The 12 Days of Breeders is a series of interviews conducted with members of the Dog Breeder Society who are doing innovative, creative, and inspiring things in their dog breeding business. In each of these interviews we cover challenges each breeder has encountered, and how they’ve overcome those challenges to find success in their breeding program. Join me for all twelve of these interviews for inspiration, and countless actionable tips you can use to overcome (or avoid) challenges in your own dog breeding program! You can check out all of the interviews in this series here.
Dakotah & Hunter of Bear Paw Ranch
Today you get to meet my very own, my kids: Dakotah & Hunter, they’re 12 and 10 and they’ve been a part of dog breeding pretty much their whole lives. Today they share life from their perspective in living with a dog breeding program and being a part of it. They share what they love, what they hate, and how they help.
I hope you enjoy breeding from a kids’ perspective!
Learn more about Bear Paw GSPs and Learn more about Bear Paw Rat Terriers
Transcript
Julie Swan | 0:24
You guys are in for a treat today. Today we have my very own Dakotah and Hunter of Bear Paw Ranch. They are my kids, poor souls. Anyway, today we’re going to talk about life being the kids of a dog breeder, in particular me, and what that’s like.
So thanks for coming on kiddos.
Dakotah | 0:49
My pleasure.
Julie Swan | 0:52
So to start, I started breeding, and I had my first three litters when Hunter was still in the oven cooking. So Hunter, you don’t really know life, not as a dog breeder, and Dakotah, you were about 18 months old when I had the first set of litters. So Dakota, what’s your first memory of dog breeding?
Do you have any?
Dakotah | 1:22
Probably. . . I don’t know. There’s so many dog breeding memories.
Julie Swan | 1:27
So many dog breeding memories. Yeah, that’s good. What about you, Hunter?
Do you remember the first time, first thing from dog breeding or was it just always there?
Hunter | 1:36
I think I remember like some of the first times I watered the dogs, but that’s it.
Julie Swan | 1:40
That’s it. Yeah. And so why don’t you go ahead and share with us, what are your responsibilities with dog breeding?
Hunter, do you want to say what you do first?
Hunter | 1:49
Sure. So I water the dogs every day. I have, except for every other weekend when I’m with my dad, but I have done this for three, three and a half years or something.
Julie Swan | 2:08
I think it’s closer to five.
Hunter | 2:11
Yeah. I don’t know.
Julie Swan | 2:14
Yeah. You’ve been in charge of water for five years. So is there a better time or worst time in the year with watering?
Hunter | 2:21
Worst time in the year is probably winter.
Julie Swan | 2:25
Why is that?
Hunter | 2:27
Because sometimes the hose freezes and you can’t do anything. And when, it doesn’t freeze, you get yourself wet. It’s cold.
Julie Swan | 2:36
Yeah. That makes sense. And you get those weird icicles coming out of the hose.
Hunter | 2:40
Yeah. Yeah. That I pick up and throw it at Dakotah. And speaking of Dakota.
Julie Swan | 2:48
And Dakota, you want to tell us what you do?
Dakotah | 2:51
Yes. I feed the dogs, and it is pretty much great all throughout the year, unless it’s summer and a hundred degrees outside.
Julie Swan | 3:00
Yeah. Then it’s just like sticky and gross, right? Yeah.
So what’s your favorite part of feeding?
Dakotah | 3:08
My favorite part is probably seeing how happy the dogs get when we’re there with the food.
Julie Swan | 3:14
Yeah. That is kind of their favorite part of the day, isn’t it?
Dakotah | 3:17
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 3:18
Yeah. Have you learned anything from doing all the feeding?
Dakotah | 3:23
Yeah. How fast my memory can memorize things.
Julie Swan | 3:27
So what do you mean?
Dakotah | 3:29
Like whenever we change the scoop amount, for one of the dog pens, like that, it’s memorized.
Julie Swan | 3:40
You just know the new stuff. This dog needs more food. This dog needs less food.
Do you end up adjusting things if you see a dog is underweight or overweight?
Dakotah | 3:51
I do. Yeah. I remember that one time when we were boarding Ilsa, and she was getting fat, because she was like not used to the such high calorie food that was recommended to them for their dog.
So she did get a little fat. So I went from two scoops to one scoop because she was getting a little thick.
Julie Swan | 4:15
That makes sense. That makes sense. So, all right.
So what is the best part of breeding dogs?
