05/31/2026
This is what "breeding" looks like.
Everyone thinks of the fluffy puppies, the hopping and playing, the fun moments....
But breeding is about cleaning, grooming, vet trips and bills, loss, dedication, sacrifice....
And for the real breeders out there... watching them age, and go through their health problems of age, go blind, lose mobility, lose continence and so much more.
Yeah, I know that the breeder will tell you they rehome their dogs when they finish so that they can get more attention, love, blah blah blah.
But, real breeders know that isn't the real reason.
It's to get rid of that back end money, time and heartache.
How could you possibly get rid of a baby that you "love" and THEY LOVE YOU, just because it no longer is a viable breeder???
Well, except to get rid of that cost and that old age heartache !!!
This is MY KENZAKINS (Kenzie)... she is 17 years old and has been blind for the last six years. She detached her retinas when she was 11 after getting her ears in the water bowl and shaking her head really hard. (Excessive shaking of the head or shaking the head really hard can cause this in all brachial dogs because of the flat face and big round eyes).
Kenzie adjusted to being blind very quickly because her pack, the one she grew up with.... the one that loves her... the one that she has established her place in... guided her and led her outside, to the food and water, to her bed... until Kenzie learned how to lean on her other senses, like smell.
Withing a few weeks, Kenzie could do it all on her own.
However, the pack was still there to protect her and guide her. They watched over her and protected (protect) her from what she couldn't see coming.
I just groomed my beautiful Kenzakins a few moments ago.
Grooming an old blind dog without a hangman's noose (that thing you see them tethered to in pet stores, isn't easy). However, I refuse to choke one of my babies (or any one else's) when I groom. I want them to learn trust and how to be treated with dignity and love while on my table.
Old dogs in general struggle with grooming because 1) they aren't as limber as they once were, 2) the sounds scare them, 3) they just don't feel like being bothered because they are old, and 4) is isn't comfortable for old whoopie dogs.
When you add blind into the mix.. look out... you're in for a flopping, whirly derby.
She used to calmly sit, even being old and blind....
But now.... She Wants No Part of It !!!
So, it becomes a three day, groom her in stages, and make it comfortable as possible to go through it.
Now that I finished that tangent....
I finished grooming my beautiful Kenzakins and set her on the floor. The entire pack came, and calmed her and guided her (not that she needed it) to her bed. Two of them are calmly bathing her while she stretches out her freshly groomed body and enjoys her families love and attention.
That pack has been formed since before she arrived. It has had additions (where they've all started at the bottom of the hierarchy) and loss, where they fill in their gaps to the pack as needed.
A real breeder knows what that pack means to a dog.
It is one thing to lose a member of the pack and them having to mourn the loss.
It's another to just get rid of one because they aren't making you money any more and you don't want to deal with the aging out, money, bills and heartache.
The day that ever becomes the way I see it, or is my only option... is the day I will retire from what I love.
I took the responsibility of becoming a breeder. This is what that is supposed to look like.
Loving them from the beginning to the end. Going through not just they great times and what they provide, but the old age, the sickness, the bad times and everything else until the day they leave this world (which is already way to soon).
I took Kenzakins in, just like all of my babies... I made a commitment and a promise to each of them. For the ones that were born to my personal whoopie dogs and I wanted to keep the bloodlines, I made a promise to each of their mothers.
To love them and care for them until the day God takes them home.
I'm going to love them every step of the journey in-between.
It may not always be pretty.
But it will always be with love.
God knows, they show me love every single day... no matter the age.
