How it all started
I grew up on a farm, making hay on 60 acres. It was originally my grandparents’ farm and they used to milk cows. When my parents purchased the farm from them it moved from full-time operations to an elaborate hobby farm, we raised goats, cattle, and ponies (miniature horses). Every spring our mama pony would have one baby, those little ponies every spring were my favorite. With my brothers and sisters we would train the baby ponies for a few years, some were trained to pull carts, others to lead around for kid rides, and all of them loved people.
While I adored the annual pony, I spent a lot of time with our baby goats. We would have about 10-15 baby goats and I loved to spend time with them. Without fail there was always one mama goat who would have triplets, but with her milk supply, it was hard to nurse all three, so we would take the third baby and bottle feed. That little kid would make it in the house, those long legs and soft feet would be slipping and sliding all over the floor, trying to get traction.
Growing up like this, a farm just doesn’t feel like a farm without babies.
My Introduction to Breeding
In addition to farm life, my parents raised Yorkies. Working with the puppies was my favorite thing to help my parents with and I began to take over the Yorkie operation. I added my own female and kept a pair of her daughters.
As much as I loved the goat kids, the puppies were different. When you bond with a goat kid after bottle feeding, they’re gentle and are happy to see you in the yard, but there’s something about a puppy. When you spend time with a puppy, they attach to you in a different way. They seek you out, running over when they can. They can read your emotions and snuggle up to you when you’ve had a bad day or join in the fun if it’s a day for celebration. They seem to be a part of your life at a deeper level. After experiencing puppies, no farm animals could compare.
Can “Work” be Dogs?
With my love of dogs I wanted to do something with dogs instead of going to work. I knew I had to work, but if I could do that work with dogs, then it might be like I wasn’t working. So I took a few courses, I learned how different breeds had different temperaments, such as terriers not enjoying having their feet worked with. I decided to study grooming as a way to earn money, but mostly so I could work with more dogs.
Grooming was a fascinating world, I was exposed to so many different breeds, dogs of all sizes, colors, and coat textures. I also learned that I loved the temperaments and personalities of the bigger dogs, they were so much calmer and friendly, I was always gravitating towards them.
Our First Newfie
Then my parents got a Newfie and it was over. I had to have one. We got Kelsey and she was the perfect companion for my toddler son at the time. They shared all their meals together: during snack time my son would hand her some of his snacks and she would gently take them from his hand. His hand would be soaked in slobber as he reached back into the bag for some more snacks to share. Then later–much to my chagrin–I looked over to see Kelsey sharing her food and water as my son was drinking water out of her bowl, fist full of dog food. 🤢
While we originally got Kelsey as a pet, we kept the door open for breeding her, fondly remembering the days of breeding with the Yorkies. We decided to give it a go and see if breeding bigger dogs fit our family and it did! We loved it–even more than the Yorkies, which surprised us given the extra work of so many more puppies.
An Unexpected Surprise
Having only worked with Yorkie puppy buyers in the past, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I love working with the people who want Newfies. Newfie people are just different. Unlike the Yorkie people who tended to fuss over every little thing, Newfie people were calmer, more laidback, and in general just seemed like they enjoyed life more. This forever sealed my love for breeding Newfoundlands.
“Everyone should have a dog, they just make life that much better. It’s always been my goal as a breeder to be a place where people would get one of those good dogs.”
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