Raw Feeding Questions from a Future Breeder

[DaneMama]

Does the house sitter charge by the dog? About how much does a house sitter cost? I know I'd have to have someone there while I'm gone, perferably all day but at least once or twice a day . . .

We always enlist the help from friends, which has been a blessing. The last trip we took was a 11 day adventure to the southern Bahamas. A friend lived at our house for that time and we paid her $35 per day. She was happy to do it and would do it again if needed. In the past, I've paid as much as $50 per day. Dog sitting is just one of the things I budget for when I go on vacations. I will only get "live in" dog sitters while I'm away.

Oh it's YOU! That's the post that I think led me here! =D

Yep! The preymodelraw website is ours. We created it to help people switch to raw the RIGHT way!!! Glad you found our site which led you here! WOOT

[Esori]

To be honest, the way you described your future breeding practice, it just came off as really impersonal towards the dogs...I don't know, it just came off to me as, "I need 10 GSDs, because I am going to be a high volume breeder." That's just the way it came off, I'm not trying to be rude. I suppose if that is supposed to include puppies, then you'll be limiting yourself to around five dogs...Just remember what Danemama said, any good breeder will take their puppies or even adults back. You brought it into this world, it's your responsibility to make sure it doesn't end up adding to the numbers in the shelters and on the streets IMO.

But ya, everyone has made great suggestions...

My family has 7 dogs, five who live with me and two who live with my dad on our lake property. I consider the two with my dad mine still because technically my dad stole my two shepherd mixes and took them out there with him. ]:< So I still pay for their food and go out to visit them every day or every other day. I have considered raising food for my bunch...Goats in particular because we already have the set up for them. But I couldn't kill them, not once they've been raised by me. One day maybe I'll set up a rabbit operation or something for whole prey, not sure. The five who live with me eat some meals separately and some meals I turn in to training time and they all eat in a group as I'm training. You just need to make sure you separate the clashing personalities if there are any in the bunch.

Good luck, I hope you're going into the breeding practice for all the right reasons - you are truly in love with the breed and want to improve the lines. Not to mention it is going to be expensiveeee...I think you've really got to be absolutely in love with the breed to be able to spend that much money on making puppies. o_o

lol, I know I didn't go into detail with my plans, but that's mainly because my question had to do with feeding them, so I can understand the confusion/worry. I hope I don't need to get to that many dogs, and by no means would I be breeding everyone every year. That number, as I posted somewhere above, is to support 1 or 2 main males, 3 or so females and then growing out progeny and any possible dogs I may need to take back from owners. I hope than 10 is a worst case scenario number =/

I think I'm going into it for the right reasons. It certainly isn't for the money, as I know it will take a lot of that. And I also know it will take a lot of time as I want to title most of my dogs in many things, which will take both a lot of time and money when it comes to traveling and show fees. It's just that there is a type of Shepherd that I would like to see, that honestly I believe to be correct that I have an extremely hard time finding anywhere. Nearly all breeders I find go to the extreme of something. Either too much angulation in the show ring, too much emphasis on quiet pet personality, too much emphasis on high drives, etc. In my mind the ideal German Shepherd isn't extreme in anything, but well qualified in just about everything. As the saying goes, "The germans shepherd is number 1 in nothing, but number 2 in everything."