For a well-breed properly health-tested puppy, it costs.

Anyone can put together a male and female dog, “let nature take its course” and call themselves breeders. Proper breeding starts with veterinary health testing of the potential parent dogs (dam and sire) before breeding. When puppy listings or breeders say that their puppies have been "vet checked" this is not an indication of health testing. It is the bare minimum any reasonable person might do, and should not be confused with the extensive health testing sought by ethical, reputable breeders.

Health testing should at minimum be a full-panel DNA testing to ensure both parents are clear of genetic diseases/conditions - this costs $250 per dog. If one potential parent carries a single copy of a disease we can make sure they are not matted with another dog that also carries the gene so our puppies will not be affected. We additionally do eye tests and certifications including gonioscopy - $220 per dog - and PennHIP x-rays and scoring for osteoarthritis and hip dysplasia - $750-$1500 per dog.

Stud fee can cost anywhere from $1500-3000+ for a healthy, suitable sire and even more if using frozen semen - price varies depending on pedigree, championship titles, or imported semen. The cost of artificial insemination if using frozen semen can be anywhere from $600+.

Our female dogs get progesterone blood testing (1-3x) for ovulation timing and breeding when in cycle - each test is $140. Our females (dams) then get ultrasounds around 25-30 days of gestation to confirm pregnancy ($200) and a pregnancy x-ray for litter counting and to size up the puppies to determine if the dam can birth safely and naturally - x-ray costs $300-400+. If a caesarian (C-section) is required it can cost anywhere from $1800+ (size, weight and no. of puppies determine the final pricing) and more if the dam goes into labour after hours or on a public holiday - $3000+. Our mother dogs also require additional feeding and nutrients as well as extra worming tablets. Furthermore, we do not leave our dams side for the first 2-3 weeks once the puppies are born. We watch for mastitis, calcium deficiency, and overall health of the dams so for the first few weeks 24-hour care is required. Before any puppies are born we may spend more than $4000+ on just one dams pregnancy.

Then, we factor in the cost of raising chunky and healthy puppies. Let’s say, for example, our dam has a beautiful litter of 5 Border Collies puppies. Each puppy gets wormed at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 weeks (monthly after 10 weeks of age) and each tablet costs $5-12 per puppy (weight dependent). At 7 weeks our puppies get their first vaccination of DHPP and Canine/Kennel Cough and if big enough, microchipping, for $130-180 per puppy.

Next, we look at feeding them. Each puppy gets fed 5-10% of their body weight in raw food, we feed Raw Essentials lamb mix and chicken + wild mix with additions of single and novel proteins (think goat, rabbit, salmon, alpaca), raw meaty bones, and tripe. You can read more about how and what we feed here. Weaning starts at 3 weeks old until the puppies start to leave us around 10 weeks of age, over these 7 weeks we can spend around $1500-2000 feeding a litter of 5 puppies.

In addition to the above, all our puppies come with a carefully curated puppy pack, including, 6 weeks of free puppy insurance, 3 to 5 days of raw food, collar, toys, treats, brush, a Puppy Culture Exercise Booklet, custom tote bag and more - valued around $200 per pack. Click here to read more.

All these costs do not include time spent off work raising a litter of puppies, training, updating and running our website, contacting and interviewing potential new owners, learning, educating, and researching.

We do not breed to make money or earn a profit from our dogs (we have full-time jobs as well!). We breed to improve our breed lines and for the love of our animals, to produce well-tempered, healthy purebred Border Collies.

*costs are averages based on our 3 vet clinics and some prices may vary depending on the size/weight of each dog.