10/17/2026
✨ FROM ONE BREEDER TO ANOTHER SOME ADVICE I WISH EVERY BREEDER HEARD EARLY ✨
LONG READ BUT WORTH IT!
If I could sit down with someone just starting in the breeding world and share what years of experience have taught us, this is what I would tell them.
Building a successful breeding program is about so much more than producing beautiful puppies. 🐾
It takes sacrifice.
It takes investment.
It takes patience.
It takes consistency.
It takes integrity.
It takes learning from mistakes.
And for us, it has taken a whole lot of faith. 🙏
Some lessons come from success. 🌟
Others come from disappointment.
And some of the most valuable lessons come from learning exactly who and what deserves access to your peace. 🤍
Here are a few things we’ve learned along the way.
1. NOT EVERYONE IN THE BREEDING WORLD IS YOUR FRIEND. 👀
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t build friendships.
We have met some absolutely incredible people through breeding, and there are breeders we genuinely respect and care about.
But learn to be selective about who you confide in.
Be careful who you tell your plans to.
Be careful who you share your future breedings, goals, ideas, struggles, and business with.
Not everyone who applauds you publicly is cheering for you privately.
You can be kind to everyone without giving everyone access to everything.
Protect your peace. 🕊️
Protect your family. ❤️
Protect your program. 🐾
And understand that sometimes the best move you can make is the one nobody knows about until it’s already done. 🤫
2. BUILD YOUR PROGRAM THROUGH YOUR OWN PRODUCTIONS. 🧬
If you are spending thousands of dollars using outside studs, have a reason for doing it beyond producing one litter.
Ask yourself:
What is this breeding doing for the NEXT generation of my program?
If you create something exceptional and sell every single puppy, over and over again, eventually you have to ask yourself what you are actually building.
KEEP SOMETHING BACK. 💯
Obviously, not every puppy should be kept. Your keepers should meet your standards for health, temperament, structure, and the direction you want your program to go.
But if your goal is to establish your own line and create something recognizable, your productions have to become part of your future.
Your keepers become your foundation.
Your foundation becomes consistency.
Consistency becomes recognition.
And recognition becomes your legacy. 🏆
Eventually, people should be able to look at what you produced and recognize the direction of your program.
That is the difference between simply producing litters and actually building a program.
3. GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE. 🤝
This is something we learned very early, and we have always tried to practice it.
If you purchase a stud or female that someone else produced, give that breeder their credit.
Especially when that dog is first being introduced and establishing himself or herself in your program.
You do not have to mention the original breeder for the rest of that dog’s life, but never be afraid to acknowledge where a great dog came from.
Someone invested their time.
Their money.
Their knowledge.
Their failures.
Their successes.
And sometimes generations of work into producing that dog.
Giving someone else credit does not take anything away from you.
Success does not require pretending you built something you didn’t.
There is enough room for everyone to receive the recognition they earned. 👏🏽
4. YOUR STUD OUTPRODUCING HIMSELF IS A GOOD THING. 🔥🐾
I cannot stress this enough.
If your stud consistently produces offspring that are even better than himself, CELEBRATE THAT. 🎉
That is exactly what you should want.
The goal of a breeding program should be progression. 📈
Better health.
Better structure.
Better temperament.
Better consistency.
A stronger next generation.
A great producer should not be the end of the road.
He should help create what comes next.
If your stud produces something better than himself, you didn’t lose.
You won. 🏆
5. DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR ABOUT ANOTHER BREEDER. 🗣️🚫
This industry would be a much better place if more people followed this one rule.
If someone tells you something terrible about another breeder, stop and ask yourself:
Have I personally had that experience with this person?
If the answer is no, then why are you allowing somebody else’s experience, opinion, argument, jealousy, or personal history to become yours?
Get to know people yourself.
Do business based on facts.
Form your own relationships.
Make your own judgments.
We are adults running businesses.
We are not teenagers navigating high school.
Gossip, cliques, pettiness, and cattiness do not make anyone look more successful.
Usually they accomplish the opposite.
You can support somebody without agreeing with everything they do.
You can respect somebody without being their best friend.
And you can decide someone isn’t for you without trying to destroy their reputation. 🤍
6. NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO ALIGN WITH YOUR BELIEFS — AND THAT IS OKAY. 🙏
Some people will disagree with how you operate.
