Aviary Kennels

05/15/2026

8 weeks old. Wow does time fly! Our orange girl, Tayo (new name TBD), will be heading home today. She's bound for Arizona and an agility career! She's our spicy girl with lots of drive, so we're very glad she'll have a job. We celebrated her last full day with us yesterday by going on a little adventure.

Our liver boy, Chevo (new name TBD) will be staying until the end of the month before heading off to Illinois to be a companion as well as dabbling in showing, agility, and other sports with his new family. He's our sweet boy and is food motivated and people-oriented. He should have a great time doing lots of activities with his people!

These homes are especially meaningful and special to me, as they both owned aunts or uncles of our girl Waverly and had hoped to get their new puppies from our breeder and mentor, Chris, from Cimmaron Brittanys. We are honored to be able to carry on the Cimmaron line for another generation and to connect with other Cimmaron families. We can't wait to see these little ones grow up in their new homes!

This leaves our third puppy, the liver girl, to stay here as our keeper. Stay tuned for her intro post when she cooperates for photos a bit better 😅

05/05/2026

6.5 week old Brittany puppies can go from sweet to mayhem in an instant.

05/05/2026

Snow day in May! We got an unexpected winter storm and the puppies got to see how they feel about the snow. They had a blast running around, even if they could only handle about 5-10 minutes of it.

It's hard to believe they're 6.5 weeks old and we're coming up fast on the days that they'll head home. Tayo has less than two weeks left with us! They are growing and changing so fast and are such bright little puppies who take everything in stride. I'm so happy with how they're developing so far, and can't wait to see them continue to grow.

04/24/2026

Did I attempt puppy stacks when they turned 5 weeks? Yes.

Did I fail miserably? Also yes.

However, everyone has really been enjoying their outside time and play gym, so please enjoy some action shots of everyone having playtime! It's hard to believe they are already 5 weeks old. They are becoming such fun little dogs and getting bolder by the day. We recently puppy-proofed the living room so they can be out of their playpen for a portion of each day and they're loving the extra freedom. Mama Waves is still smitten, and really wants them to get more coordinated so she can play chase in the yard. She still chooses to spend most of each day at least observing them in the same room, if not actively playing.

04/23/2026

Looking to get a puppy in 2026? Read this first 🫶🏼

Most people looking for a puppy have no idea what they’re supposed to be asking a breeder. It’s not like it comes up in normal conversation and unless you’ve fallen down the responsible breeder rabbit hole on the internet (Hellllloooo 👋) then nobody really teaches this stuff. But since you’re here, let’s go over it and maybe you can share with your friends.. here’s a simple breakdown from your dog obsessed internet bestie.

1. “Health tested” is not the same as “my vet said they’re healthy.”
Real health testing means OFA or equivalent. It means hips, elbows, eyes, and breed specific DNA panels. You need to verify the results on the OFA.org database with the dog’s registered name or number because I have recently seen people making AI OFA certificates… (just message me, I can help!) OFA also has a list for every breed of what “breed specific” testing you need for a CHIC #. That’s everything your breeder needs to be doing, it’s not a quick visit to the vet.

2. Ask about a contract. A good breeder will always have one.
It protects BOTH of you.
It explains health guarantees, spay/neuter terms, the return policy, and what happens if life changes. If a breeder refuses to take a puppy back at any age, that’s not a breeder you should support.. We should all be striving to keep our dogs out of the shelter systems.

3. Ask them why they bred this litter.
If the answer is along the lines of “we love the mom” “we wanted to teach our kids about the miracle of birth” “every dog deserves to be a mama once” “because blue merle frenchies are fire”….. just walk away.
A ethical breeder can tell you what they are trying to improve, what they loved about the pairing, and what they hope to see in structure, temperament, and longevity.

4. Look for a waitlist, not “available today.”
The puppy market is weird right now, and people do back out at the last minute.. having a puppy available after evals isn’t a red flag. However, constantly having puppies available with no wait, and breeding more while struggling the place the last litter? That’s something to think about.

