That is a question we are occasionally asked. We felt it is a honest request to answer. You may like to read our article; “why a champion”. I would love to tell you why what we do here is so different once more.
First thing's first; for breeders with a similar program as ours are not very different price-wise. It may have been years since you have purchased a poodle. Prices have gone up on everything, including dog food, electricity, veterinary care and more. We are not willing to lower our prices to accommodate because our dogs would get less of what they need and a comfortable life.
The testing done on our adult dogs adds up very fast along with their veterinary care/shots/medications and there is always an emergency around the corner in this biz.
"I saw a breeder that sells their dogs for $$$$$ less". We welcome you to purchase from that breeder that is in your ideal price range and wish you well on your search for a puppy. If anything changes we are here for you when your family is ready.
"I really want one of your puppies though!"
I'm not going to lie, I have been there! I like my puppies too. There are many expenses you will encounter. Pups get sick, pups get hurt and fall off furniture, pups need healthy yummy food-plus TOYS! Its good to save and count down the days. I would first research on whether or not its a good time for adding a puppy to your family. There will be expenses for a dog walker, day care grooming. Availability is a must for toy poodles. They have such a strong requirement for human companionship.
"But....I would give him/her a great life and home!?"
We are easily able to place our dogs in financially stable homes that should be able to afford vet care, nutritious food, security and love at the very least. They are good homes too!
"Why are you limited by the number of puppies you can sell?"
A class 4 kennel is what we are currently licensed for. Even though we may keep 100 dogs on our premises, we can only let 60 leave our property. That includes any dogs we retire/rehome and sell. Not only do retired dogs count against our 60, but that includes puppies who have passed away. That leaves a conservative 50 puppies we can sell yearly.
Aside from the monetary costs to support our family and give our dogs a great life; we forfeit vacations, day trips, visiting out of state to see family. Not having that "perfect" home with no poop, pee, mud and a bunch of unnamables to clean up continuously while having fancy dinner parties to impress friends. It is to make sure our dogs are never alone and are safe. Its easier to have a set of runs lined up so that dogs are separated and can't fight so that the owner can get a break and have a life. They can hire or have a friend to do basic care like food and water. We are not even equipped to have that kind of a set up. There are many sacrifices as a breeder; however, we embrace what we do and LOVE it. Not everyone can do this job but we do and we do it well!
We wish we could place more puppies into loving homes, but this is the reality: we can not meet the demands. We understand as well that we are not in everybody's means for our puppies. When we started we didn't have much and sometimes there is not much extra. We understand that!
“Why are you so limited”?
We looked into commercial breeding after building a second house just for the dogs to give them more than we had started with. It was a huge investment that we are proud of, thanks to YOU supporting us and most importantly-the dogs. This helps us be more efficient at what we do. We are thankful we were able to afford a better life for our dogs! It really is a doggie utopia here.
To cut to the chase, if we wanted to become commercial licensed; we would be able to sell much more puppies that we could easily accomplish with the breeders we have. However, the more we heard of the requirements to become commercial ; the less appealing commercial licensing was to us. The dogs would all need to be kenneled all the time with only 6 dogs can be free roaming at any given time. Thats the one thing I didn’t want for our dogs. We are home 24/7; we are able to monitor our dogs at all times while keeping them safe to enjoy a home atmosphere. Our adult dogs are only kenneled when they go to bed or the rare occasions when we need to all leave as a family. This way our pets get all the social interaction that we can provide.
We do understand the rules for commercial breeding. It would be difficult for many individuals to have the amount of energy required to care for such a great amount of dogs. Currently, what we have to care for is more than enough. We don’t want them to be lacking our attention. We have nothing against commercial kennels. Law-abiding commercial kennels are not bad and raise healthy puppies as well. Its just not where we want to go. We aren’t ready for employees. We don’t want that extra stress and pressure. The laws are very strict here in PA. For good reasons of course.
Raising our puppies is our only household income. After expenses, vetting, food, electricity, physical labor and our time; we have to sustain what we have going. We then have our personal living expenses for a family of 5; mortgage, electricity, health insurance, income tax, property tax, school tuition, etc.
As we improve our lines, pricing will reflect that. We have re-invested our earnings into improving our breeding dogs. Many other high volume kennels can likely sell you a more affordable puppy. We would rather focus on quality than quantity. Some businesses grow too big too fast. This puts great stress and sacrifice on the managers. Things become too much and loses it’s spark. We don’t want to ever get there. We enjoy being involved in our puppies lives after they go to their loving homes.
These last 9 years have been a sacrifice; we are finally tasting the joy of it! God has been so good to us. Thank you so much for your support!
Your friends at KC
Why are your prices,“so high”?