Some won’t share your values.
Some may not appreciate how openly you talk about God.
Some people will delete you.
Some will unfollow you.
Some will block you.
And sometimes you will never know why.
Maybe it’s jealousy.
Maybe your personalities simply don’t align.
Maybe your success makes someone uncomfortable.
Maybe your faith makes someone uncomfortable.
Or maybe that person is fighting something within themselves that has absolutely nothing to do with you.
You do not have to figure everybody out.
And you definitely do not have to become negative because someone else chooses negativity.
Kill them with kindness. ❤️
Keep your heart right.
Keep your intentions right.
Keep your faith. 🙏
Keep doing what you believe is right.
You do not have to dim your light just because someone else doesn’t understand why you shine. ✨
7. YOUR PET FAMILIES SHOULD ALWAYS COME FIRST. 🏡❤️🐶
If there is one thing I could tell every breeder who wants true long-term success, it would be this:
TAKE CARE OF YOUR FAMILIES.
Not until the deposit clears.
Not until the puppy leaves.
Afterward too.
Answer their questions.
Educate them.
Support them.
Check in.
Celebrate their dogs.
Be there when they need guidance.
Remember that what may be “one of your puppies” to you becomes somebody else’s family member. ❤️
That deserves respect.
Your reputation will be built far more by how you treat your families than by how many followers you have, how expensive your dogs are, or how many big-name studs appear in your pedigrees.
Pet families will take your program farther than you can ever imagine. 🙌🏽
Happy families become repeat families.
They become referrals.
They become supporters.
They become friends.
And sometimes they become some of the loudest voices telling people why they should trust you. 📣
Never get so busy trying to impress other breeders that you forget the people who actually trusted you with their family.
8. STAY IN YOUR OWN LANE AND LET YOUR WORK SPEAK. 🎯
You don’t have to compete with everybody.
You don’t have to answer every comment.
You don’t have to defend yourself against every rumor.
And you certainly do not have to prove yourself to someone who has already decided they don’t like you.
Put that energy somewhere more productive. 💪🏽
Improve your dogs.
Improve your knowledge.
Improve your program.
Take care of your families.
Celebrate your wins.
Learn from your losses.
And celebrate other people’s accomplishments without convincing yourself that their success somehow diminishes yours.
There is room for more than one person to win. 🏆🤝
Also remember:
Social media popularity and real-world success are not always the same thing.
Followers don’t build a legacy.
Character, consistency, reputation, good dogs, and happy families do. 💯
MY FINAL PIECE OF ADVICE… ❤️
Stay humble enough to keep learning.
Stay confident enough to know your worth.
Stay wise enough to protect your peace. 🕊️
Stay kind enough to help someone else.
And stay grounded enough to remember where your blessings came from. 🙏
We have been blessed beyond measure at Colebrook, but that does not mean every lesson came easily.
We’ve made mistakes.
We’ve trusted people we probably shouldn’t have.
We’ve invested money that didn’t always produce the outcome we hoped for.
We’ve learned hard lessons.
We’ve grown.
We’ve changed.
We’ve met people who disappointed us, and we’ve also met some incredible people we probably never would have known without this journey.
Through all of it, we kept moving forward. ➡️
And through all of it, we kept putting our faith in God. 🙏
You can be successful and kind.
You can be confident and humble.
You can protect yourself without becoming bitter.
You can build something incredible without tearing somebody else’s program apart.
You can give someone credit without diminishing your own accomplishments.
And you can win without hoping somebody else loses. ❤️
If God opens a door for you, walk through it. 🚪✨
Work hard once you’re inside.
And never become so successful that you forget to thank Him for opening it. 🙏
To every breeder genuinely trying to improve their program, better their breed, take care of their dogs, and do right by their families:
Keep going. 💪🏽
Don’t let gossip distract you.
Don’t let jealousy change you.
Don’t let mistakes define you.
Don’t let somebody else’s opinion determine your worth.
Build something you are proud to put your name on. 🏆
And when success comes, make sure you can look back and be just as proud of how you got there as you are of where you ended up.
🤍 Much love and continued success from Colebrook Posh Pugs. 🤍