5. You don’t have to “meet the parents” to verify quality.
If you can meet mom ahead of time, that’s always great! Maybe she is showing nearby and you can see her in her element. Once mama has puppies, her hormones aren’t herself and she might be protective or just not into meeting strangers.. not a true representation of her temperament. Also, dad might be across the country. When we pick our studs, we pick the best one for our females… and location has absolutely nothing to do with it.
But you should absolutely look at their titles, health testing, pedigree, and photos. Ask questions about their temperament, what they bring to the program and most importantly if you’re a pet owner, what are they like to live with? That all matters far more than seeing him in person.

6. Ask what they do for early development.
There are so many early curriculums that breeders can be doing with their puppies. It’s a personal choice and every breeder is going to do what they find works best for their program, but they should be doing SOMETHING. Puppy Culture, ENS, ESI, “Badass Breeder” Early Desensitization, Crate Training, Car Exposure etc… If the breeder doesn’t do anything beyond “we hold them,” that’s not enough.

7. Ask how they match puppies to homes.
You shouldn’t pick a puppy based on color or a photo. Ethical breeders evaluate structure and temperament to make sure the right puppy goes to the right family. If you’re set on a specific color, be prepared to wait for the puppy to come along that has the perfect temperament for your family (that is also the perfect color) because temperament should always be your number one priority.

8. Look at the breeder’s adults.
You can tell a lot by looking at the dogs they kept. Are they well structured, stable, healthy, do they have good temperaments? Are they titled, proven, and do they have correct breed type? Overall, do they represent what the breed should be? The dogs living in the breeder’s home will tell you everything you need to know.

9. Price shouldn’t be your deciding factor.
A well bred dog from an ethical breeder is usually going to cost more than a backyard breeder. Save your pennies and wait. I know it’s hard to not impulse the cheaper puppy but in the long run, it’s an investment. Paying more for a well bred health tested dog is cheaper than dealing with lifelong genetic issues, difficult temperaments, or unethical practices.

10. An ethical breeder is a lifetime resource.
You don’t just get a puppy, you get support. I joke with my puppy people that they’re my contractual besties.. but for real you get someone to help you with training questions, grooming, feeding, health, and the things you can’t (or maybe just shouldn’t) Google and with me, a best friend. A breeder should care where their puppies end up, not just where the money goes.

If you’re looking for a puppy in 2026 and you want to do it right, save this list. Share it with your friends whose might be searching too. I’m happy to help look over a breeders website and point out questions you should ask!

Support our content and save 10% on your EzWhelp here: https://www.ezwhelp.com/?sca_ref=10739779.7n4HACsw0DEtdZ

04/22/2026

We only have Brittanys for now, but we also love to support rare breed preservation and we think that a Drent would be a great fit for our family in the future. That's why you'll see on our website that we're an ADPA member in addition to our Brittany club memberships! So we were SO excited to find out that both the American Brittany Club Summer Specialty AND the American Drentche Patrijshond Association's annual meeting are both at the same show this summer! We're looking forward to seeing all of our Brittany friends, hopefully taking a puppy to the BPUP show, and meeting some Drents in person for the first time.

If you've never been to an open show or owned a rare breed, I encourage you to attend the open shows at Greeley! It is so cool to see so many rare breeds in one place and all of their enthusiastic breed communities. Who knows, you might just find your perfect breed that you never knew existed!

📣 We are excited to announce the ADPA's first in-person weekend of events, August 13th-16th in Greeley, CO!

We are organizing a dog pool party, a social gathering, and our Annual Members Meeting, concurrent with the Greeley Kennel Club shows, which will include 6 AKC conformation Open Shows (two of which will have awards sponsored by the ADPA!) plus AKC Rally, Obedience, FastCAT, Dock Diving, Barn Hunt, Junior Showmanship, CGC & Trick Dog testing, a Health Clinic, and more!

For more details & to RSVP, please see our website. We hope to see you there!!

04/17/2026

Four weeks old and we're starting to look like little dogs! The puppies really started playing in earnest this week, complete with growls and barks. Waves is really enjoying playing with them and loves to roll over and let them climb all over her. I'm so lucky that she's such a happy and attentive mama.

I was hoping to try for our first stack pics this week, but the puppies had other plans, so enjoy some action shots instead!

04/09/2026

3 week photos! All our eyes are open and we're starting to act like little dogs. We walk and growl and wrestle.

04/09/2026