Question: I am looking for a service dog, do you donate to people in need?
Answer: There is no easy answer to this question, but the short answer is No, not anymore. I have donated dogs to people in search of service dogs in the past, but this is now rare. I limit this to those coming back to me for their second and third dog. In times past the number of request I would get for service dogs or emotional support dogs were few. Maybe one person a year would come to me, and those people had researched and knew exactly what they needed. Only a rare few couldn’t save up the funds to purchase their new dog, and for them I would indeed donate. Now I field approximately 50 emails a year from people seeking Poodles to help them with their life issues, most of them wanting the dog free or very low cost. I produce an average of 1 litter a year, and at this point in my breeding program half the pups go to repeat customers. Those repeat customers are offered a new puppy at the same cost as their previous puppy. If that was 10 years ago and they paid $1400, that is what they pay now for their next puppy. It is a perk I offer. The average size litter for a Std Poodle is 8 pups, so that would leave 4 pups available to place with new families at full current cost. I can’t possibly donate every puppy I produce or I would go broke. It is difficult to donate any due to my lower price point. As of 2016 I am between $200-700 cheaper than similar breeders who health test, title their dogs, and provide a nice health guarantee. What I do with my dogs is not cheap, but I like to keep my prices down. I want my dogs to be affordable for the person willing to save up for a quality puppy, yet I must make money for this venture to continue. To increase the number of puppies I would donate, I would then have to pass that on to the puppy buying public and increase the cost of my pet pups to the average cost you see now of $2500 per pet. Some other things to consider:
1. How should I select who gets the donated puppy? The sheer number of request is saddening. Do I run a lottery system? Should I make someone wait a year only to find out they aren’t getting the single puppy I have set aside to donate?
2. I have a few people who have pups of mine right now and as their dogs age I always and will continue to offer those people another free puppy in the future. If I donated a puppy to one family a year for each year I have been breeding, I would be up to 14 families this year… and we are talking only 1 family a year, not the 50 who contact me. A service animal needs 2 years of training. This means you need to start training a new puppy when the current dog is 8-9 years old. The average Std Poodle lives to 12 years of age. The math doesn’t work and would bankrupt my program. I simply can’t do it and continue to support the people who already have donated dogs.
3. I offer an outstanding health guarantee, which gives a replacement puppy at zero cost for a number of serious and common health issues plaguing our breed. A rough estimate is at least one puppy from each litter will have issues that require either a partial refund or a full replacement. I have to calculate this in my cost of doing business.
4. I place at least one puppy from each litter to foster families for only a small amount of money. In Jazz’s litter it was three pups fostered and the fee charged barely covered their 8-12 weeks of food and vet bills. Yes, these pups should eventually be used in my breeding program, but most of the time they are bred once at most… some never at all. I am willing to take this hit, because it is better for the dogs in the long run, which to me off sets any amount of money. Jackie, Remy, Abby, Piper, and Biscotti were all fostered and never used. Abby was fully health tested as well, increasing her cost. Biscotti I purchased for $2500 yet never bred her due to her less than stable temperament. I don’t regret removing them from the gene pool, nor do I regret fostering them. I’m simply showing the cost of doing business is more than what you might think.
So there you have it. I am willing to help you select a candidate that may work as a service dog or emotional support dog, but I can’t give you one for free.
~Becky