12/13/2025
This week has been one of the hardest, most eye-opening weeks of my entire life. I learned more than I ever wanted to learn in such a short amount of time. I cried tears I honestly didn’t think I had left. I yelled, I screamed, I questioned God, and I sat in moments where the pain was so heavy it felt like it might crush me. And that doesn’t even touch what my husband went through walking right beside me — holding me up, hurting with me, and carrying a weight that only someone who loves you deeply will help you carry.
In the middle of all that chaos, confusion, and heartbreak, I reached out to someone who has become more than just a breeder friend — she is someone who refused to let me drown. She pushed me to ask questions, to keep fighting for answers, to advocate for my babies and for myself, even when I felt defeated. She walked me through things I never imagined I’d have to face as a breeder. She held space for my tears and my fear. And she never once made me feel like I was alone. She doesn’t want recognition. She doesn’t look for praise. But it would be wrong of me not to say this publicly:
Rachel, I truly hope you see this. I wouldn’t have made it through this traumatizing week without your steady light guiding me. Thank you — from the deepest, rawest part of my heart — for being there when everything felt like it was falling apart.
And to every single person who reached out — whether it was a prayer, a message, a comment, a simple “thinking of you,” or even just sending love from afar — thank you. You don’t understand how much strength those little moments gave me. This week showed me something I didn’t expect: just how many people genuinely care. How many people see my effort, my heart, my love for these puppies. I never would’ve believed I had this kind of support behind me until life forced me to open my eyes and see it.
There’s a verse, a reminder, that kept circling my mind through everything:
“What the enemy meant for evil, God turned it for good.”
And I can say that with my whole chest now, because I lived it. Even in the heartbreak, even in the loss, even in the questions — God was working. He was strengthening me. He was teaching me. He was reshaping me into a breeder who doesn’t just love what she does, but fights for it.
This tragedy did not break me. It awakened me.
It reminded me why I do this.
It reminded me that these puppies aren’t “just puppies” — they are family. They are pieces of my heart walking around on four tiny paws. They matter to me more than most people will ever understand.
And I want to be clear: I won’t stop breeding because of this. If anything, it lit a fire beneath me that I didn’t know I had. It forced me to learn things that will make me a better breeder — a more cautious one, a more educated one, a more intentional one. It made me realize how much I’m willing to fight for this calling.
My story didn’t end this week.
It didn’t even come close.
If anything… this is only the beginning.
I’m stepping forward stronger, wiser, and more determined than ever — with God by my side, with my family holding me up, with friends like Rachel guiding me, and with a community I didn’t even know I had cheering me on.
Thank you. Truly. My heart is forever changed.
Valerie Jones
Owner & Founder of Doodles Of Jones
