I could go on and on on this one!

Many people have had puppies before and believe that breeding frenchies will be more of the same. This couldn't be further from the truth. Sure you can get lucky and end up with an easy litter, but this is NOT COMMON.

Here are a few of many reasons why French Bulldogs are expensive to breed:

1. C-SECTIONS - while there are times that a frenchie may be able to have natural birth IT IS EXTREMELY RISKY... like not even worth attempting RISKY. You could easily lose mama and/or all / multiple puppies. Even if you don't, sometimes everything is not expelled and you can end up with postpartum sepsis.

   Because french bulldog puppy head size to mom's pelvis ratio is usually not sufficient for live birth puppies are very much at risk for becoming stuck and ultimately you end up needing a c-section anyway to save mom/puppy's life.

   C-sections alone tend to run an average of $500-$7000 depending on your location and time of day(emergency c-sections are SUPER expensive!)

2. LUXURY DOGS - French Bulldogs are not inexpensive to maintain. All breeds have health problems. French Bulldogs often have more expensive ones! This is just part of doing your due diligence in knowing whether this breed is for you. Dogs that look closer to their ancestors the wolf tend to be more hearty and less fragile. If you're looking for a breed with the least possible health issues this is not the breed!
   
   Now you also must realize that any health issues you may incur in the future, breeders incur 3x, 5x, or even 10x more often due to the amount of dogs we may have at any given time. this brings me to number three...

3. SELECTIVITY - We as breeders do so much to try to create healthy animals. This ranges from selecting (usually more expensive) puppies when we buy for our own programs, researching lines years in advance of the breeding taking place, observing and following our productions as they grow, paying pricey stud fees to avoid common pitfalls, DNA and health testing, and eliminating bad genes and phenotypes from our programs by culling animals from our program.

   DNA testing tends to run $500-1500 per litter. Basic health testing sometimes comes with this, but the important testing we do on adults at the 2 year mark is often $1000 or more per dog.
   
   We often find out things about certain dogs or lines from the offspring we produce. If we see a certain trait popping up that we feel is not representative of our program we may end up needing to remove a puppy or adult from our program. This can be a huge loss in time and training, stud fees, future plans, and of course just feeding and vet care for up to 1.5-2 years to ultimately determine the dog should not be bred. This costs thousands of dollars, not to mention adult dogs do not tend to sell as readily or for as much as young puppies. Ultimately it is better for our program and our clients but it is still a hard loss!
   
   I've had dogs that cost me the price of a mid-sized vehicle that never got pregnant or did not turn out well or developed issues I didn't want to be part of my lines!

4. WHELPING - Whelping French Bulldogs is HARD - flat faced breeds require a lot of care when whelping. They tend to give very little warning and fade very quickly if you're not really watching them. Most commonly they get aspiration pneumonia (fluid in the lungs) which can be fatal in 24 hours or less. They are susceptible to hydrocephalus and other neural tube defects, AND they require being fed every 2-3 hours for the first several weeks which results in really poor sleep for the breeder and sometimes the entire family.
   
   It is extremely easy to get sleep deprived and make mistakes and lose puppies!

   Equipment for whelping is not inexpensive. I estimate I own $7000 at least in whelping equipment including incubators, nebulizers, suction, oxygen concentrator, dehumidifiers, whelping boxes, drop cages, live birth supply kits, plasma, supplements, etc. It's a lot!

   There is actually a lot more that goes into it from creating an environment to minimize disease transmission to minimizing adult vet visits and emergencies, marketing, getting noticed, developing and creating content, photography and much more!

In a word, QUALITY. If you'd like to know what this means, read on!

When you buy a French Bulldog you're also buying the breeder. This is important because ethicality, experience, diligence, and vision play a big part in how your dog was bred and came to exist.

Lets number this out for distinction:

1. NOT A PUPPY MILL - I have a large number of French Bulldogs by many people's standards. So why am I not then a puppy mill? I have put a majority of every dollar we've ever come across back into our program. This means our facilities stay clean. Our dogs always have adequate food, water, heating, cooling. They have large runs to exercise. We have routines, protocols, and checklists.

   All of this means that I can put less time into maintenance and more time into socializing, caring for, and interacting with our dogs to give each dog the attention and love they require on an individual basis.

2. ETHICALITY & TRANSPARENCY - I've always valued honesty and transparency. I'm confident that you can ask just any person that knows me and you'll get the same answers.

   When it comes to your dog and your investment I want you to know what you're getting. I'm not interested in hard selling anyone a dog. I want the best outcome for our puppies. The right buyer eventually comes along and falls in love with every one of our babies without fail.

   I'm not selling one of our puppies to the wrong client for any amount of money. I will not co-own with people I am unsure of or know to be unethical. I will not sell you breeding rights if I think the dog cannot benefit a program just to make an extra couple thousand bucks.

   I am a perfectionist. No dog is perfect, but I will not continue to breed a dog if I find recurrent flaws in subsequent litters.

   Yes I do have some of the more exotic color carrying dogs in my program, but they must always look and produce as well as or better than the majority of my program. If that stops being a true statement we spay and retire them to a good home regardless of if they've been bred once or up to three times.

   We are always looking to be better. Better structure, better temperament, better health for our clients and for the sake of our future generations.

3. DUE DILLIGENCE - I research our dogs. I research before I buy them. I research their pedigrees. I research again before i breed them. I research the studs I use. I make sure to the best of my ability that the pairing will result in a distinct and intentional phenotype & temperament. I determine what I will be looking to keep based upon that intention.

   More importantly I make sure that I am not bringing anything unhealthy into my program and that the health of my program is positively impacted when I choose to breed outside of my program.

   I typically fly out to see studs from different states in person and I often use the same stud more than once to solidify the change I am looking to add to my program.

4. CUSTOMER SERVICE - I answer questions. Usually 30 minutes to 2 hours a day I am speaking to clients about their concerns.

   When you buy a puppy from us you're buying our knowledge and borrowing our experience. I am always available for my clients, whether it be a puffy eye, diarrhea, or breeding and market advice.

5. HEALTH GUARANTEE - The real kind. I have multiple clients who can testify about a time that I've made things right for them.

   We offer a 1 year genetic health guarantee with all of our puppies and we often go above and beyond depending on circumstance.

   I can give you references to back it up!

6. VISION - Vision is individual, but I believe it must be clear and distinct or it will cease to be present! My vision is unique and cannot be duplicated! You should always ask a breeder what their vision is. I believe this will give you the truest insight as to whether that breeder is the breeder for you!

   I am an Ethical Breeder of Small Standards & Bulldog Forward Frenchies (BFF’s).

   What does this mean to you? It means (oh yay, another list!)

   1. Ethicality is hugely important here. We're here to be transparent and educational while bettering the breed. I want my clients to get what they want and love what they get from us beyond their wildest expectations.

   2. You should look for two distinct types of French Bulldogs within my program.

      French bulldogs are composed of bulldog and terrier. Terriers tend to be thinner and more athletic, but negatively can tend to be more barky, highly energetic, and can have bad habits if left in boredom like digging or destructiveness. Bulldogs tend to have more muscle, larger heads and more wrinkles. They tend to be more gentle and less excitable.