Dog breeding can be a very lucrative for dog lovers, this is a business for people who are passionate about dogs. This is a guide on how to start a dog breeding business in South Africa.
Overview
Dog breeding is basically breeding dogs and selling them for profit. Most customers are willing to pay a premium for a well-bred dog. Breeders often specialize in a certain breed of dogs; this makes it easier to produce the best results.
This is a market with semi-high barriers to entry, they can be very high if you are planning to breed more than 2 litters in a year.
Ongoing expenses
The ongoing expenses for this business include insurance, pet food, veterinary supplies, vaccines, vitamins and supplements.
Get experience
This is not something that you should just jump to without any prior experience. There are a lot of things you should know. You should know all the good breeding practices and know how to take care of dogs that are ill or pregnant. Having experience will make it easier to tell when the dog needs to go the vet. It will also make it easier to take care of the puppies.
The best way to get experience is by working at a dog breeding business, this should be voluntary work. You will gain a lot of valuable knowledge, insights and everything that is not covered on this blog.
Getting experience will help you to better understand the dog’s genetics, this will help you choose breeding pairs that will pass on good characteristics. It will also make it easier for you to train the dogs to make sure that they’re well socialized.
Choose your location
It’s often best to set up this business in a rural area, the cost for most things goes down. However, it should not be too far from your nearest town. It works best when the town has people who have enough money to buy your dogs.
Some small towns generally don’t have a lot of wealthy people, most of these towns are in the Eastern Cape. Towns like Engcobo and Cedarville, this makes it difficult to sell your puppies.
It’s possible to run this business directly out of your home, you will have to build kennels and make sure that the environment is dog friendly. This will help you save a lot of money that would otherwise to towards renting operating premises.
Register the business
You have to register the business with the CIPC so that it becomes a formal entity, this only costs R125. Not only that, you will also need to register with KUSA (Kennel Union of Southern Africa), the membership will cost R599 per year.
Get insurance
There is a lot that might go wrong while you are working with dogs. What would you do if your dog was to bite your customers while they were still in your property? Getting a liability insurance protects you against things that might go wrong; including lawsuits.
Marketing your business
There are multiple ways in which you can market this business, the best ways are digital marketing and word of mouth. This is a business that can benefit heavily from creating a blog, create a blog detailing all your journey. It will likely attract people who are interested in the business or dogs in general.
This is an audience that you can tap into and sell directly to, a blog is a great way to attract traffic to your website. You can also do digital marketing in the form of Facebook ads and Google ads. Most of your customers will come as a result of word of mouth as time goes.
What are the best dogs to breed?
These are some of the best dogs to breed for profit.
- Akita
- French Bulldog
- German Shepherd
- Labrador Retriever
- Otterhound
- Pharaoh Hound
- Rottweiler
- Saluki
- Samoyed
- Siberian Husky
- Tibetian Mastiff
Conclusion
This was a guide on how to start a dog breeding business in South Africa. Do you have any thoughts or questions? Comment below.
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Gayleen Wesso
8 Jun 2021How much does it cost to register your dog as a breeder and where do I go. Where do I even start.
Claydon
26 Jul 2021Need it done asap
sibabalwe
27 Jul 2021All the best 🙂
Randy
17 Oct 2021Hi all, I am a registered accountant with SAIBA and also currently involved with breeding American Bullies is Cape Town. Contact us for assistance, our website http://www.rlpaccounting.co.za or whatsapp us on 067 606 4677.
tarrin
9 Nov 2021hi ,
i would like more infor on your american bullies as well as your accounting services im from Eastern Cape
Vivek
6 Jun 2022Hi I’m south Africa durban I have rottweiler puppies for sale 0737069575