If You've Been Thinking About Starting A Hedge Fund That Invests Exclusively In Show Dog Semen, Your Moment Has Arrived
Bulls aren't the only ones with highly-prized samples.
Yoshi, an Old English Sheep Dog owned by Jere Marder, was cheerful and friendly and so fluffy that when he was groomed, you couldn't see his eyes. Under his registered name, Lambluv Desert Dancer, Yoshi won 64 Best in Show awards—more than any other dog in the breed's history— and took Best of Breed at the Westminster Dog Show three times, most recently in 1999. That was a long time ago, especially in dog years, and Yoshi died in 2006. But Marder still breeds him. "I have about 100 straws!" she says—referring to Yoshi's frozen semen samples that she will use to breed additional children. Marder owns Lambluv Old English Sheepdogs, which is based in Indiana and sells show-quality puppies for prices starting at $2,500. Most of her dogs are bred the old-fashioned way; for others, Marder relies on animals long since passed. Last year, second place in Westminster's Best in Breed category went to a sheepdog who came from one of Lambluv's dog's 17-year-old sperm...
"It's definitely a market—and one that's growing," says Randall Popkin, owner of the California-based Breeder's Veterinary Services. Popkin, whose company provides ambulatory care at dog shows along the West Coast, has been storing frozen semen and inseminating dogs with it since 1984. He estimates that he has stored samples from 1500 dogs over the years; the oldest sample that successfully produced puppies was 27 years old. "When I first started, few breeders were doing this. Nowadays, you travel to dog shows and there'll be three companies there offering to freeze your dog's semen."
Show-Winning Dog Semen Is a Bargain at $2,000 [Bloomberg]
