Jana,

>   Makes sense - if OFAs cost $200, thyroid about $75,
> CEA $135, and the breeder pays all, then that either
> means the puppies are priced out of the range of
> anyone, or the breeder is independantly wealthy.

Whether price of pups goes out of range for everyone depends on what you think
that range is. Depending on the situation it may not be seen as at all
unreasonable for the purchase price of the puppy to include the money which
the breeder will then reimburse when the test is done. That is one way to do
it. Naturally such a price will seem high if the buyer doesn't understand
what its for.

Prices may vary from what you listed there, some breeders would do PennHIP as
well as OFA and may not need to require the DNA test for CEA (unless the pup
may be bred) and I would add multiple CERFs and maybe vWD.

If the puppy purchase price is not to include the cost of tests, I'm inclined
to think the money for the testing should go into escrow at the time of
purchase, to help ensure that the tests do actually get done on schedule.

Many non-wealthy breeders are not trying to make any profit on pups, and think
of their breeding as something they value so highly they are going to do it
mostly at their own cost. Going on vacation you don't expect to make any
money, you expect to have an unrecovered outlay. Having children you do not
expect to make money, you expect to put out enormous sums for that privilege.
People who are not wealthy do go on trips and on vacation and have children
without expecting to recoup costs for those highly valued activities. For
some or many dog breeders, dog breeding falls into that same sort of
category. For others it is a money-profit-oriented activity, and for others
they can only justify the activity if they recoup certain sorts of costs.

A lot of dog people are not wealthy, many are quite poor perhaps in part
because they do not value and pursue money, and their value system is such
that their dogs are top on their priority list for the budget, and they have
no desire or intention to make any money on their dogs.

Gina