About Foxtail Hollow...

About Foxtail Hollow

Hi! I’m Angie, and Foxtail Hollow is our little family breeding program here in eastern North Carolina.

If you’ve spent any time looking through our website or following us on social media, you’ve probably already figured out that dogs are a pretty big part of our life. We’re a large family, and our home has always been full of kids, dogs, a little bit of chaos, and usually someone needing something. Our dogs are right in the middle of all of it.

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Foxtail Hollow officially began in 2023, but I think the heart behind it started long before then.

Dogs have been part of our family for many years, and over time I’ve come to appreciate more and more just how much a beloved dog can add to a person’s life. They’re there for so many of the ordinary moments we don’t think much about at the time, but they also have a way of being beside us during some of the moments we never expected to walk through. Our family learned that firsthand. In 2016, we lost our home and nearly everything we owned in a house fire. Thankfully our whole family made it out safely, which will always be what matters most, but the years that followed were still hard in ways I don’t think we completely understood at the time.

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As we rebuilt our home and slowly found our way forward, our dogs and simply spending time outside in nature became a really meaningful part of that healing for our family, especially for some of my children. There is something about the quiet companionship of a dog who doesn’t need you to explain anything. They’re just happy to sit beside you, follow you outside, go for a walk, or be there when you need them.

 

The companionship of a dog and their love and devotion is such a precious gift. That experience placed in my heart such a deep rooted spirit of gratitude for all that a dog or in our case dogs do to enrich our lives.  

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How Foxtail Hollow Began

Over the years our love for dogs naturally grew into an interest in breeding and raising puppies. The more I learned, the more I knew that if we were going to do this, I wanted to do it in a way that felt right to us. I wanted our dogs to be family dogs first. I wanted puppies raised right here in the middle of real family life, where they would be known individually and loved for exactly who they are. And I wanted the families who came to us to feel like they could know us too.

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So in 2023, Foxtail Hollow began. What started fairly small has grown and changed along the way as we’ve learned more, gained experience, and figured out what matters most to us. Our program today focuses on Miniature American Shepherds, a breed that has completely won our hearts. We previously raised German Shorthaired Pointers as well, and while that chapter of our breeding program has come to a close, our GSPs are still very much loved members of our family and part of the story of Foxtail Hollow.

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This has also never really been something I do alone. My husband and our kids are all part of life here caring for dogs and puppies in different ways. My daughter Sarah has become an especially big part of Foxtail Hollow alongside me, and raising puppies has become something we genuinely enjoy doing together. There are a lot of hands around here to hold puppies, take someone outside, sit in a puppy pen, help with photos, make a vet trip, clean up yet another mess, or just love on whoever happens to need it. It really is a family thing.

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Why We Keep Doing It

There are certainly easier hobbies we could have chosen. Raising puppies well is a lot of work. There are sleepless nights, endless laundry, worry, messes, vet appointments, and plenty of moments when the whole house seems to revolve around puppies.

 

But then there are all the other moments too. Watching a newborn puppy grow into a little individual with their own personality. Seeing one become brave enough to try something that scared them yesterday. Watching them discover grass, toys, children, and the world around them. Sitting in the puppy pen with one asleep in your lap. And eventually, getting to watch that puppy become someone’s dog. That part never gets old for me.

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We stay in touch with many of our puppy families, and I love getting the photos and updates as our puppies grow up. We get to see them on family vacations, curled up with children, hiking, learning new things, celebrating birthdays, and just living everyday life with their people.

 

Sometimes we hear about them being beside their families through difficult seasons too. Those updates mean more to me than I can really explain.

 

Because ultimately, that is what I hope for every puppy born here. I want them to be deeply loved. I want them to be someone’s little shadow, adventure buddy, couch companion, or best friend. I want them to be part of birthday mornings and Christmas mornings and ordinary Tuesday afternoons.

 

And maybe, when life gets hard, I hope they’re there for those days too.

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Our dogs have given our family so much over the years. In a lot of ways, Foxtail Hollow is our opportunity to pass a little bit of that forward.

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We aren’t trying to be the biggest breeding program, and we certainly don’t claim to do everything perfectly but we always do our very best to raise our puppies with a great start in life. We’re always learning, and I hope we always will be.

 

We’re simply trying to raise healthy, happy puppies thoughtfully and responsibly, love them really well while they’re ours, and then find the families who will love them even more when it’s time for them to leave us.

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That’s really the heart of Foxtail Hollow.

— Angie