I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! I figured now was as good of time as ever to share a bit about myself as we're about to kick this whole thing off with the new year! So, I'll be your Breeder Spotlight this week!
***Please know this is not an endorsement of the breeder, their program, or their dogs. If you are looking to purchase a puppy/dog do your due diligence and research your breeder.
What do you breed and how long have you been breeding? I currently breed standard poodles and labradoodles (with the occasional aussiedoodle litter). My program will be changing to focus only on poodles and bernedoodles after this next year. I’ve been breeding for a little over 7 years now.
What made you choose that breed? I started out with Labradors. I live smack dab in the middle of duck country so labs are a part of everyday life around me. I got a wild hair to have a litter of labradoodles and just fell in love with that litter and the poodle stud we used. I’ve never looked back! Poodles will always be “my breed” from here on out!
What drew you to breeding in general? My husband and I started breeding so that we could continue the lines of his prized hunting buddy, Sklyer. He’s the one that started this whole thing for us. It’s slowly morphed and grew into such a bigger thing than either of us imagined.
What’s your everyday life like? I’m a wife and a mother to 3 little kiddos. So I’m busy even without the dogs. But add on the dogs, litters, facebook groups I run, and now the website....my plate is full! I have an excellent support system that I could never do this without though. My family is close and always chips in to help. We currently live in a subdivision so we’re a bit restricted to how large our program can grow but hope to move onto more land within the next year.
What’s one thing you wish you knew before you started breeding? I wish I knew how much I would have to deal with people. I am not a people person! Between scammers, unscrupulous folk, and the people that just can’t seem to read….I really want to go stick my head in a hole half the time.
If you could go back in time to right before your first litter, what would you tell yourself? Breathe, you got this and you’re going to do great! I have to tell myself this before every litter. It doesn’t seem to matter how many I’ve had, I get nervous before every whelp and stress the entire time the pups are with me. That never goes away.
I’d also tell myself not to doubt and that I’m capable of more than I give myself credit for. I think in the beginning, without the experiences I’ve had, self doubt was real and I wish I could have saved myself from that.
What are you most proud of in your program? The pups that have gone on to be service dogs or ESAs to special needs children. Hearing from their parents all the ways that little ball of fluff has changed their lives…..I don’t think there’s anything I could be more proud of.
What makes you keep coming back for more....what’s the best part about breeding for you? I LOVE whelps! They make me anxious and sleep deprived, but I think I get more excited about each delivery with my mommas than I did having my own kids. It never gets old to me. I’m in absolute awe of every litter! I honestly wish I could just go sit in on other breeder’s whelps!
What’s the easiest part of breeding for you? I know this is going to be a shocker...color genetics! Being able to be more selective and produce exactly what I want has helped me so much in the past couple years.
What’s the best thing you’ve purchased for your program? Mary Langevin’s book! Not a huge purchase, but being a merle breeder it was so eye opening. There’s just so much info, I keep learning from it to this day.
What’s one thing you’ve discovered that saves you the most time and energy when you have a litter? Litter boxes! I’ve tried it every way imaginable I think, and litter boxes are by far the best possible set up for me. I use alfalfa pellets which seems to have really helped the pups associate grass with pottying. Plus I’m one of those weirdos that absolutely LOVES the smell of alfalfa.
If someone reading this is just starting out, what do you want them to know is the best part of what you do? The best part for me is what everyone seems to think I do all day….puppy snuggles! Those times that I finally get caught up on everything and can just go sit in the puppy pen and snuggle puppies, it’s the most stress relieving time. To have the unconditional love of those fluffy little guys and just sit and watch your hard work paying off, it’s seriously the best.
What’s one thing that just grinds your gears in the breeding community? The high school “mean girls” mentality. There’s breeders out there with this ego of thinking they’re God’s gift to breeding that seem to get off on belittling others. They’ll tear someone apart just to make themselves look better. Someone asking a simple question can have their entire program ripped apart and judged just because they didn’t give their entire life history when they asked the question. I just don’t get it.
