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Expenses

Video walkthrough: Watch on Loom (link coming soon)
Expenses is where you track money going out of your program — vet bills, food, supplies, show fees, testing costs, and anything else you spend. You can link expenses to specific dogs or litters to understand exactly where your money goes.

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What You Can Do Here

  • Log expenses with a vendor, paid date, and one or more line items (each with its own category, amount, and tax)
  • Record payment method (card, cash, check, etc.) on each expense
  • Set up recurring expenses (like monthly food or insurance) so they’re created for you on schedule
  • Log mileage on trips you take for your program — vet visits, pickups, deliveries — with running totals
  • Link an expense to a specific dog or litter
  • Mark line items as tax-deductible for easier year-end accounting
  • Attach receipts or supporting files to any expense
  • Import expenses in bulk or export your full expense history
  • Search and filter by vendor, memo, category, or date range, and see where your money goes by vendor or category

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How It Works

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Adding an Expense

  1. In the left menu, open Finances and click Expenses.
  2. Click Add expense.
  3. Fill in the expense details:
    • Paid date and Vendor (both required)
    • Payment method (card, ACH, cash, check, etc.)
    • Apply to — optionally link it to a specific dog or litter
    • Memo — a short note about the expense
  4. Under Line items, fill in at least one line: Title, Category, Amount, Tax, Mileage (mi), Description, and the Deductible checkbox. Click Add line to split one receipt into several items (for example, an exam and a vaccine on the same vet bill).
  5. Click Add attachment to attach a receipt photo or file if you have one.
  6. Save. The Summary shows the subtotal, tax, mileage, and total as you go.

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Adding a Vendor

Every expense needs a vendor — the business or person you paid (your vet, the food supplier, AKC, etc.). Vendors are saved to a list so you can reuse them across expenses and see spending totals per vendor.
  1. When adding or editing an expense, find the Vendor dropdown.
  2. If the vendor isn’t in the list yet, click the gear icon next to the Vendor field. The Manage Vendors window opens.
  3. Enter the Vendor name (required). Email and phone are optional.
  4. Click Add Vendor. The new vendor is saved to your list and automatically selected on the expense you were working on.
You can also delete vendors from the same Manage Vendors window. Deleting a vendor removes it from any expenses that were using it, so double-check before you delete.

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Tracking Mileage

If you drive for your program — vet appointments, picking up a stud, delivering a puppy — you can log the miles right on the expense.
  1. When adding or editing an expense, fill in the Mileage (mi) field on the line item.
  2. The summary cards at the top of the Expenses page show your mileage totals for This month, Last 30 days, Year to date, and All time.
  3. Use these totals when you’re filing taxes or just want a quick sense of how much you’ve driven for your program.

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Setting Up a Recurring Expense

For bills that repeat — a monthly food order, insurance, a software subscription — let BreederBuddy create them for you:
  1. On the Expenses page, click Add recurring.
  2. Fill in the Title, Vendor, Payment method, and line items, just like a regular expense.
  3. Choose how often it repeats with Every and Interval, set the Next run date, and optionally an End date.
  4. Save. Your schedule appears under Recurring schedules, where you can edit it or click Run now to create this period’s expense right away.

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Managing Categories

  1. While adding or editing an expense, click the gear icon next to a line item’s Category field. The Manage Categories window opens.
  2. To add a category, type a Category name, an optional Description, and tick Default deductible if new line items in this category should start out deductible.
  3. Click Add Category. It’s now in the Category dropdown.
  4. To remove a category, click Delete next to it and confirm. Any expenses using it are left with no category.
You can’t rename a category or change its Default deductible setting after it’s created. To change one, add a new category with the name and setting you want, switch your expenses to it, then delete the old one. You can always tick or untick Deductible on any single line item.

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Linking to a Dog or Litter

Expenses linked to a dog appear on that dog’s Finances tab. Expenses linked to a litter appear on the litter’s Finances tab. This helps you see the true cost of individual animals or breedings over time.

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Importing Expenses

If you have existing expense records in a spreadsheet, click the download (cloud) icon at the top of the Expenses page. From there you can Import Expenses from a spreadsheet file or Export Expenses for your accountant. The import window lists the columns your file needs.

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Key Terms

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Tips & Common Questions

Add each expense as usual, set the Paid date to when you actually paid, and pick the litter in Apply to. For puppy sales and deposits, use an invoice in Invoices so the money is tied to the buyer. For other money that came in (like a stud fee), add it on Other Income with the real Received date and the litter in Apply to. Linked expenses and the litter’s puppy invoices show on the litter’s Finances tab. Other Income doesn’t show there, so look it up on the Other Income page.
Costs (the stud fee you paid, shipping, progesterone tests) go here in Expenses, linked to the litter or your female with Apply to. Stud fees you receive for your own male go on Other Income under the Stud Fee category, linked to your male. If you bill the stud client through BreederBuddy, send them an invoice from Invoices instead.
Where your money goes shows your top 15 vendors or categories by spending. Everything after that is added together as Other so the chart stays readable. Use the search and filters above your list to see the smaller vendors on their own.
Not here. Expenses is only for money going out. Log commissions, affiliate payouts, and other money coming in on Other Income.
Yes — click Add attachment when creating or editing an expense to attach a photo, PDF, or document.
Yes. Open the litter’s detail page and go to the Finances tab. It shows the expenses linked to that litter alongside the invoices for its puppies. Other Income linked to the litter isn’t included there.
Tick the Deductible box on each line item that qualifies. Check with your accountant on what counts as deductible for your program.
No — add the miles directly to whatever expense the trip was for (the vet bill, the show entry, etc.). Every line item needs an amount greater than $0, so mileage works best attached to a real cost from that trip.
Every expense needs a Paid date, a Vendor, and at least one line item with a Title and an Amount greater than $0. If your vendor isn’t listed yet, add it from the gear icon next to the Vendor field first.

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Still Have Questions?

We’re here to help. If something isn’t working the way you expect, or you’d like to have a discussion around a certain topic, please reach out to us anytime through the chat in the bottom right corner of your screen. Thank you.