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.
Dana Filatova of Kismet Labradoodles
In our final episode of the series, we hear from Dana Filatova of Kismet Labradoodles in Ashville, NC, as she recounts the essential, sometimes challenging, lessons learned from her very first litter. Dana’s debut litter was unexpectedly large—a “bonus-sized” group of eleven puppies! She takes us behind the scenes, sharing the unexpected obstacles and triumphs that came with managing such a big group. Most importantly, Dana reveals how the experience of raising those first eleven puppies forced her to redefine her ideal puppy buyer, shifting her focus and strategy to ensure the perfect fit for every single puppy. This interview is a powerful reminder that sometimes the biggest lessons come not from research, but from the actual process of breeding.
Transcript
Julie Swan | 0:00
Welcome to the Honest Dog Breeder Podcast with me, your host, Julie Swan, where each week we dive in to discuss all things dog breeding so you can build a breeding business you love, producing dogs that fulfill their owner’s dreams. I believe you can have an honest dog breeding program that also pays the bills. So throw those pods in your ears while you’re cleaning kennels.
I’d love to join you. You guys are in for a treat today. Today we have Dana Filatova of Kismet Labradoodles.
And you’re over in Ashville, North Carolina. Dana, thanks so much for coming on the show. It’s been fun being on your journey for the last few years.
Dana Filatova | 0:38
Oh my gosh, thank you so much. This is a dream. I’ll share more, but yeah, this is surreal to me.
Julie Swan | 0:48
It’s so good. You’ve done so good. So tell us, how did you get into dog breeding?
Because you just had your first litter earlier this year.
Dana Filatova | 0:56
Yeah, June of this year, first litter. It’s been at least three years in the making. I remember three years ago, driving in my car and thinking, I probably should find a good podcast about breeding because I have no idea what I’m doing, but I want to do this thing.
So I already decided, I had Zeppelin who is our stud. And then I was thinking about it, and waiting for the right female and all that. And I came across your podcast.
So I’ve been listening to you for three years. I can’t believe we’ve connected and we’re doing this right now, but this is kind of wild. So yes, I got my first Labradoodle in 2020 and that was Axel.
He’s our pet. He’s a non-breeding dog. And I just fell in love with the breed. And he was amazing, and still is, but I didn’t know I wanted to breed until I got Zeppelin.
And Zeppelin, I just felt like, gosh, it will be such a waste if he gets neutered. So I reached out to the breeder and I said, “what do you think if I maybe, be on the same journey as you?” I think she was about seven years into it at that point.
And she goes, “well, you don’t really start with the stud.” You can’t make money because nobody knows you yet. And then you don’t want to overstud out because that’s not a good thing.
And so she goes, you need a female. Ideally, you probably should have started with a female. And I go, well, yeah, but I didn’t know.
So we changed the contract for him to be a breeding dog. He passed all his exams with flying colors. Because that was another thing I thought, if he doesn’t pass, maybe we just kind of put that idea aside. But he did, and she was really impressed too.
And she goes, this is one of the best studs I’ve seen, you know, the results. So I’m like, okay, this is a sign. So let me get on the list for a female.
And the female was supposed to happen nine months later, well the mummy had all boys in the litter. So I had to wait another nine months. So it’s 18 months later, I got my girl.
She had to be old enough. So she was almost two before we could have this first litter this year. So it’s been a while. But it gave me all the time to prepare, with your help.
Thank you so much. We got a beautiful website up, and I had time to study and make sure that I know what I’m doing. I have wonderful mentors within our breed that have been super helpful with the whole process, like do this, don’t do that, consider this, buy this, you need that.
It’s been such a great community of help. And here we are.
Julie Swan | 3:51
Oh, it’s so cool. It’s so cool. Okay. So, tell us how the breeding went.
Did you do live cover, or how did you end up?
Dana Filatova | 4:05
I guess I got really lucky with my dogs, because Zep knew exactly what to do. Aspen was by the book with her cycle and heat and everything, progesterone testing day 14, okay, let’s go. And then, they just knew what to do.
So that was easy.
Julie Swan | 4:28
Yeah, it’s how it should be.
Dana Filatova | 4:30
That part was really easy because I hear stories like, “oh, this dog didn’t really was not mature enough” or things can happen.
But obviously we got really lucky. We got so lucky that she had 11 puppies.
Julie Swan | 4:45
Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 4:46
So yeah, I had no idea. I think we saw nine on the x-ray, and then once the labor started, she had nine, and she did it in three hours and she did great. She’s such a great mama.
And then I cleaned everything, put things away. Okay. Let’s organize.
Let’s make sure she’s comfortable and the babies are nursing. And then about an hour later, she looks at me and I see contractions and I go, oh my goodness, there’s another one. There’s another one born.