Dakotah | 4:28
I’m going to go first on this one. I would say the best part about breeding dogs is probably when the puppies are a week old and they’re so fluffy and cute. Like you just want to.
It’s called cuteness aggression. Something I get when the puppies are a week to two weeks old.
Julie Swan | 4:48
Cuteness aggression?
Dakotah | 4:50
Yes. Like you start getting, like to the point they’re so cute. You want to squeeze them.
Julie Swan | 4:57
Oh yeah. That makes sense. But we don’t.
Dakotah | 4:59
We don’t. No squeezing.
Julie Swan | 5:03
What about you Hunter? What’s your favorite part?
Hunter | 5:08
Seeing how happy the kids and some of the families are when they first see the puppy.
Julie Swan | 5:13
Yeah. It’s fun. Isn’t it? What do you think the kids think when they look at them the first time?
Hunter | 5:22
Excited.
Julie Swan | 5:22
Yeah. They’re excited. But sometimes it’s funny when they’re kind of nervous too, right?
Have you noticed that? And they’re like, oh, I don’t know how to hold it. That’s always fun.
It’s very sweet.
Hunter | 5:36
One thing I noticed about a year or two ago is that not all kids know how to hold puppies.
Julie Swan | 5:41
Right. Yeah. No, it’s definitely something you learn.
Hunter | 5:44
So yeah, that’s one thing I noticed that is not normal.
Julie Swan | 5:48
Yeah, it is.
Hunter | 5:49
But I thought it was normal.
Julie Swan | 5:50
It’s definitely something that’s learned. Right. But you learned it so young.
You probably forgot.
Hunter | 5:54
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 5:55
Yeah.
Hunter | 5:56
I always think that it’s a mandatory thing to know.
Julie Swan | 6:01
Yeah. Yeah. What about the worst thing in dog breeding? What do you think?
Dakotah | 6:08
I would say that it’s probably the worst thing in dog breeding. Is when the puppies are like six and a half to eight weeks, and they’re in that window of susceptibility, and you have to be very careful on possible cross-contaminations of anything. And then also when they’re in their stage of weaning and they stink. They smell.
Julie Swan | 6:46
Oh, when they start eating dog food, and then they start pooping more, and mom stops cleaning up after them.
Dakotah | 6:52
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 6:53
That can be really bad. Right. Yeah.
I totally agree with you. What about you Hunter? What’s your least favorite part of dog breeding?
Hunter | 7:03
Least favorite? Probably. I probably kind of have to agree with Dakotah here, but also their Velociraptor stage, like almost when they go home.
Julie Swan | 7:15
And what do you mean by Velociraptor stage?
Hunter | 7:18
They will bite everything because it hurts because their teeth are trying to come in, but their teeth haven’t came out. So they’re trying to bite everything to get their teeth out. And that could hurt your legs.
Julie Swan | 7:28
Oh, yeah. Well, their teeth are out at that time. Right. But they’re just they’re like shark teeth. Sharp teeth. Yeah. The shark teeth phase is really painful, isn’t it?
Hunter | 7:38
Painful for the dog and for me.
Julie Swan | 7:40
Right. Right. Exactly.
Dakotah | 7:43
I call it the Velociraptor stage and the land shark stage. They’re literally just swimming around in air like, oh, what should I eat next?
Julie Swan | 7:55
Yeah. Fingers, toes. Yes, exactly.
Dakotah | 7:58
Hair, ears.
Julie Swan | 8:01
Yes.
That part is pretty frustrating. Dakotah, recently you raised an entire Rat Terrier litter in your bedroom. How was that?
Dakotah | 8:14
It was pretty fun, except for the random screaming at the devil’s hour, a.k.a. 3 a.m.
Julie Swan | 8:25
What was happening at that time.
Dakotah | 8:28
They were like midway through the weaning process. They hadn’t really adapted to solid food yet, so they needed their mom, and their mom and their mom didn’t stick with them.
Julie Swan | 8:38
Because she likes to sleep in the bed?
Dakotah | 8:40
Yeah, she sleeps with me. She didn’t nurse enough before bed.
And then they started screaming at 3 a.m. and woke pretty much everybody up.
Julie Swan | 8:50
Yeah, there was that. It was maybe not the most ideal to let them in your bedroom for that time.
Hunter | 8:56
Woke everybody up? You mean, kept me up?
