04/19/2025
I knelt behind a distraught dog at 4 oâclock in the morning with my gloved hand inside of her, trying desperately to get hold of a puppy that had been stuck for over half an hour and I was sure was now dead. Birthing fluid covered my clothes and clung to my beard as I worked to save mom and the rest of the litter. My breeding mentor, who had been kind enough to accept my middle-of-the-night phone call, spoke up over speakerphone: âRemember this whenever someone asks you for a discount.â
Well-bred Working Line German Shepherds are expensive, and those of us who do it right are unapologetic about charging for our work. People have an intuition that breeding dogs is a lot of workâand there are plenty of articles out there breaking down the various costsâbut Iâm going to quickly walk you through our entire process, from sourcing breeding stock to sending a litter home. There is stress, there is drama, there is cost, and there is gratification. One thing there is not is a discount.
Bi***es
A breeding kennel doesnât exist without females, and kennels hold on to their prized females above all else, making good ones hard to find. Adding to the difficulty of sourcing a breeding-quality female GSD is the fact that the best kennels are in Europe. That means North American breeders need to develop relationships with European breeders and brokersâand trust them enough to wire them money and hope to get a dog in return. Depending on the age, quality, and training of the female, this can cost anywhere from $7,000 to $20,000+ with shipping. To get the dog, the breeder then needs to hire a customs broker to clear the dog at the airport. All this without knowing whether the animal youâre getting will even possess the qualities you were told it would.
Studs
Now we have a female, but thatâs only half the equation. Very simply put, to produce the best dogs, you must breed the best dogs to one another. The most effective way to do this is to own the best females you can acquire and breed them to the best males on earth. Sometimes those males are owned by the kennel itself, but most of the time they are not. The breeder must develop relationships with the owners of these males and, in a best-case scenario, pay a stud fee to breed the dogs live. This usually involves hours of driving in each direction and sometimes a hotel stay. If the male is not within easy mating distance, the breeder must pay the owner a collection fee, cover the ownerâs vet fees for semen collection, rent a shipping container, and pay to have the fresh or frozen semen couriered in. The breeder then needs to source a local vet with a reproductive specialty, ensure they have the resources to store frozen semen, and pay a monthly storage fee.
Maintenance
At this point weâve sourced our breeding stock, but the magic doesnât happen right away. While we wait for our females to come into season, they need to eat the best food to support fertility, get regular medical care, genetic testing, and hip and elbow x-rays. But health isnât the only thingâwe also need to prove the femaleâs ability to work; that she has the nerve and temperament weâre looking for. Unless weâve paid the big bucks for a female whoâs already obtained a title and proven her working ability (and watched a ton of videoâbecause a title on paper can mean nothing), we need to do that work ourselves. That involves years of consistent daily training. It means finding and drivingâoften hoursâto a decoy or club for bitework. It means acquiring all the skills necessary to allow that dog to express her genetic potential on the field or in her work. Puppies happen once a year. Care and maintenance happen every day.
The Countdown Begins
The clock starts when we see the first drop of blood. About a week into the heat cycle, the daily progesterone blood tests begin. Most breeding kennels are rural, which means a trip to the vet and back can take half a day or more. Blood is drawn every day or two until results indicate the female is ready, and she is then taken to the reproductive vet for insemination.
Pregnancy and Delivery
A dogâs gestation period is roughly 63 days, give or take. The first 60 pass in a flash; the final three seem to last forever. We spend those days taking the motherâs temperature at regular intervals, trying to predict the onset of labour, over-analyzing every move she makes, wondering if tonight is the night. After weeks of care, a high-quality diet, and regular medical attention, active labour beginsâand itâs game time.
Itâs rare that mom is so kind as to have her litter at a reasonable hour. 10 a.m. after coffee and breakfast would be ideal but dogs, like many animals, often give birth at night. Thatâs when breeders are called into action.
The stress and emotion of delivery are hard to describe. The puppies being born will go on to define your kennel. The line between life and death feels razor thin. The life of the dog youâve poured years into is at risk. Itâs the dead of night, and youâre alone.
In that moment, the weight of the world rests on the breederâs shoulders. A trip to the vet is rarely an option. Not only do distance and time of day often make it impossible, but taking hours-old puppies to a vetâs office risks exposing the litterâand the rest of your kennelâto potentially deadly pathogens. On whelping day, the lives of the mother and her pups are in the breederâs hands, often literally. When a puppy gets stuckâand eventually one willâitâs on the breeder to pull it out, because failure will kill the mother and the whole litter. When a puppy is dying, itâs on the breeder to decide whether to fight for it or let nature take its course. Every decision is life and death.
Eventually, after 4 to 24 hours or more, whelping ends and everyone gets a bit of rest.
Puppy Rearing
The first few days are spent making sure all the new arrivals are eating and gaining weight. Mom does most of the work, and the breeder focuses on her recovery. At this point, sheâs eating 6â8 lbs of food per day (we feed only raw) to produce enough milk. For the first two weeks, this is as close to a break as a breeder gets. But once the puppies are weaned and mom decides sheâs done cleaning up after them, things get⌠sh*tty. No animal on earth produces and distributes poo more widely or more quickly than a puppy. Between early neurological stimulation, sound and water desensitization, regular bathing, and feeding 3â4 times a day, the logistics of managing waste become the breederâs central focus. Fail, and you bathe them more. No matter what you do, your day revolves around poo.
Sending Puppies Home
After one last trip to the vet for shots and microchips, the pups are ready to go home. People often ask if itâs hard to let them go. Itâs not. Home day is the culmination of years of work and itâs a day of celebration. By this point, weâve screened buyers, we know these dogs are going to good homes, and weâre excited to see them go live out the genetic potential weâve worked to instill. Weâre also excited for sleep.
âRemember this whenever someone asks you for a discount.â
Kneeling there in the whelping box, sweat dripping down my face, something finally shifted and the back legs of the stuck puppy Iâd been trying to pull free were suddenly in my hand. Gently but firmly, I eased her over the pelvis and out through the birth canal. As she came out, I cleared the mucus from her mouth and started rubbing her vigorously with a clean cloth, bracing for a stillborn pup. Then she screamed. Somehow, she was alive. The feeling was indescribable.
I do remember that momentâand every moment leading up to itâwhen someone asks us for a discount. Every single time.
Responsibly bred, raised and trained by professionals. Extensively socialized, tested, and evaluated