What’s your biggest pet peeve with other breeders? People who have the opportunity to better themselves and their program and they don’t take it. As you know, I help many many breeders (and I love doing it). It irritates me to no end when I’ve given them the information they need and yet they still refuse to test, they keep asking the same question in the hopes I’ll change my answer, and they ignore any and all advise. It’s one thing if you do not understand a concept and need help but to not even test….ever….ugh, so frustrating!
What do you stress over most? My reputation. I try not to, I really do. But I want people to know and respect everything I put into my program.
I also stress over the health of the puppies, to the detriment of my own health actually. I’m such a paranoid person! My mind always leaps to the worst case scenario.
What’s one mistake you’ve made in your program that you wish you could go back and change? I invested quite a bit into a Grand Champion sired female that had been through training and was drop dead gorgeous. Just a month or two after we got her she had an episode of MMM. She’s gradually just gone down hill and of course will never be able to be bred. It’s been one of the most heart wrenching, stressful things, to have happened in my program. I more so just wish I could make her better. I’m completely ok with what I’ve lost financially, but what she’s suffered through just isn’t fair to her. We just started new meds, so fingers crossed.
What has been your biggest failure? I had a puppy with a liver shunt that had to be put to sleep at 6 months old. I had the family’s vet and my own vet assure me there was nothing that could have been done to prevent it, but I still live with that guilt today. I feel like I should have known. My heart ached for that family and still does.
What’s the most difficult part of breeding for you? The lack of sleep. I’m not the best person to be around when I’m sleep deprived. The older I get, the worse it gets.
I also struggle with the sacrifices this whole thing imposes on my family. While we still try to make life as normal as possible for our kids, there’s times we can’t take them to events, on vacation, or always give them the attention they’re used to getting. It’s a guilt I struggle with for sure.
What’s something you keep doing because you think you have to in order to be taken seriously by other breeders, but deep down really want to stop? Shaving faces! Nah, I won’t stop doing that but man is it a lot of work when you have a litter of 12.
I’ve actually realized I do things differently than a lot of other breeders and I’m ok with that. One thing about me….I won’t compromise my own beliefs to please someone else. But I am a very open minded person, so I like to see what others do differently, to see if it’s something I can get on board with or not.
If someone reading this is just starting out, what do you want them to know is the worst part of what you do? As far as raising the litters, it’s the cleaning. There’s just so much cleaning. It’s non stop. There’s cleaning the actual puppy pen, baths and grooming, laundry…..oh the laundry. And then you end up getting behind on all your normal chores, just snowballing into chaos.
In regards to the business as a whole, it can sometimes be a very negative atmosphere. It’ll eat away at you if you let it. A thick skin is definitely needed!
What’s your goal for the next couple of years? We are getting our first 2 bernedoodle girls this year. I’m really looking forward to raising them! We’ve had a few Berner girls stay with us for breeding with our stud, and man they are just the best! (except the shedding….so thus bernedoodles for us!)
How long have you been breeding with color in mind? Ever since I got my merle stud. I knew I had to learn about merle before breeding him and once I got started learning about color genetics I just couldn’t stop. I’m such a nerd. I had a basic knowledge of colors and how they worked but I didn’t get really really into it until a little over 3 years ago.
If you could shout one thing at the top of your lungs to all breeders...what would it be? There’s no such thing as a “sable phantom” or a “sable tri”!!
What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen so far when it comes to breeding? My stud just recently tried to tie in the wrong hole. While that was pretty funny itself...my husband’s reaction was absolutely priceless! He was actually the one out with them and came in to tell me about it. I was curious how he knew and his response still makes me laugh “the smell….the god awful smell”. He was mortified.
Parting words….
I just want all of you to know how humbled I am that you’ve put your faith in me. While I love my breeding program, I also really love helping all of you. It’s given me a sense of purpose I didn’t know I needed.
I love the community that we’ve grown into (it’s only been a year!). I see so many of you helping others where you can, respecting each other, and creating an atmosphere that other breeders want to be a part of.
I realize the more we grow the harder that bubble will be to maintain but I have faith in all of you that we can do it!
One of my favorite quotes:
“No man can become rich without himself enriching others.”- Andrew Carnagie
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