Julie Swan | 8:59
You’re saying you didn’t get any sleep for those weeks.
Hunter | 9:02
No, I got a little bit of sleep. A little bit.
Julie Swan | 9:09
To be fair, the other side of the wall where the puppies were, was where your headboard is, so that could happen.
Dakotah | 9:16
It was definitely a learning experience. It was definitely a learning experience on that. So there was a few nights, maybe just three nights, where it was a little hard to sleep at times.
One night the puppies woke me up three times.
Julie Swan | 9:43
Yeah, and then did you just get their mom down there so that they could nurse, so you guys could go back to bed?
Dakotah | 9:49
I did, but I had to kind of keep her in there because she kept trying to jump out as soon as I put her in there.
Julie Swan | 9:53
Oh yeah, she was kind of done. She was like ready to be done.
Dakotah | 9:56
She’s like, I’m done. They have teeth now. I don’t want the teeth anymore.
Julie Swan | 10:02
Right, that makes sense. So anything you would do different if you were raising another litter?
Dakotah | 10:10
I’d probably try to keep it more like, washing stuff pretty much every other day, because I got pretty messy.
Julie Swan | 10:22
Yeah, they get pretty messy really fast. I know. It’s almost nice to have more blankets to turn over, or bedding to change more frequently.
That makes sense.
Dakotah | 10:34
Yes.
Julie Swan | 10:36
So yeah, Dakotah pretty much did that whole litter by herself. I came in and checked on them, but she already had it covered. I noticed you took them out a lot, and held them while you were on Zoom calls for school and some other stuff.
And I think that worked out really well. They seemed very happy.
Dakotah | 10:58
They seemed a lot more like, oh my God, people, uppies, uppies, uppies.
Julie Swan | 11:03
Yeah, they were a lot more people focused than some of our other litters, which I thought was really fantastic.
Dakotah | 11:08
I also got to tell you one thing. I did let them out and roam my room a little bit. And I think that made them also really like playful and curious.
Julie Swan | 11:24
Yeah, because you just had so much stuff to find.
Dakotah | 11:27
Yeah. And I once found a puppy in my, so I crochet, okay. I have a lot of like yarn cubbies, right?
So, one puppy was able to get in there and just like snuggle up and take a nap in my yarn cubby. I have a picture we could probably put somewhere.
Julie Swan | 11:51
We can put it in the show notes. Yes.
Dakotah | 11:53
Yes.
Julie Swan | 11:54
That’ll be perfect. Yeah.
Julie Swan | 11:57
Would you do it again?
Dakotah | 11:59
Yes.
Julie Swan | 11:59
Yeah. What do you think about long-term? Would you do breeding, or you think it’s just something that’s fun while you’re here with me and you’ll do something else?
Dakotah | 12:08
I mean, that really depends on what I choose my future career to be. Like, I haven’t really thought on that much, but I definitely think it could be a long-term thing.
Julie Swan | 12:19
Yeah. I do remember one time when you were like five or six and you were like, I have no interest in dog breeding. And I was like, okay, it was fine, but you did make some money on this litter.
So was that, was that nice?
Dakotah | 12:37
Yes.
Julie Swan | 12:37
Yeah.
So is it maybe worth it for that, for a little bit? Yeah.
Dakotah | 12:42
I really made a lot of money raising those puppies. So I would totally continue doing it.
Like the payout is pretty good for the Velociraptor and land shark phase.
Julie Swan | 12:57
So it weighs out is what you’re saying?
Dakotah | 12:59
Yes.
Julie Swan | 13:00
Yeah.
That makes sense. What about you, Hunter? Do you think there’s any interest in breeding or are you like, good, don’t want to do that later?
Hunter | 13:10
I’m pretty good.
Julie Swan | 13:11
Yeah. This is fun. I’m glad to be done with it.
Hunter | 13:15
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 13:15
Yeah. That’s fair.
I think that’s fair. Yeah. And that’s fine.
You got other stuff you’re working on. What about with your friends, when you tell them we breed dogs, what do they think? Do they think it’s cool?
Do they think it’s weird?
Hunter | 13:32
I think there’s a stereotypical thing that a couple of really big companies have put out, that a lot of people believe, that it’s just not true about dog breeding, that like all dog breeders are bad people. You should adopt from shelters and, but a lot of the stuff from shelters is just not good. With a breeder you know what actually is your dog.
