7500 
Just saw a fearful dog at the feed store. It was scooting all over. I knew it had to be some sort of doodle and I should have been able to guess based on the coloring. It was a “sheep dog doodle”. Ugh. Coloring of a sheep dog, body type more of a poorly bred poodle. Mind of a gnat.
Oh dear lord… read about the F1 “genetic perfect blend” crap in the “what is the genetic perfect hybrid…” whatever page on that site.
An ad for Saint Bernard x Great Dane puppies showed up in one of my local FB groups. Someone asked if the parents were health tested and whatnot, why they were worth more than a shelter dog. The seller then replied to go to a shelter. Perfect example of why backyard breeders get a bad rep.
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