And then 40 minutes later, another one. So we ended up having 11. They’re all healthy.
They’re all loved. They all have families and it’s just been wonderful. Yeah.
I think I got super lucky.
Julie Swan | 5:36
Well, you put a lot of work in and I mean, you’ve got some killer dogs. They’re so beautiful. And I know the Australian Labradoodles are interesting.
Some people aren’t familiar, maybe you can just kind of go through a little bit of the breed and where it comes from, and what they are.
Dana Filatova | 5:51
Yeah, absolutely. So they originated in Australia, hence the Australian piece, which a lot of us are confused about because when you say, what breed is it? Australian Labradoodle.
Oh, are they Aussiedoodle? Everybody thinks they have Australian Shepherd in them. They don’t.
It’s Cocker Spaniel, Labrador, and Poodle. It’s just whoever originally decided to breed them wanted a dog that is non-shedding, hypoallergenic, maybe allergy-friendly is probably the right word. And I believe he had a Cocker Spaniel, if I’m not mistaken.
Julie Swan | 6:31
Yeah, that was the thing that added a little bit extra. It was primarily like Labrador and Poodle and then, and then the Cocker Spaniel just gives, I think it helps with ears and coat texture and some other stuff. Yeah.
Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 6:45
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 6:46
It’s interesting.
I know, but you’re right. It is so weird because everybody, I thought they were Australian Shepherd crosses in there too for a long time.
Dana Filatova | 6:52
Trust me. When I had Axel, my friend was actually like, “your dog doesn’t have Australian Shepherd in it.” I’m like, oh, let me go read up on the breed with my first one, before I even thought about breeding.
It’s like, oh yeah, this is interesting because my very first puppy was a Cocker Spaniel when I was, I think I was six, seven years old. I don’t remember, but yeah.
Julie Swan | 7:18
Do you want to tell us a little bit about her? Because she was just.
Dana Filatova | 7:23
Yeah, she was precious. She was a great, she was a club dog. So I grew up in Latvia in Eastern Europe, and the dog, you had to basically wait for nine months at least just to get a puppy. And my mom had to go take a course. There were show dogs for parents. And so the breeder had the potential owner go through a course about how to feed, what to do, what not to do.
So my mom had to take this whole course before we could even adopt her and bring her home. So I remember my mom standing in the kitchen and cutting raw meat in these little cubes, and everything was weighed. And it was like a second baby showed up in the home.
So that’s where I learned, oh, this is how you take care of it. And I wanted a dog. I remember bugging her all the time.
I remember she would pick me up from kindergarten. I was like, can we get a dog? Can we get a dog?
I think we’re getting a dog this time. And it was such an exciting time. And then unfortunately, it was in 1989, 1990, and the parvo vaccine was not available in our area yet.
So she unfortunately picked it up. And yeah, we lost her at six months. It was really sad.
And ever since then I wanted a puppy, and I wanted a dog, and I went, no, no, it’s too. We actually tried.
So we adopted a year old Cocker Spaniel from the same breeder, but unfortunately she was abused. And this is where I learned also that, gosh, the dogs have to be placed with the right family, because I think her story is that she was neglected. Maybe the kids were in the house that abused her.
She was not okay with kids. No matter how much I wanted to love on her, she didn’t trust. She would snip.
And then once she bit me, my mom said, okay, we need to find, then she went to another home with a kid. And then we figured out she needs to be with a couple with no kids where it’s really peaceful. And she did great with that, I guess.
Julie Swan | 9:44
And it was just because you were a kid, because you were responsible kid at that age, but she just had a thing about kids at that point.
Dana Filatova | 9:54
Yeah. It didn’t matter. You know, because they all love cheese and Cockers are foodies.
She would not take it. Wouldn’t let us brush her. Wouldn’t let us bathe her.
We couldn’t even get close. And then yeah, once she bit me, which I didn’t mind, I understood, I think it was, she was sitting on this little couch and I sat next to her trying to play, and she just didn’t have it. She snapped at me.
Julie Swan | 10:24
Yeah. Oh, I know. I hate that. I get it.
And there are reasons, people who are a hundred percent against rehoming a dog. It’s a perfect example of when it needs to happen.
Dana Filatova | 10:36
And you know, my mom, she is a person that would never, like, once you take an animal, it’s a responsibility, it’s yours until something happens either to you or to the animal. But it was just, she’s like, well, she was aggressive against the child. So I couldn’t.
Julie Swan | 10:53
Yeah. I mean, kids got to come first. Right.
So yeah.
Dana Filatova | 10:56
It’s hard. It’s hard. And I know now we have tools, we have trainers, and we have this, and behaviorists and people that can talk to them, and figure out what happened, what trauma they had. And it was just not available then.