Cause I’ve seen a lot of dogs and people are like, Oh, I don’t even know what it is. It’s a shelter pet. Don’t even know what the breed is.
Julie Swan | 14:09
It is kind of weird, isn’t it? Yeah.
Hunter | 14:11
Yeah. I like knowing what my dog is.
Julie Swan | 14:14
Yeah. I think so. So do your friends look at you like, Oh no, you guys breed dogs.
You might be bad people. Do you get that from them?
Hunter | 14:22
Not usually, but sometimes it can occur.
Julie Swan | 14:28
Yeah. It’s happened a couple of times.
Hunter | 14:31
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 14:31
Do you have to explain it or do you just kind of blow it off?
Hunter | 14:36
Uh, like close friends or like just friends?
Julie Swan | 14:40
I don’t know. You tell me.
Hunter | 14:43
If it’s my close friends, I just blow it off. Because we’re do something usually. But my friends, I’m like, well, that’s just not what dog breeders usually are.
That’s backyard breeders.
Julie Swan | 14:54
That’s fair. Yeah. Do they look at you like, okay, whatever, or are they interested in what you say?
Hunter | 15:02
Usually they’re interested.
Julie Swan | 15:04
That’s good. I imagine it’s kind of hit or miss. Yeah. What do you think Dakota? Have you run into that? Like getting flack from people?
Because we breed dogs.
Dakotah | 15:14
No, all my friends think dog breeding’s really cool.
Julie Swan | 15:17
So is there something you pitched to them when you explain it that is working?
Dakotah | 15:25
I don’t think so. Like, I’m just like, oh yeah, this is what happens when I meet new people. I’m like, yeah.
If they ask me what like my mom does for work and I’m just like, oh yeah, she’s a dog breeder. She has a podcast. She’s pretty good at it.
I don’t necessarily think that people dislike dog breeding. It’s more so the fact that they’re thinking like, oh, well what about all those poor traumatized shelter pets?
Julie Swan | 16:03
Yeah. That makes sense. So they have this idea, that we would maybe be contributing to that problem, or taking away homes from those dogs, that kind of thing.
Dakotah | 16:13
Yes.
Julie Swan | 16:14
Yeah. Do you end up sharing some of the stuff you know about it, and do they listen, or is it kind of like whatever?
Dakotah | 16:22
Well, after I mention that you’re a dog breeder, we pretty much just let it go. Like I’ve never really had anybody that’s super interested in it.
Julie Swan | 16:30
That’s fair. Yeah. So it’s not a painful experience that you are the child of a dog breeder in a dog breeding world.
Dakotah | 16:40
No.
Julie Swan | 16:41
That’s good. Not for you either, Hunter. It’s not too painful?
Hunter | 16:44
One of the worst parts, that at this point, it’s so normal for me that it’s kind of stopped hurting. It’s like when a dog that I’m playing with a lot goes home, but I’ve kind of lost emotion for that because it’s happened so many times. So it doesn’t hurt me any more.
Julie Swan | 17:09
Yeah. It doesn’t affect you as much. How did you deal with that?
Hunter | 17:14
Oh, I just kind of thought to myself, well, it’s better for the dog.
Julie Swan | 17:20
Yeah. They’d be in a home with like one-on-one.
Hunter | 17:23
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 17:24
I know that it was hard with Jack, right?
Hunter | 17:27
Yeah. I liked Jack.
Julie Swan | 17:29
He was a cool dog, but he did get a cool home.
Hunter | 17:32
Yeah. He’s good. Good boy.
Julie Swan | 17:35
He was a good boy.
What about you, Dakotah? Does that bother you as much?
Dakotah | 17:41
With rehoming dogs?
Julie Swan | 17:43
Yeah. Especially the ones that we’ve had longer.
Dakotah | 17:47
I mean, after being in the program since it started, no. I think Reggie was a lot though.
Julie Swan | 17:56
Yeah. Rehoming Reggie was hard. I think it was just hard to let her go because she was the first dog we kept and we’d had her forever.
Dakotah | 18:03
It was forever.
Julie Swan | 18:06
It was. Yeah.
But again, she’s in a really good home. But I think that one, I think that was hard on all of us, but ultimately better for Reggie.
Dakotah | 18:15
Now she gets to be a couch potato.
Julie Swan | 18:17
Yeah, exactly. She’s fat and happy and has a three-year-old who climbs all over her. So that’s good.
