While prices do vary from breed to breed, the initial cost of the puppy is the least cost you will have over the life of the dog. Cheaper pups usually had cheaper upbringing which can turn into much more in vet bills for the buyer (you) later on. I'll give you a breakdown of the costs of whelping and raising a litter of one of my breeds as an instance, and I will not include the cost of showing the parents to Championships which add up to $10,000 to the costs.
1) I bred the mother so no up front cost for her but I would have paid a minimum of $750 for her, probably more like $1200 which is what I paid for my last breeding quality dog. Food for mother for 1 year prior while getting her ready to breed--$400. That's $1150 already.
2) Cost of health checks: general vet check-$100, Hip xrays and OFA #-$250, Heart, Eye, Thyroid checks and #'s-$200 (these are needed to screen for genetic diseases so your pup has a better chance of a healthy life). That's now $1700.
3) Stud fee for a well bred, health tested male-$750-$1000. Shipping to the stud owner's house and back-$500. Adding the lowest numbers you're up to $2950.
4) Assuming there's no emergency or CSection ($500), you get a litter of 6 puppies. Since the only legitimate reason to breed is to improve the breed and get another dog to show, I keep one, which leaves 5 for sale. Cost of puppy food from age 5weeks to 9 weeks-$100. Cost of vet checks and shots to the age of 9 weeks-$50 per pup=$250. Now we're at $3400.
5) Miscellaneous supplies, i.e. bedding, toys, wormer meds, collars, leashes for the puppies $200. Litter registration-$50.Microchipping each pup before it leaves my home- $100. Total now $3750.
Divide the $3750 by 5 puppies and that is $750 per puppy assuming there are no major vet expenses and mother is able to sucessfully care for and raise her own puppies. So $500 would be a net loss of at least $150 per puppy. I live in an area with low costs so puppies raised in other areas of our country would cost more. Each of my females is bred only every 18 months to a maximum of 3 litters. So even prorating the cost of mom over 3 litters, I would only break even providing she didn't eat or need worming or shots between litters.
So how do the people who sell dogs for $100 do it. They get the cheapest dogs to breed, usually give aways, or backyard bred dogs. They breed their females every season to the male down the street. There is no health testing done and ALL breeds have genetic diseases. They scrimp on food and give no shots or wormings to the puppies. So they can sell cheap, but still don't actually look at their costs or the pups would cost more. They do sell dogs that are likely to have more health costs down the road.
I know this is long, but, just like any product, there are production costs for puppies. Since I usually sell my pet puppies at about $600, I lose money on every litter but do it for the love of the breed. I charge the same price whether or not both parents are AKC champions. This explains why people sell their well bred pups at a certain price. But why is it that people buying "just pets" seem to believe that breeders are charitible institutions and have no right to break even on their puppies? Would you feel this way if you were buying a television? A puppy will live 12-15 years so a $600 puppy costs just $50 per year prorated over it's life and will probably cost less in the long run than that $150 puppy from down the street. | 
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