Julie Swan | 11:10
Yeah. It’s come a long way.
This understanding of the relationship with puppies and dogs and the whole thing.
Dana Filatova | 11:19
Yeah, exactly. We have more tools now, but I know there’s situations where maybe it’s better for the dog to be in the new home.
Julie Swan | 11:27
Yeah. No, that makes sense. Yeah.
I run into it from time to time myself. Okay, so you have this litter. So how was it all in all?
I mean, you said it was a fairly easy whelping. Did that surprise you how easy it was?
Dana Filatova | 11:46
I think I’m a person that always prepares for the worst. So I had, okay, let’s make sure everything is here in case I needed to tube feed, or this, or this, or that. So I got all these different tools, and thank God I did have to use them.
There was one puppy that didn’t latch right away, but she took a little syringe with colostrum and somehow she latched onto that. It was kind of like a nipple looking syringe attachment. So she latched onto that.
So I’m like, oh, there’s hope. And then within an hour, she latched onto mom. So it was all good.
It was just 11 puppies. My dog has nine nipples.
Julie Swan | 12:28
Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 12:28
So I had to make sure we rotate them. Everybody’s gaining weight and we weigh them at least twice a day that first two or three weeks. And then it was all good.
They were gaining, they were healthy. Nobody had any issues. I think sometimes things could be like hernias or cleft palates or other things that could happen.
And we got so lucky. They were super healthy. Even the vet, every time we took them for shots, the vet would comment, “oh my God, I’ve never seen this big litter that nothing wrong with any of them.”
Like how, how could this be? And they’re so chill and they wouldn’t even make a sound when we got the shot. I microchipped them myself.
They were calm. They were so calm.
Julie Swan | 13:19
Was it weird doing the microchip? A lot of people get weird about it.
Dana Filatova | 13:22
I was nervous because it was the first time I had to do something like that. So I watched a lot of videos.
I’m like, okay, you can do this. You can do this. Because my friend who is a breeder also, she does this herself.
So I’m like, okay, I can do this. And I put a little lick mat with their food that they like, the wet food, played music that’s like puppy yoga, whatever.
Julie Swan | 13:47
You’re so nice about it. Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 13:49
Essential oils and all this. So they didn’t even notice what was happening. So that went really well.
They all, the microchip worked. We scanned everybody to make sure it’s in there. It’s in there.
Julie Swan | 14:05
That’s awesome. Have you been comfortable using syringes and needles and stuff before injecting things?
Dana Filatova | 14:12
Sort of, this was sub Q. So that was fine. Anything intramuscular, probably not.
Julie Swan | 14:19
Yeah, I don’t do really anything intramuscular.
Dana Filatova | 14:24
Sub Q is fine. Because I’ve had to do it before on myself and then others, but not on puppies.
Julie Swan | 14:33
Yeah, it is. The microchip is just such a giant needle. I think that’s what throws everybody off.
Dana Filatova | 14:39
I saw the needle, and I thought, oh my God. It’s supposed to be a nano chip. But yeah, they didn’t even notice. So it went well.
Julie Swan | 14:50
That’s so good. That’s so good.
Well, perfect. I know. I love it when that happens.
Okay. So that was pretty easy. And then how did it go finding homes?
Dana Filatova | 15:00
Yes, that was interesting because I didn’t realize, of course we had 11. I thought what a blessing. This is great.
I’m probably one of the few breeders that the first litter you get such a big litter, because everybody was commenting, “Oh my gosh, I never had 11 at all. I’ve been doing this for 10 years.” Or, they’ve had, or they lost one, or things happen, I mean, I don’t know everybody who breeds ALDs, but I don’t know anybody in my closer circle that ever had that many for their first litter. So then they go, “Ooh, this is great.
But it’s like having two litters in one.” And I didn’t really know what that comment meant. I’m like, “isn’t it great?”
Until it came time to, oh, they’re five-weeks now. They’re six-weeks now. They’re seven-weeks now, we had one reservation, and one I traded with another breeder, like, okay, two of them are going home.
Two of them, my neighbor got, because originally one of them was supposed to be my next mama hopeful. So I’m like, okay, four, but we still have another seven. And now they’re seven-weeks, and we don’t have anybody interested, eight-weeks.
And I go, Okay, okay, okay, it’s fine. Obviously, I loved that they stayed over because I love puppies. But it was kind of nerve wracking, because it’s like, I want to make sure it’s the right family.
So that was another thing. We had some inquiries where people either offered less, or where people are like, “Oh, well, they’re already older,” older, they were nine-weeks, you know, “they’re already older, I want to know I can offer you this much.” And it just didn’t feel right.