Hunter | 18:23
Four-year-old by now.
Julie Swan | 18:24
Probably. Yeah. What else? What else is weird with dog breeding? Do you find that you can do more stuff than other kids, or do you find that there’s different things that are a big deal to you, or not a big deal to you that you notice with other kids?
What about you, Dakota? Anything else you can think of that was different for you maybe compared to other kids because we dog breed?
Dakotah | 18:51
Definitely seeing body language, when people say that their dog absolutely loves them, and their dog’s imprinted on them. And then I see the dog’s body language when they’re snuggled up, like having a dog like this. And you can tell sometimes the dog is just uncomfortable or doesn’t want to be there.
Also when people get mad at their dogs for doing something that’s normal dog behavior.
Julie Swan | 19:21
Does that kind of bother you?
Dakotah | 19:24
Just a little bit.
Julie Swan | 19:26
I think it is hard because you get to a place where you sort of understand dogs on a different level. And it’s almost like you can speak their language a little bit more. And so I imagine it is a little hard at other people’s houses sometimes.
Dakotah | 19:42
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 19:43
Yeah. What about the chores?
Ultimately, you guys do dog poop. You help me out. How many times have I handed you puppies while I need to go do paperwork or something else.
Dakotah | 19:56
A good amount of times. The chores don’t really bother me at all because they don’t feel like chores.
Julie Swan | 20:03
Just part of life.
Dakotah | 20:05
Except the dog poop.
Julie Swan | 20:07
That’s fair.
Hunter | 20:08
I don’t mind dog poop, actually. Because it doesn’t take much brain power for me, which means that I just think about other stuff.
Julie Swan | 20:16
Yeah. So it’s not too bad.
Hunter | 20:19
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 20:20
That makes sense.
Hunter | 20:21
I don’t understand why Dakota is always like, oh my gosh.
Dakotah | 20:26
Well, that’s because you got to come get me at random times.
In the day, like today you wanted to do it at 11 when it was cold outside and I did not want to go outside. No, too cold for that. Too cold for that.
Julie Swan | 20:45
Anything else you’ve learned from dog breeding that has changed the way you think about things?
Hunter | 20:51
I think I appreciate a couple of things more than some kids do. Because I understand it more. Like I understand what people do, more than maybe some kids do.
Julie Swan | 21:10
Can you give an example?
Hunter | 21:13
Like, say, on the topic of dog breeding, getting a dog, like some kids. Yeah, usually kids are excited, but some kids just like they’re excited, and they blow it off in one day. But I’ve seen how hard like breeders, because I’ve seen how hard some people work to do that stuff.
When I see a dog, like a nice dog from a breeder, I’m always happy that we didn’t get like some weird conglomeration backyard scientists.
Julie Swan | 21:50
You kind of appreciate the work that goes into the breeding because you see what goes into it, is what you’re saying.
Hunter | 21:55
Yeah, I see the work that some of the breeders do.
Julie Swan | 21:59
Yeah. Yeah, it’s a lot, isn’t it? A lot of cleaning. So much cleaning.
Hunter | 22:08
There is a good amount of that.
Julie Swan | 22:09
Yeah. So do we love it? Do we hate it?
Dakotah | 22:13
Love it.
Hunter | 22:14
Mixed.
Julie Swan | 22:18
Yeah, it’s got its good days and bad days, right?
Hunter | 22:21
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 22:22
Yeah. Can you guys tell me, like, do you remember the day when we had that dog that we were boarding and breeding?
And Pepper started to have her puppies and she had had six puppies. And then all of a sudden, the lady calls me and says it’s the very last day to do stud service with her female. And I had to drive all the way up to Tucson and leave you guys with Pepper to do the whelping by yourself.
Do you remember that?
Dakotah | 22:50
I do a little.
Hunter | 22:51
Dakotah did most of the whelping.
Julie Swan | 22:52
Tell me, how did it go? What was it like?
Dakotah | 22:55
It was actually kind of fun. I always love, I don’t know why, but I have this weird, people might be grossed out by what I’m about to say, but I kind of like the smell of fresh puppies.
Julie Swan | 23:08
Like the puppies more than the, like, not the whelping, but like the fresh puppy afterwards?
Dakotah | 23:17
The fresh puppy smell afterwards. Yeah.
Julie Swan | 23:19
Like once they’re dry, not like wet, soggy puppy.
