02/08/2024
Today, on my personal page, a memory popped up that I’d like to share with you. It tells the story of how Calypso Breeze Australian Labradoodles came to be. A couple things that were left out of my story…my dear brother, Bobby, lost his battle with cancer in 2010. And I lost my husband, the whole reason we started breeding, pretty suddenly in 2015. He gave me the skills to build the gate in the picture. I’ve also lost Moose, a most amazing dog! It’s sad to think that this will most likely all be coming to end soon. I’m thankful for the years that I’ve spent with this amazing breed and so blessed to have provided so many service, therapy, abd companion dogs over the years. Anywho, read on if you like!
From 2020:
This will be a somewhat lengthy post, so scroll on by if you like. Jerry and I married in 2006. In 2008 he had a brain stem stroke and though he could’ve lost his speech and so much more, he fought so hard and regained almost all of his strength. He lost everything on his right side so thankfully he was ambidextrous and could hold a hammer, a drill, or whatever he needed to continue working in our home improvement business. Jerry went back to work 2 weeks after his stroke. This is who he was. We did exercises, he walked stairs with me behind him supporting him just in case he fell. Jerry was a big man, 6’3” and thick b***d, so had he fallen, I would’ve been crushed. But we worked together, HARD, and he got pretty much everything back, except he was tired all the time. But this never stopped him. He worked harder than anyone I’ve ever known until the day he went into the hospital. But back to the stroke. About a year after his stroke, Jerry told me about a dog he’d seen and he wanted one so badly. It was a labradoodle. I started to research and saw that there were different types of labradoodles and we settled on an Australian Labradoodle. I figured he could walk the dog and bond with it and it would help him regain his strength. So we got Moose and Moose was a Godsend. Jerry loved him immediately and he seemed to enjoy life again. That same year my brother became ill and was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. He fought hard and he fought gracefully and always by his side was his dog, Spot. Anywho, I saw the joy and the comfort that Moose brought to Jerry and that Spot brought to my brother and really all of us while we were with my brother, and Jerry and I decided we would breed Australian Labradoodles to hopefully provide Service and Therapy dogs to those in need. Thanks to Allie Keaton, I’ve provided many service dogs to many vets and also to doctors. Many of my pups have gone as therapy dogs to autistic and Down syndrome children and adults. All of this is to say, my house is always a mess. My floors and walls and furniture are chewed. I have to be creative and find ways to keep my boys and girls apart. Yes, I breed dogs. And some will frown upon that. But my dogs all live inside with me. My pups are born in my bedroom and never live outside. NONE of my dogs live outside. They are my family. SO...I’ve been able to make some new gates and such to separate my dogs that need to be separated and I’m so thrilled. Finally I feel like my house looks more in order. In case you can’t tell, in the first picture, there’s a long gate and then I’ve zip-tied another set of gates on top. While functional (keeping boys from girls) not pretty. Super proud of my new design and super proud of providing wonderful dogs for service , therapy, and companionship.
