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​Health & Breeding Philosophy

One of the biggest responsibilities I feel as a breeder is doing everything I reasonably can to produce healthy puppies. Of course I want our puppies to be beautiful. I want wonderful temperaments and dogs that families truly enjoy living with. But I also know that when I place one of our puppies into someone's arms, they're hoping to love that dog for a very long time.I don't take that lightly. There isn't any way for a breeder to guarantee that a puppy will never have a health problem, as much as I wish there were. But there are things we can do to make the best decisions possible, and that's what we try very hard to do here.

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Health Testing Is One Piece of the Picture

We health test our breeding dogs and use both genetic testing and breed-appropriate physical health testing to help us plan our litters.

I'm incredibly thankful for genetic testing and how much more we know now than breeders did years ago. It gives us information that can help us avoid producing puppies affected by conditions we know how to test for.

But I've also learned not to look at a page full of clear results and think that tells me everything I need to know about a dog. It doesn't. There are things we still don't have genetic tests for and there are plenty of other things that matter to me when deciding whether I want to breed a dog.

I want to know the dog in front of me. How is their overall health? Do I love their temperament? How are they put together? What do I know about their parents, siblings and other relatives? And if they've already had puppies, what am I seeing in those puppies? All of that information matters to me when making breeding decisions.

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Genetic Results Aren't Simply Good or Bad

You'll sometimes see genetic results listed as clear, carrier or affected, and it can be easy to assume that only a completely clear dog should ever be bred. Genetics are a little more complicated than that. A healthy dog who carries one copy of certain recessive conditions can be responsibly paired with a clear dog without producing affected puppies. That's one of the reasons we test in the first place so we have that information when we're planning a pairing. I don't want to eliminate a wonderful dog from our program simply because their genetic report isn't perfectly clear just like I wouldn't breed a dog simply because it is.

The test results give us information. Then it's our job to use that information wisely.

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Temperament Matters Just as Much to Me

Because our focus is companion dogs, temperament is a huge part of what I look at. I want dogs who love their people. Dogs who are fun to live with and willing to learn. Dogs who can head out and do things with their family but can also settle into normal everyday life. Every dog is going to have their own personality and I love that about them. I'm not trying to produce little copies of the same dog over and over. But if I don't love a dog's temperament, I don't care how beautiful they are or how perfect their genetic testing looks. I don't want to breed them.

It's that important to me.

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Structure Isn't Just About Showing Dogs

We aren't a show focused breeding program, but structure still matters to us. I want our dogs to be able to comfortably do all the things families hope to do with them. Maybe that's hiking. Maybe it's agility for fun. Maybe it's running around the backyard with the kids, traveling with their family or just being an active little dog for many years. They need a body that can comfortably do those things. That's why I care about good structure even though earning titles in the show ring isn't what our program is built around.

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I  Want Our Families to Tell Me Things

I genuinely love when our puppy families stay in touch. Of course the cute pictures and birthday updates are my favorite kind of messages to receive. But I also want families to tell me if something concerning ever comes up with their dog. I'd rather know. Sometimes a health problem truly is just an isolated thing. Not everything that happens to a dog is genetic. But I can't recognize a pattern if no one tells me what's happening. The longer we breed, the more information we have about our dogs, their relatives and the puppies we've produced. I think that information is incredibly valuable. It's another piece of the picture when I make breeding decisions.

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And Sometimes I Change My Mind

Being flexible and choosing to pivot on either breeding a dog or breeding together a pair of dogs when I believe its in the best interest of any of our dogs, their future puppies and any future puppy family when making breeding decisions is an important part of my breeding philosophy. I might have a pairing planned that I'm really excited about and then rethink it for some reason. I may choose to pair different dogs together. I may put that pairing on hold. And sometimes I may decide that a dog I absolutely adore simply shouldn't be bred. I may choose to retire early a mama who is great at raising puppies and produces wonderful puppies but whose whelping isn't easy on her. That's hard. I'm attached to these dogs and I get excited about future puppies too. But I'd rather change my plans than talk myself into ignoring something that concerns me. Breeding involves living animals, and there are always going to be things we can't predict. I don't think responsible breeding means somehow knowing everything. For me, it means paying attention to the information we do have and being willing to act on it.

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What We're Trying to Do

I don't expect perfection from our dogs. And I certainly can't promise perfection in every puppy we produce. What I can do is keep learning.

I can genetically  test our dogs. I can do additional health testing. I can pay attention to temperament and structure. I can learn as much as possible about the dogs behind them. I can listen to our puppy families. I can watch what our dogs produce. And I can make thoughtful pairing decisions based on everything I know at that point in time.

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At the end of the day, we're trying to produce healthy, happy, beautiful little dogs with wonderful temperaments who will go out and become deeply loved members of their families.

 

That's really what all of this comes back to for me. I want to feel good about the puppies we're bringing into the world and about the families we're sending them home to. And I want to keep doing everything I can to give both the very best start possible.