"Falling in love" with pet dogs

Báo Cần Thơ•18/06/2023

Text and photos: NGUYEN TRINH

Despite working as a restaurant manager, Nguyen Chi Hieu (37 years old, residing in Long Xuyen City, An Giang Province) decided to quit his job and open a Poodle breeding farm, earning over 1 billion VND per year.

Mr. Hieu and his pack of "perfectly beautiful" dogs are being kept for breeding at the kennel.

Mr. Hieu's Poodle breeding farm currently holds a prominent position and reputation, boasting the largest number, quality, and scale of Poodles in the Western region of Vietnam. From raising dogs to satisfy his passion for pets, he has successfully built a wealthy business.

His entry into dog breeding was quite coincidental. Previously, Mr. Hieu worked as a restaurant manager, but his life with his wife was full of difficulties and struggles. In 2017, he decided to quit his job, and with his meager capital, he had to borrow more money to invest in opening a dog breeding farm. Initially, he chose to breed dogs like Alaskan Malamutes and Huskies, which were popular at the time. However, these breeds fell out of favor over time due to changing consumer demand.

In 2019, after researching the market, he realized that young people preferred Poodles. Furthermore, this breed is intelligent, affectionate, small, and has the unique ability to walk on two legs. Therefore, he decided to spend all his money to buy four breeding dogs, each costing tens of millions of VND, to expand his herd. The small, lively, always cheerful and adorable dogs made him increasingly fond of and attached to them. After successfully breeding them, he became even more dedicated and expanded his breeding operation.

Currently, Mr. Hieu's kennel has over 160 purebred Poodles, with a total value exceeding 2 billion VND. "Raising and caring for Poodles is relatively simple, but with hundreds of dogs, it's quite a strenuous job. In the beginning, there were times when I witnessed dozens of dogs die at the same time, resulting in losses of hundreds of millions of VND," Mr. Hieu said. The Poodles at his kennel are mainly super-small teacup size with many coat colors such as yellow, apricot, reddish-brown, white, chocolate, black, smoky gray, gray, white… and the rarest color is cream.

According to Mr. Hieu, Poodles come in common, teacup, and tini varieties, weighing from 1kg to over 20kg, with smaller dogs being more valuable. “Previously, I also raised common Poodles, which were much larger and heavier than the teacup variety, but they weren't as valuable. Later, I expanded my herd and switched entirely to the teacup variety because of its higher value,” Mr. Hieu said. Successfully breeding teacup Poodles requires high-quality male breeding stock with complete pedigrees, and the dogs must have exceptionally small sizes from their parents and grandparents to produce standard-sized dogs. “The standard for evaluating a teacup Poodle is a height of 16-19cm, with a back length not exceeding 15cm. Weight, depending on care, can range from 1.5-2.5kg,” Mr. Hieu explained. Regarding care, this breed requires regular grooming, trimming, and frequent feeding. This breed of dog eats a lot from 45 days old to 4.5 months old, and this gradually decreases as they mature. Therefore, during this period, they must be fed frequently to ensure they have enough energy. Their food mainly consists of ground meat, dry kibble, and vitamins to boost their immune system. Regarding breeding, this breed should not have more than 4 puppies at a time, as this can affect the mother dog and result in poor quality offspring. They must be cared for until they are 4.5 months old before they can be sold.

Poodles are popular as pets because they don't shed much, have a very high IQ, and are small and cute, making them ideal for homes with limited space or apartments. Teacup Poodles currently cost between 25-30 million VND per dog, with males fetching higher prices, even up to 50 million VND per dog. This brings Mr. Hieu an income of over 1 billion VND per year. In addition, he earns extra income by running a dog spa.

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