17/06/2024
Being a hobby breeder is so hard and challenging at times. With lots of trial and error. No one prepares you for the what if’s.
You can do all the genetic testing, care and upkeep to your dame and sires, worming, shots, food, vitamins, bedding, sanitary stations… it’s like a hospital and you’re the nurse you didn’t know you had to be.
It’s so exciting waiting for your momma to have her babies. Then sometimes she can’t, then you’re having c-sections. $1000+. Or a puppy is breech and you have to help it out. Puppies come out not breathing and you’re rubbing them profusely, suction as much as possible, cpr. Sometimes you win, a lot of the times you lose.😞 Endless weeks of syringe feeding tiny puppies because they are too little to latch, mom doesn’t drop milk, or mom rejects her own babies. Just like with your newborn babies we are up feeding every hour. Making fresh formula, feeding, rubbing the genitalia because that’s how mom would get them to go. For this all to take 30mins so you can sleep 30mins and wake up to do it all over again. Puppies ween and mom stops cleaning up their “bathroom messes”… so now you’re buying p*e pads cloth and disposable. You’re buying worming medicine so they don’t get over taken by parasites that are just naturally there when mom has pups. You’re constantly picking up p**p, changing pads, giving baths, making sure they don’t eat their p**p (because yes puppies do that) because you don’t want coccidia that can make pups sick too. Constantly sanitizing. You spend endless hours explaining puppies birth dates, sending pictures and videos. Explaining why people can’t come to your home to pick a puppy because you don’t dare expose your precious packages to parasites, parvo, ect! You spend hard earned money of your own, not “puppy profits” like everyone says😂 on vet bills, exams, certificates.
Trust me when I say we definitely spend more than we get back or even break even. We have spent 8+ weeks preparing this puppy for its new life and preparing new families for the job they will now be taking over.
Your puppy is like a new baby at this point. Just like with a baby your puppy has had first shots to get them started on protection. But they aren’t fully vaccinated. So you sternly express don’t put your new baby on the ground, don’t take it out in public, don’t let strangers touch/hold them. You wouldn’t let these things happen with your newborn human babies, well as your breeder I expect you not to do these things with my babies. I send you starter food that they are already eating, to help with the p**p/stress transition. Toys they are familiar with, food dishes, plastic bags and p*e pads for accidents on your travel home. I send probiotics to help with stress p**ps. Puppies are being taken from the only family they have known since their eyes opened, so they get sad. They miss me, they miss their siblings, the miss their mom. They’ve had a round of shots so all the above cause their little guts to tear up.
So the day has come. You pick up the puppy I have invested my love, time and money in.
I worry about the babies, I fight the urge to bug the crap out of you about your new lil fur joy! I’ve spent 5weeks sometimes less learning about you, assuring I’m giving the babies the best home possible.
With all this, I constantly get asked “so why do it”? Well….because the video you send me of your children getting my puppy for Christmas. 🩷 Seeing the joy, the excitement, the pure happiness! That’s why! Because there is little of that in this world anymore.
I see grown adults cry at pickup because this is literally their first puppy. EVER.
Or the women who can’t have their own babies and they have trusted me to give them something they are missing.
Happiness.
You all make this so worth it.
I’m not saying all is sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes things don’t work out. People decide a puppy is too much, they whine, they p**p, they p*e lol. Sometimes I get them back, more often I don’t. My baby gets passed around and there isn’t anything I can do about it. That breaks my heart.
Sometimes puppies have underlying conditions that aren’t caught by my vet or your vet and we lose the puppy. I mourn for the puppy, I mourn for you. I spend endless hours and days wondering what could have been done, if anything.
There are the families who don’t listen to my warnings about not going out in public or passing the puppy around and their puppy gets parvo. I too lose that baby and wonder if maybe I should have bugged the crap out of you to remind you of how to keep your baby safe. I mourn for you too.
Sometimes a puppies heart will give out. I can’t explain why but it’s happened. Even after being seen by my vet.
We are all human.
I work with people best I can. I offer replacement babies when it’s something out of anyone’s control. When you’ve done your part and I’ve done mine and we still lost our baby. I try to work with everyone.
I’ve had people insult me, lie to me, bash me, forge documents to get a free puppy, and I still move forward. Because I know I’ve done my part.
My hobby, my job, being a dog mom, I take seriously.
I love all of you. I’m always here.
Even when you feel like I’m not. I love seeing your pictures! I love getting updates or silly just because videos! I love seeing your 10yr old Dachshund with his birthday hat and candles on his pup cake!! I love it all!!
So the next time you talk to a breeder, please understand why they ask the fees they do, why they ask questions about you and your family. You’ll be holding a part of our hearts. We only want the best for you and our babies. ❤️❤️
