I can't tell you how many times I have been in contact with someone who wants a Bulldog puppy of their own who doesn't realize how expensive they are. In the past week there have been two more cases of sticker shock. In one of these instances I emailed the individual about a newspaper ad that I had seen in her area for several older pups (6-10 months) who were $850 with limited registration. Seemed like one heck of a deal to me. Her response was that she was not looking to "spend hundreds or thousands of dollars". And, of course this is understandable. They are very expensive and I thought that I would take this opprotunity to explain why.

When we, as breeders, buy a puppy that we intend to breed we spend just as much as anyone else does, sometimes more, on the new baby. We raise him or her for two years, which is when they are fully mature, before attempting to breed. Bulldogs, becasue of how highly bred they are, cannot breed naturally. This means that when our little girls come into heat we take her to the vet to be artificially inseminated three times during her heat. Each time the vet charges anywhere from $75 to $150. Then there are those of us who don't have out own males. This means that we have to pay a stud fee. This ranges anywhere from $500 to $3,000. If the male isn't local (and here in New Mexico the only thing local is the rabbit running from the tumbleweeds) the semen must be shipped. The cost for this is about $150 (special packaging, special handling and overnight FedEx) each of the three times she is inseminated.

Then we wait. This is all well and good, except that Bulldogs have a very high instance of infertility. If the AI didn't take the breeder is out and average of $1,750 for the breeding, unless the stud owner is nice enough to allow a repeat breeding for the cost of shipping and packaging. But at least there are no more costs associated, unless of course she miscarried and that is a whole slew of bills and heart ache because this often causes the loss of the female and almost always requires that she be spayed.

Starting 50 days after the AI I won't leave my girl alone for more than 20 minutes, just in case she starts labor. I sleep on the couch next to her, just in case.

60 days after the AI, when it takes, it's back to the vet. Bulldogs cannot deliver their own pups. If you allow a female to try to whelp the puppies on her own you are very likely to loose most of the puppies and very likely the mother, too. I know a breeder who wasn't home when her Bullie went into labor. She lost all but one out of a litter of eight and she very nearly lost the mother as well. And so, it's back to the vet for a C-Section. This can range anywhere from $700 to $1,500, depending on the vet and any complications that may arise.

Now, we have puppies. And they are the cutest little things that you can imagine. Unfortunately, Mom, who was out when they got here doesn't always think so. In fact, many times she doesn't know that they are hers and will reject them.

So, now we have about $3,000 in these beautiful little furballs and they just got here. Now the fun begins. When Mom rejects them the breeder gets to feed each baby every two hours for the next two weeks. A litter of seven takes two hours to feed. Believe me, I know. Also, we aren't getting free milk from Mommy. Puppy Esbilac (formula) is $5.00 for a 12.5 oz can, which lasts for 2 feedings for the first few days and less after that. By the time they are four weeks old imagine how fast a can goes. This is their only source of food for the first four weeks of life. There goes another couple thousand dollars. Feeding anything else can cause intestinal bleeding. Not pretty and quite expensive to treat, it can lead to life long intstinal problems and allergies if the puppy survives.

Okay, the puppies are now four weeks old and starting to eat on their own and the breeder has $5,000 +/- into them, hundreds of sleepless hours, missed school plays and Little League games and a spouse and children who may or may not remember them. Also, Mommy can only have three C-sections. After that the scar tissue will likely be too thick and another pregnancy will cause abdominal tearing during gestation.

Granted a lot of this is worse case senario, but it happens... a lot.

Even when Mom is nursing the babies, I still sleep on the couch for the first two weeks. When the Mommies keep the babies she frequently will lay on them or step on them. This happened with one from our last litter. I stayed up all night begging him to live and doing everything I could to help him. He was three days old and beautiful but he didn't make it.

Bulldog puppies are also often born with cleft palates, umbilical hernias, they are born deaf, some are water babies. This means that thier kidneys are not functioning properly in the womb. When they are born they are alive but very much like a water balloon. This is something that you do not want so see, and I have been lucky not to have a water baby, yet.

I am by her side when there Mommy goes into labor. I am always there when my babies come into the world. And we hand deliver our babies to their new owners whenever possible. We stay in contact with our babies new families and offer lifetime assitance. Just because one of our babies goes to live in a new home does not mean that they are not always in our hearts.

As far as breeding goes, I have been lucky. I have a friend that lives near Colorado Springs. She has owned five Bulldogs and has yet to have a litter. She recently spent over $5,000 for two females and drove across 3 states to get them. Both were supposed to be proven. One was supposed to be pregnant. Before she even got them home one was unable to walk due to dysplaisa and was unbreedable. Shortly after they got home her other little girl miscarried and the breeder spent thousands of dollars saving her life.

Nearly everyone who has bought a puppy from me tells me two things, "I have wanted a Bulldog for as long as I can remember." and "He's (or She's) worth every penny of it!" Bulldogs aren't like any other dog. Unfortunately, this amazing look, personality.... everything that we love in the Bulldog, has been bred into them for hundreds of years and has resulted in a dog that can not breed or whelp naturally, tends to have smaller litters and sometimes healt issues. They are not like other breeds where you put the male in with the female and 59-65 days later you have puppies who you can sell eight weeks later. There is a whole lot more to it and I wouldn't trade it for anything.