Dakotah | 23:24
Kind of when they’re more dampish. I mean, this is kind of weird, but like just smell good.
Julie Swan | 23:32
It smells like new life.
Dakotah | 23:34
Yes.
Julie Swan | 23:35
I think because it means something now. So it wasn’t a big deal.
So how was it, Pepper was having puppies and you had to be there. So how did that go?
Dakotah | 23:44
I’d honestly say it was just a bunch of waiting game and getting the fluid out of their nose and then you just give it to the mom and she does the rest.
Julie Swan | 23:50
Not too bad, huh?
Dakotah | 23:52
Kind of easy, to be honest.
Julie Swan | 23:55
Yeah, it was funny. Do you remember what you were doing, Hunter?
Hunter | 23:58
Watching Dakotah.
Julie Swan | 23:59
Yeah. You were like sitting there on your iPad, sending me videos and texting me – we have another, we have another.
Hunter | 24:09
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 24:09
Yeah, it was really good.
Hunter | 24:11
Another and another and another.
Julie Swan | 24:13
It was crazy because, for all of you listening, I thought that Pepper would have maybe like nine puppies and she had 13. So I left thinking we had like three more that I’d probably be back for the last one to be born because I was going to be gone. It was an hour drive up and back, like a half an hour there.
And she just had so many puppies. They just kept coming and coming and coming.
Dakotah | 24:39
She didn’t have enough teats to involve the entire litter at one.
Julie Swan | 24:43
Yeah, she couldn’t nurse the whole litter.
Dakotah | 24:45
Not even if you stack them on top of each other.
Julie Swan | 24:51
It was crazy. She had nine or 10 teats. I think she was off because she had one that had kind of merged into one.
But yeah, I think she had nine. And so yeah, that was a pretty crazy litter. But you guys did it.
It was awesome. And I felt so comfortable with you doing it. Could you do it again?
Dakotah | 25:11
I wish I was here when Chickadee had her first litter.
Julie Swan | 25:17
She went overnight.
Dakotah | 25:17
I know.
Julie Swan | 25:18
We didn’t even know she was going to have them. I know. It’s like we were just off on our days.
Dakotah | 25:26
Yeah. But she definitely, and I’m not trying to offend any of our other dogs, but I would have to say her litter was the cutest.
Julie Swan | 25:39
You think so, huh? It was a really cute litter, wasn’t it?
Dakotah | 25:43
They were so cute.
Julie Swan | 25:45
I know. They were very cute.
Dakotah | 25:47
One, I’m gonna tell you guys this, but like one puppy in the litter, my best friend really loved. And she was so sad when he went home.
Julie Swan | 25:58
Yeah, that happens. Your friends are getting to that age where they like bond with every puppy they hold. And it should be good marketing.
We should sell more dogs from this. It’s good. Oh man.
Hunter | 26:11
She loved Daisy or something.
Julie Swan | 26:14
Yeah, everybody loved Daisy. You couldn’t go wrong. She’s so cute.
Daisy was one of the little Rat Terriers. So what do you think, you guys? With the GSPs and Rat Terriers, what’s the differences? Good or bad?
Hunter | 26:24
The Rat Terriers are smarter.
Julie Swan | 26:26
Oh, for sure.
Hunter | 26:28
There’s no debate there.
Julie Swan | 26:30
No.
Dakotah | 26:31
I would say I really like the birdiness in the GSPs, but the Rat Terriers on how crazy they are, it’s just a little bit more funny to see.
Julie Swan | 26:45
You think the Rat Terriers are funnier?
Dakotah | 26:47
Yeah.
Hunter | 26:48
Since they’re smarter, they do weirder stuff.
Julie Swan | 26:52
Yeah. Yeah, I can see that. They’re a little bit more quirky, I think, the Rat Terriers.
And then the GSPs, they’re kind of lunatics, I think. Does that seem about right?
Dakotah | 27:03
They are lunatics.
Hunter | 27:04
It’s the kind of thing where Jeannie will chase a bird that is flying way faster than she can run for 30 seconds.
Julie Swan | 27:10
Yeah. And you’re kind of just like, what are you doing? Yeah, definitely.
Hunter | 27:13
Because the bird’s already like a quarter mile ahead of her. So I don’t even know why she’s chasing it.
Julie Swan | 27:20
Yeah. Do you notice any difference in the puppies?
Hunter | 27:23
Big size.
