Being a breeder who cares is such a fine line to walk — like being a mother-in-law or a grandparent. Even when you see or know things you consider cringeworthy, you have to preserve the relationship at all costs.
All costs.
As a breeder, I know about those costs: Anxiety, worry, regret, soul searching, and lost sleep.
Moonshadows - telling secrets.
As I look at potential puppy homes, I am keenly alert for red flags that suggest I might be paying future high costs for a placement. This is what careful and caring breeders do — it is not unique to me.
A red flag for a puppy mill or backyard breeder might be concerns about whether someone can pay — for me, red flags are all about incongruence with what I consider an optimal life for a puppy.
Bright Star Heze
“Who the heck gets to decide whether my home is optimal for a puppy?” one might indignantly ask.
Fair question and here is the answer as it relates to the Bright Stars and Moonshadows: Me.
I created these lives. Of course I am the one who must decide what is optimal.
Cross Talk with Moonshadow Portia
There are so many variations of optimal, and this is wonderful because puppies are individuals who need different kinds of homes.
But what all puppies need — in my definition of optimal — is to be a priority. A high priority. One worth time, attention, adaptation, and yes — sacrifices.
Novel toy today — it was a HUGE hit.
This is tough. People want a puppy. I want to sleep at night. And the truth is that sometimes those two things cannot both happen; that reality doesn’t make anyone a bad person.
This is a busy week. We will be doing formal evaluations of the puppies. The Bright Stars will have veterinary exams, get microchipped, have blood drawn both for titers and Berner-Garde sponsored research, and based on titer results, may get their first vaccination. In addition, Claire’s surgery is tomorrow.
And so all things considered — the 10+10+9+me of us are doing some variation of fine. In my case, it looks like more like an acronym (F.I.N.E.) but never mind that — we knew it would be March Madness, right?