Your husband has no idea what he's in for. Caring for puppies is enormously difficult and don't expect to charge for the dogs unless your husky has won breed-standard shows.
Care and feeding for the b*tch and the puppies plus supplies, stud service, registration fees, defect and genetic screening, veterinary care, etc., will generally run you $8-$10k but if there are complications the cost could easily double.
That does not include the cost of showing your dog. You will either need to pay a professional shower to take the b*tch on the show circuit or do it yourself. Do you have an RV? People on the circuit usually do. You will need to pay to keep your dog groomed in show coat too. You will pay for driving all over the US attending shows, paying entry fees, paying for hotels, paying groomers until you learn how to groom your dog yourself and buy all the required tools, and then maybe walking away with nothing. Showing is a must. You can't get into breeding without it unless you're breeding working dogs and then you must be known within the working community actually working your dogs and winning working contests. But let's say you're just showing for conformity. You will need to get in good with the other breeders, joining their clubs, going to events, talking and learning about the breed. You will need them to judge your b*tch to see if she has any hope of winning a championship in the ring. Competition for popular breeds is fierce and some breed clubs have serious problems with cliques of members disparaging other cliques within the club, others are like extended families who save their competitive spirit for the show ring. Then you will need to show her every chance you get at any competition you can find anywhere in the country (which is why the RV is so helpful). If you have a great dog and you're good at showing or have a professional shower and you've got a Championship (more are better) or two under your belt, then (and only then) can you consider breeding her. You will be talking to all the friends you made in the breed club to find a Champions stud. Breeding contracts vary. Some dog owners will demand second pick of the litter, others a flat fee, or both. All will demand that their kennel name be part of the AKC-registered name of each of the puppies. The tough part is finding someone who thinks your b*tch is worth adding their name to. Everyone's looking for the next Westminister champion and the more Championships to their kennel's credit, the higher their prestige and the more they can get for their dogs-- which is kinda pointless because nobody ever makes money in legitimate breeding. All those blue ribbons do is help defray the costs of running a breeding kennel. If you want to make money selling dogs, open a puppy mill.
If you do not own a Champion b*tch which has been OFA certified to at least three generations, you won't get squat for the pups. You'll be giving them away.
Out of a litter of 8 puppies, 7 will be dead within the year either due to neglect or destroyed at shelters unless you do the showing and the following.
Do you have soundproof rooms? Do you have a large completely fenced yard with kennel-grade fencing? Do you know how to whelp a b*tch? Are you prepared to be up and available at least every 2 hours, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to take them outside once they're weaned? Are your neighbors?
Most people who breed have at least one spouse who stays at home and devotes six months full-time to preparing the b*tch for mating, getting a stud or semen for in vitro, staying with the dog most of the time through early pregnancy to all of the time in late pregnancy. That person, YOU, will have constructed a kennel in an out building, garage, or spare room, and spent an enormous amount of time talking to others in the husky community so that they know what to expect. When the b*tch begins to deliver they will have at least one very good friend who has experience with whelping to show-up at 3am on a weekday to help with the delivery which can go on for hours. You will also have a vet on-call.
You will then begin the process of vetting the pups that survive, seeing to the b*tch's health by supplementing her diet as required, monitoring her vital signs, and caring for any pups suffering from, "fading puppy syndrome," or all of the pups should the b*tch reject them, which happens sometimes.
Because you have shown the b*tch and she has championship wins behind her, and because you're a member of the AKC-sponsored breed club, and because YOU'VE done all the schmoozing with the other breeders, you will have people willing to pay money for YOUR pups. YOU will have, before even breeding the b*tch, taken names of people interested in one of your puppies. Once you have firm interest, YOU breed then and only then. These names will have come from people who have contacted the breed club looking for a husky and have been referred to YOU.
Beginning to get the picture?
After the pups are born, you will need to have some space on your property set aside for burying the pups that do not survive, which is not infrequent. You will then be sleeping only every few hours unless you have someone who can spell you for a few hours. Fortunately, this is only the first two weeks. After that, you'll have a few weeks where you can go a few more hours between check-ups and weighings. You must be there when the puppies feed to make sure all pups are getting enough milk. Sometimes a b*tch will go dry or simply not produce enough milk. Runts may be rejected and need hand feeding with formula. Some b*tches aren't maternal and won't stand for pups feeding or lick them to stimulate them after birth or lick the anuses of the puppies to stimulate bowel movements. If she doesn't, then you have to substitute. You'll be keep logs of when each puppy eats, how long they suckle, their behaviors, and when they eliminate. You will take weights and temperatures as well. You will need to either bring them all to the vet or (as most breeders do) have the vet come to them. $$$. The space for your whelping box must be in a warm place with NO drafts, nothing dangerous around, no insecticides, and no vermin. Most people use the kitchen unless they have a special whelping room. You want to use a room with radiant heat. Remember that you're raising pups who are championship standard and will be given with health guarantees when you deliver then to the new owners.
You will be running around, cleaning-up poo, chasing puppies, weighing, temperature taking, deworming, feeding, socializing (small kids, old people, etc.), and making sure that no other dogs contact your pups. You also want people who have been near farms to remove their shoes when entering the house. No matter how hard you try, your dogs may get kennel cough or parvo if they inadvertently come in contact with another dog or the other dog's droppings. Parvo is a nightmare of a disease for which vets can only administer IV liquids. You can do just as well with Gatorade and an eye-dropper and lots of coffee, but that's a whole issue you'll get into when you learn canine first-aid before the b*tch is bred.
At this point you will determine which of the litter you wish to keep and your stud breeder will make his or her choice as to which pup to take.