Julie Swan | 27:25
Well size. Yes, for sure. GSPs are much bigger.
Dakotah | 27:28
I would say the difference is when we’re litter box training. The Rat Terriers just pick it up so fast.
Julie Swan | 27:39
They do. Yeah, they’re very quick. Like three, four days, and they’re pretty much got to figure it out. And the GSPs…
Hunter | 27:49
A couple weeks and this litter is old enough to go home, and they still don’t even know.
Julie Swan | 27:54
Sometimes, right? Sometimes. I know.
Hunter | 27:59
We have a litter right now. It’s old enough to go home. They still don’t know.
Julie Swan | 28:05
No, the GSPs, we have two more weeks with them. So they’re getting it. But it’s a process.
Yeah, it’s getting better, though. They are getting closer to getting everything in the litter box. Not perfect.
Hunter | 28:19
They got everything on one side.
Dakotah | 28:21
It’s still pretty good.
Julie Swan | 28:25
It’s still pretty good. All right. What’s the grossest moment you’ve ever seen in dog breeding or been a part of?
Hunter | 28:33
The grossest?
Julie Swan | 28:34
Yeah.
Hunter | 28:35
Placenta.
Julie Swan | 28:36
Oh, placentas, they just gross you out?
Hunter | 28:38
Yeah, they’re weird.
Julie Swan | 28:39
Just when they come out or when they eat them?
Hunter | 28:43
The color. They’re weird.
Julie Swan | 28:45
Oh, yeah, they’re really dark.
Hunter | 28:47
Yeah.
Dakotah | 28:48
I would say the grossest part in my experience with dog breeding was probably when a dog has puppies and then like there’s like this overflow of like weird random mystery looking fluids that come after the puppy.
Julie Swan | 29:11
Oh, just like all the extra fluid that comes out?
Dakotah | 29:14
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 29:15
Yeah, that’s kind of weird. It’s just very wet. It’s a lot more wet than you think sometimes.
Dakotah | 29:20
It’s like a very pond-ish, but it’s had a little gelatin poured in it. So it’s like gloopy.
Julie Swan | 29:30
Mm-hmm. Kind of gross. Yeah.
So you like the smell. You just don’t like the texture.
Dakotah | 29:37
Well, not the texture. It’s the smell of the fresh puppies.
Julie Swan | 29:42
Yeah, that’s fair enough.
Dakotah | 29:45
They just smell so good. You want to eat them? Like, don’t do that. Don’t do that.
Julie Swan | 29:53
Yeah, don’t eat them. Well, thank you guys so much for coming on the podcast.
Dakotah | 29:56
No problem. I’ve been waiting a while to be able to do this.
Julie Swan | 30:00
Any final thoughts you want to share? Any advice for breeders who have kids helping?
Hunter | 30:08
Um, don’t overwork your kids. Just this advice.
Julie Swan | 30:15
Does it help? Does it help that you get paid every week?
Hunter | 30:18
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 30:19
Does that kind of make up for some of the pain in the butt stuff.
Hunter | 30:22
The gross parts.
Julie Swan | 30:25
Yeah, I think so. What do you think, Dakotah? Any advice for moms with kids?
Dakotah | 30:33
I would say probably just go with the flow. That’s all I can think of.
Julie Swan | 30:43
Go with the flow with your kids? With kids?
Dakotah | 30:46
Yeah, like you don’t really want to force anything related to dog breeding to them if they don’t want to do it. That way they don’t feel like it’s a chore instead of something actually amazing in this world.
Julie Swan | 31:03
Makes sense. I probably screwed that up a couple times.
Hunter | 31:11
It’s been a couple.
Julie Swan | 31:19
I think it’s been good. And I think there’s been times where it was frustrating, right? Because we couldn’t take a trip or something because we had puppies on the ground or, you know, so there’s been some times that it was frustrating, but then it also allows me to be home, which is nice. So we do have some flexibility.
Hunter | 31:32
Yeah, it’s nice having our mom at our house.
Julie Swan | 31:36
During the day, yeah. All right. Thanks so much for coming on.
Dakotah | 31:43
My pleasure.
Julie Swan | 31:44
All right, and I’ll see you guys at dinner.
Dakotah | 31:47
See you at dinner.
Hunter | 31:48
Well, probably in about five minutes.
Dakotah | 31:50
All right.
Bye-bye. And everybody, good luck.
