When Transparency is Opaque

Mary-Ann Sontag February 21, 2021

The demand for Berner puppies is intense. I have received dozens and dozens of inquiries from wonderful people who just want a puppy.

Producing family companions is not actually my first priority as a breeder. What I am trying to do is create MY next puppy — or in the case of the Moonshadows, Toby’s next puppy.

This means the goal for every breeding I do is based on what I value: I want a healthy, sound Berner with a strong work ethic who can compete at the high levels of performance events AND conformation (aka beauty pageant). This means my dog must have a solid temperament and a certain “look” — it also means I tend to produce smart, active Berners who are not couch potatoes.

Many of our dogs live amazingly wonderful lives as family companions — most them, in fact! Those family companions were also bred to be sound, active, smart, and pretty. For any number of reasons, they were not placed as a “show puppy” and so their interesting lives look different than the one who will stay here or go into a show home. Not better or worse — just different.

Some homes that start off wanting a family companion discover the fun of performance events and next thing you know they are off competing. That is wonderful! It is also fantastic if the dog’s interesting life is being a Therapy Dog or hiking in the mountains.

There is no one perfect life for a dog — as long as it is kind, safe, and interesting a dog’s life can be so many things.

I am so grateful that most of these puppies will go to people I already know and/or who have previous Berner experiences. The selection of which new homes to welcome into our Berner Community is hard on all of us. People just want a puppy — and it seems like it should be easy.

It isn’t.

I do not want to mess this up — a puppy’s life depends on me making an optimal match. Further, I have contracts with stud dog owners. They — and others who have worked with me through generations of dogs — have every right to expect me to keep doing the honorable and ethical things I agreed to do. Terri Zimmerman doesn’t deserve to have the progeny of any of her Z Boys in bad situations — these puppies are part of her legacy.

You get it. This stuff matters.

I cannot choose my puppy until they are 7 - 8 weeks old. There are a few homes that want something similar to me — and again, those puppies cannot be identified before they are 7 - 8 weeks old. In fact, I cannot make any puppy matches until that age because I have to know personalities.

I will not breed Claire again — this has been much too hard on her. She is a lovely mother and has produced gorgeous babies but her quality of life matters more than anything. Claire is one and done in the motherhood department.

And so I am tempted to keep two puppies from Claire. I am not sure I will but yes, I am tempted.

Complicating things more — if I only keep one puppy, I need a back-up girl in a home I trust in case the girl I keep doesn’t turn out. With only one litter from Claire, I need options going forward and so placement of puppies is also based on what I need as a breeder.

All this is to help explain why it is hard to say whether I have a puppy for someone or not. Yes, I can commit most of the puppy slots but there will be last minute decisions and those are hard on all of us; this is especially true of the girl placements.

I write this blog to help people understand more about what it means to live a Life with Dogs that includes occasional litters. This post should give an inkling that it is surprisingly complicated. Who knew?!

Have an uncomplicated day — I bet that would be nice.

Evening Pics

Today got more complicated — Claire’s good back leg is not so good anymore — and so just three photos from the Bright Stars today…

Puppy Love Day

Mary-Ann Sontag February 14, 2021

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Check out what I got from Berkeley.

She is not even 4.5 years old.

I am reminded that when kids live an intentional, thoughtful, informed, and enriched life they are able to flourish and excel.

It is not so different for puppies, except they are unlikely to send written Valentine’s Day notes.

I love thinking of ways to enrich my puppies’ lives/environment. It is fun and I know it matters.

Rosebud is part of the puppies’ enrichment activities.

There is a tension — a sweet spot — between not enough stimulation and too much. If we under-enrich, we fail to push towards potential and lose opportunities to hardwire in positive ways. If we overdo it, we cause puppies (and humans) to shut down and risk unfortunate hardwiring in the developing brains.

Sirius and Heze with Miss Piggy 2-14.jpg

Miss Piggy was new today, and the puppies noticed and interacted — very cool. That is Sirius and Heze.

Novelty is important and so you will rarely see the same things with the puppies two days in a row. Because they grow and change so quickly at this age, even a two-day break from something gives it back some novelty.

Raising puppies in this intentional and enriched way doesn’t matter to everyone and that is perfectly fine; there are breeders for people who just want a puppy — or better yet, please rescue a dog or a puppy if early life experience is not critical to you.

My goal is always to place puppies with people who value and appreciate the informed and intentional way we raise puppies because it means those new homes will continue the efforts when they assume responsibility for the puppy’s life and welfare.

The Moonshadows are starting to play with each other…

Nova Jr.: “Will you be my Valentine, Miss Piggy?”

Have a LOVEly day.

Evening Update

I love this photo. Neil and Arch on a tolerant sibling.

Puppy Grand Central Report (Updated)

Mary-Ann Sontag February 10, 2021

When I was a kid, our cat had repeated litters of kittens (this before parents knew better and spaying wasn’t a thing). Some of my earliest traumatic memories involve those kittens.

The time, for example, my toddler brother accidentally killed one by slamming the kitten in a car door — it was Halloween and I went to the Kindergarten costume parade with kitten blood on my white Casper the Friendly Ghost costume.

The extra kittens who were dropped off at the pet store or Humane Society — I feel haunted by all that still.

The responsibilities involved in the creation of Life are adult activities.

Yesterday, as I fretted and worried about Claire, I kept imagining the experience from the perspective of a child and was reminded why the kitten memories are still so traumatic.

Children should never be burdened with things that exceed their developmental capacity, and that includes the creation and maintenance of Life.

In fact, I feel a bit outraged this morning on behalf of children whose parents think casually breeding a dog or cat so the kids can experience the miracle of life is a good plan. They might want to consider how the child might feel when worried their beloved dog might die.

Putting kids (or puppies) in situations where they experience fear and terror — and yet cannot do anything about it — is a great recipe for imprinting traumatic memories. Life will throw enough at the young ones — don’t do more on purpose.

Claire is better but not 100%. Do you know how long it takes to eat a cup of kibble 1 - 2 pieces at a time, with pauses every 20 or so pieces?!

A long time.

My dogs do not eat primarily kibble on a regular basis — they get a variety of foods — but puppy kibble is calorie-dense and that is what is needed. Besides, she won’t eat anything else at the moment besides kibble and Animal Crackers.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner of the Nauseous!

The Bright Stars are all just fine — nursing was not interrupted by Claire’s illness. They are all happy little hippos.

**Bright Star Sun says, “who are you calling a hippo?!”**

Zaniah was the first escapee from the box — Heze considered an attempt but aborted it.

Over at the Moonshadows, developmental milestones are being ticked off right and left. Eyes are opening and now puppies are staggering — the Drunken Dinosaur stage has arrived!

The Moonshadows are all so lovely…

And Daisy is an easy and competent mom who is always happy to eat. Thank goodness!

Rosebud wants the Moonshadows to be renamed: Rosebud’s Squad.

The puppies have presents!

But I have meetings, class, and a webinar — and since I am the webinar presenter, I need to focus on all that first and will open presents as the reward for finishing all the things.

Have a wonderful day — and please eat!

Evening Report & Pics

After a stressful 36 hours, I am pleased to share that Claire is feeling better!

She is back to eating — okay, yes — from my hand but still — she is eating! This breeding thing is definitely rated Adult Content for gore, stress, bad language, suspense, and so on.

Whew.

But the puppies are incredibly cute!