On the 49th day a certified puppy aptitude tester will come to your home, paid for by you, to do temperament testing. This will tell you what dogs are suitable for which homes. It is then that you will know which people waiting for one of your pups will get one, and who will not. You will know this because you will have sent questionnaries to prospective puppy owners asking about what kind of dog they're looking for. You will talk about these people to other people in the kennel club to be sure you're not handing over a dog to a puppy miller or a just plain bad owner. Ideally you will have visited the prospect's home, but that's not always possible. To a large degree you will be sending out your darling little bundles of love and poo to strangers. Be prepared for this. It isn't easy. Remember that log you've been keeping? Your aptitude tester will want to see it to get an idea of what each puppy has been like before the testing day. Once the tests are completed, you will then contact the prospective owners and someone qualified to judge the breed at AKC shows. The judge will come, again at your $$$, to look at your pups to see which should be bred and which should not. Those that should be bred are the ones you will keep or sell to other people in the breed club. The ones which do not meet the breed standard, usually most or even all, are the ones you will sell.
You will need your prospects to send a certified check to you and you will need to contact the airlines for delivery of your new puppy if the owner lives far away. Most breeders I know try very hard to avoid this and will drive the pup up to 100 miles or more to meet the new owner. Either way, during the pregnancy, talk to the airlines. You'll have to buy a kennel for each puppy you ship. You can pass on shipping costs to the new owner. That's acceptible. Just be sure to get firm figures from the airlines BEFORE your prospect sends the check! You will also contact the breed club and the AKC to register your pups and send the paperwork to the new owners to complete. Along with the checks, your prospect will also be sending you a completed owners contract which will state among other things that you guarantee the puppy to be healthy when it arrives at the new owner's airport or when the new owner comes to collect the puppy; that should the new owner ever want to give-up the dog that you will take the dog back at your expense; and that the new owner will not breed the dog, agreeing to have the dog spayed or neutered within 1 year of age. You will need to see proof of this from the vet who performs the surgery. If the new owner does not do this, you will have to sue. Joy! You will also want to send the puppy to the new home with something that smells like his mother, usually a small stuffed toy that was kept in the breeding room and played with is fine. You will also provide the new owner with a vet-certified copy of records of all care performed by a vet since birth.
When all the puppies are gone you and your b*tch and any unsold or handicapped pups will have your life go back to normal. Since your contract stipulates that the new owners must get their puppy vetted immediately, you will be waiting for each new owner to declare that their vet found your puppy healthy. This may, or may not, be the case. Your pup may have contracted parvo in transit and if so, you will have to refund the money you were paid for the puppy. You will have to follow-up with each owner if they forget to contact you about the health release clause in the contract. You must be prepared, also, in the event one or more of those pups you sent out into the world shows-up on your doorstep one, three, or eight years down the road. That dog will now be an adult and you will have no idea how it was trained or cared for. You may find that your once darling puppy cannot tolerate the presence of her mother or siblings or small children. It's up to you to take care of this dog and see to its needs. That's what responsible breeders do and if you don't do that, the breed club will drop you.
You must also be prepared for a bit of post-partum depression yourself. People get attached to their puppies and there will always be a part of you wondering and hoping that your pups have happy homes are loved and cared for just as well as you would. Some owners may send you pictures from time to time, others will simply disappear. A good breeder constantly scans
Petfinder to make sure that their dogs are not in shelters and will immediately contact any shelter that may have a dog of yours. To that end you will also want to make sure your puppy gets chipped. If you do not have it done yourself (you should so you have the chip numbers), you will want to include it as a clause in the ownership contract specifying that the dog must be chipped no later than when the dog is spayed or neutered. Even though people have signed the owner contract, most will forget about it in time and sometimes things happen strangely and your dog ends-up in a home that has no idea you exist. They drop the dog at a shelter. The shelter will scan the dog and notify you and whomever else is registered, that they have the dog. If the dog is in a shelter, you will likely be the dog's only hope for a reprieve from death.
I'm sure I've forgotten about a zillion things, but if you want to make sure that the puppies you bring into the world have a good shot of surviving the first year and not end-up abused, put in a mill, abandoned, used as a bait dog for fighting, or surrendered to a kill shelter as the vast majority of puppies will, this is how you do it.
There's a lot of money, stress, and worry. There is also a lot of pride, love, and joy. You do this because you are devoted to dogs and treat them as full members of the family. You do it to better your breed and to give your puppies the best homes with the best shot at a long and happy life. I can't do it. I know people who do, quite a few in fact. I don't have someone to help me, I don't have the time, and I don't have that extra nth degree of devotion. Perhaps when I'm retired, but not now. I'm still young and want to work on my business and start a family.
This is what it takes to successfully breed your dog. If you're not prepared to do all of this then don't. Like when you have an infant, you can't suddenly say, "I wish I had never done this. I can't take it any more." Unlike an infant, 90+% of puppies out there don't have a family dying to give your puppy a good home.
If your husband is adamant about doing this, then start going on the show circuit. Join the AKC breed club. You do have the b*tch's pedigree right? If you don't, get the b*tch spayed. Now. You don't have a breeding career with this b*tch.
Instead, you will be putting ads in the paper, sitting with the pups in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and you'll find all your friends who were so enthusiastic about taking one of your pups suddenly find that, "We just can't do it right now. We'd love to, really, but we're just too busy. I wish the timing had been better." You'll be stuck with no way to defray the bills and, yet again, you can expect all but one of your pups to be destroyed or abandoned or dead from neglect or abuse before its first birthday.
Now, print this reply and give it to your husband. Make him read it to you aloud and then get out your box of gold stars and stick one on his forehead when he realizes this is something he doesn't want to do without a lot more thought and budgeting. When presenting him with this, I recommend omitting this paragraph.
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