Sweetgrass Farm Working Jack Russells

08/22/2024

08/20/2024

I just recently had a pup returned after the owner's complained that 1) It was too hyper, 2) It wouldn't accept the leash/collar, and 3) It wasn't like their other terrier. Folks, these terriers need structure and consistency in their training. They also need exercise. Lots and lots of exercise and activities to stimulate their puppy brains. And why would you expect this dog to be anything like your old dog? It's not. It's a unique little canine with a baby brain. That being said, I will be training, socializing, and definitely exercising this little buddy, which may become available. Stay tuned...

07/12/2024

Art by Dave Coverly.

07/06/2024

One of my wonderful puppy people sent me this. Reminiscent of the olden days in England when the terrierman would follow the hunt. When the Foxhounds would chase the fox into the earth, the terrier was sent to ground to bolt the fox. "Sadie" is loved and owned by Tara Eaton. ❤️

06/19/2024

A woman once contacted me looking for a puppy. But she kept saying she was hesitant because the borzoi has such a short life span. I’ve had a few who have lived to be over 14 and a more recent one who died at under five months. I felt that she was not connected to reality and was probably not someone I needed to get involved with because there would always be some problem. The problem is that when people pay you for a puppy, they act like they are buying a designer handbag or something. Authenticity, exclusivity, and that it will last forever and be in the Met. The reality is that it is a living, breathing being and it does not come with spare parts, any real guarantee as to what will happen to it or how long it will last. There is no expiration date.
Like all things with dogs, it is a gamble. You go to a show, it is a gamble. You breed a litter, it is a gamble. You place a puppy, it is a gamble. There is no way to know what will happen along the way.

I placed a puppy in a home I took a chance on. There wasn’t enough yard there but there was a huge park nearby and she went to work with her owner everyday. Never did we see a fungal infection in her future.

I placed a puppy in a home in Mexico at the beach. Perfect. Never in a million years did we think she could escape and while harassing pelicans on the cliff, it would give way and she would fall to her death.

How did that dog eat an entire box of fire starter cubes? What is really in those that blood was shooting out his butt? And then he was gone.

Not being a man and never having had male children, I had no idea testicles could torsion. Had I not shaved D’Argo down and got all that hair off of him I would have never noticed that giant shiny black ball under his tail.

I’ve always known how dangerous foxtails are. But you just don’t think about them all the time. Until your dog crashes and they show you the track on X-ray of that “foreign body” heading for his kidney.

I’m sure no one ever thinks about them smacking into each other. Or missing a turn and hitting a fence post. Pneumothorax or simply a broken neck.

And whatever had caused that intussusception was never found but it took out his whole gut all the same.

There are also the freak accidents. The coyote that ran across the trail and the dog who je**ed out of his owner’s hands. The driver just missed hitting the coyote and while watching it, he slammed right into the borzoi. Then there was the silly borzoi who ran out to do his borzoi dance in the middle of the busy street. He didn’t make it to the vet either. And then there was the borzoi I bred that took off through the only open gate at their local high school and their other borzoi ran after her. Again, the car just missed the first one, slammed right into the second one.

So when breeders offer you the chic # of their dog as if it is some sort of bulletproof guarantee that your little puppy is going to make it to 14 and still be able to hike and p*e and p**p on its own, please realize, that testing covers such a teeny tiny little piece of all the possible problems you might face along the way. We spend hundreds of dollars testing for stuff, less on structural analysis, but none of it will prepare you for the myriad ways the universe can take that puppy out.

As a breeder, I deal with up to ten times the number of deaths an individual will face. I have my own dogs and I have all of yours. I have all the ones someone else bred where my dog was used at stud. Each and every death I absorb. Each heartbreak of yours I carry with me. Each litter that doesn’t happen, hopes dashed. Each neonate that doesn’t make it. I have a deep well of sadness. It is so deep I can no longer see the bottom.

What they die from and when, we cannot possibly know that. And if all this testing proved something, it would be that it doesn’t mean what you think because we have to keep testing. It is a way to track trends over time. It is no guarantee for your puppy. And really, since we have yet for one to die of thyroid or heart issues or be born blind or lose their eyesight, of fall down at four or five from degenerative disease, I’m not sure that I can make you any guarantee other than this is a living breathing bundle of love and you will have it for as long as you have it and not a second more. -Bunny Kelly

06/15/2024

Sweetgrass Token and Kaliber, owned and lived by Tina Boboth Glockner. ❤🧡💜

06/01/2024

When I am old...

I will wear soft gray sweatshirts...
and a bandana over my silver hair...
and I will spend my social security checks on my dogs.
I will sit in my house on my well-worn chair
and listen to my dogs breathing.
I will sneak out in the middle of a warm summer night
and take my dogs for a run, if my old bones will allow...
When people come to call, I will smile and nod
as I show them my dogs...
and talk of them and about them.....the ones so beloved of the past
and the ones so beloved of today...
I will still work hard cleaning after them,
mopping and feeding them and whispering their names
in a soft loving way.
I will wear the gleaming sweat on my throat,
like a jewel, and I will be an embarrassment to all...
especially my family...
who have not yet found the peace in being free
to have dogs as your best friends...
These friends who always wait, at any hour, for your footfall...
and eagerly jump to their feet out of a sound sleep,
to greet you as if you are a God,
with warm eyes full of adoring love and hope
that you will always stay,
I'll hug their big strong necks...
I'll kiss their dear sweet heads...
and whisper in their very special company....
I look in the mirror... and see I am getting old....
this is the kind of person I am...
and have always been.
Loving dogs is easy, they are part of me.
Please accept me for who I am.
My dogs appreciate my presence in their lives...
they love my presence in their lives...
When I am old this will be important to me...
you will understand when you are old,
if you have dogs to love too.
-Author Unknown

05/19/2024

UPDATE: "Huddy" has found his forever home with a repeat puppy owner

05/14/2024

"Lil Bits" owned and loved by Angela Wint.

05/07/2024

Cuteness overload! 🤎🤍🩶🖤

05/07/2024

That would definitely be a Jack Russell!! LOL!

05/03/2024

Sweetgrass Maggie, owned and loved by Debbie DeVault. ❤️❤️❤️

04/28/2024

Huntley's babes, 3 boys and 1 girl. I will be contacting those of you on my waiting list in the next few days.

04/11/2024

🖤🤍🤎🧡

04/08/2024

This pretty little girl (Sweetgrass Hickory x Sweetgrass Sabotage) came to be groomed on Sunday. I'm absolutely thrilled with what "Bo" is siring. Everyone of his "kids" has got noodle chests, great coats, and wonderful dispositions. "Hallie Bee" is owned and loved by Gary and Diana Becker

04/07/2024

Cowgirl up! Sweetgrass Kahoots, owned and loved by Jan Mariolle.

03/30/2024

And Huntley is expecting! If interested, please pm me for details. 😍

03/28/2024

Hope, who you might remember as my cleft palate foster, her owner's sent me this today. 🤎🖤🤍❤

03/26/2024

I LOVE getting puppy photos of my "kids"! Sweetgrass Jock, owned and loved by Troy Storer. ❤️

03/26/2024

A photographer took a picture just as this couple threw ashes into a river.

He asked who it was.

They answered their dog. The photographer asked for permission to edit their photo and this was the result.

03/16/2024

Sizzle and Hemlock 💓