It didn’t feel right. Like you’re not the right fit energetically. I’m sorry.
It’s not even about money, because it’s not, you know how it is, especially your first litter.
Julie Swan | 17:04
Right? I know. You’re lucky to recoup your costs.
Dana Filatova | 17:07
So like, no, it doesn’t feel right. And surely enough, three days later, whenever it happened to each puppy that was like, “Oh, I’ll give you less” or “Oh, it’s this situation.” And I just didn’t feel right.
Three days later, a perfect family came along. And I know I talked to you about it, because I was getting nervous. They are nine-weeks now, 10-weeks now.
What am I going to do? We keep going to the vet for the next vaccine and they’re like, how many more are coming next time? Like, I don’t know.
And then they’re getting bigger. And then my carriers, because I have a stroller and have another stroller, and they’re getting so big that I couldn’t fit them into the carriers anymore. Like, okay, that’s fine.
And something you said really helped because it’s just not their time. And it wasn’t their time. They were ready to go home beginning of August.
I don’t know if it’s going back to school time, people are traveling.
Julie Swan | 18:09
It’s a weird time of year.
Dana Filatova | 18:11
It’s kind of harder.
So we kind of hit a harder time, bigger litter. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the dogs. And I know some, some buyers out there like, “Oh, so what’s wrong with them?”
“How come you still have seven left?” It’s like, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them. You have more to select from, and I think it’s great that they stayed more because they got more boundary setting from mama.
So the ones that went home later, I think they have more boundaries and I think it’s worked out really well.
Julie Swan | 18:45
Yeah. Well you put the time into them, sometimes that can be a detriment if you’re like, “yeah, just stay in there. You’ll be fine.”
Dana Filatova | 18:51
Obviously we continued training. By the time they went home, they were potty trained outside. There were crate trained.
So people really appreciated that because they were like, “I skipped a month of doing this myself” and I go, “yeah, this is great.” Right. Yeah.
So it all worked out in the end, but it was a little, some part of it, I guess was upsetting. It’s like, they are so great and they’re so sweet. And a lot of them had this temperament of a therapy dog.
So if somebody wanted a therapy dog, it was a perfect match. I think we had a couple of families that work in the medical field and they are planning to train them and take them to work with them. So that’s my dream is that they can be working dogs in schools or in medical setting for patients.
I love that.
Julie Swan | 19:47
Yeah. So it’s rewarding to see your dogs make that difference, especially because they do that for you at home.
You know, they’re so loving at home.
Dana Filatova | 19:55
Exactly. Exactly. And we get a lot of pup dates, almost every day I get texts with photos.
They got their first grooming. They got this. Oh, they’re so sweet.
We love him so much. So it’s really rewarding.
Julie Swan | 20:08
That’s nice. How was the grooming management up until they went home.
Dana Filatova | 20:12
When they’re little, it’s so easy because it’s trimming around the eyes, the ears, the paws, and I don’t really touch the body until they’re maybe four or five months. Not until they really get to go to the groomer with the new family, and they have all their shots, their coat is manageable up until that time. But then once the puppy coat sheds, it’s a lot of upkeep.
Julie Swan | 20:38
That makes sense. Do you do your own grooming on your dogs?
Dana Filatova | 20:41
No. I have all the tools.
I have the table. I have everything. It’s time consuming.
I have three dogs, currently five here, because we just got a mini for our program. And then one of the girls stayed here because we’re still looking for a guardian home that’s a perfect guardian home.
Julie Swan | 21:04
I get that.
Dana Filatova | 21:05
So I have five and it’s challenging to do. It takes three hours per dog if I was going to do it myself.
Julie Swan | 21:15
Oh, it’d be probably about 30 hours for me. So that’s good.
Dana Filatova | 21:17
I bathe them. I bathe them and I brush them, and it’s upkeep in between groupings, but my groomer is doing an amazing job.
Julie Swan | 21:26
It always feels like that’s the sweet spot anyway.
Dana Filatova | 21:29
Yeah. Maybe eventually if I can do this a hundred percent full-time.
Julie Swan | 21:36
Yeah. There you go. Right.
Dana Filatova | 21:37
Only concentrate on everything dogs, then.
Julie Swan | 21:41
Oh, that’d be so very, very good. Did you end up having to discount any of the dogs or did you end up just holding out?
Dana Filatova | 21:49
So I adjusted the price, because we started with a higher price, and we sold three of them at the original price. I adjusted thinking that maybe that would make a difference. It didn’t make a difference.
Julie Swan | 22:01
How do you know?
Dana Filatova | 22:03
Because it was still silence for two, three weeks. So it wasn’t like, “Oh, it’s now at this price,” which is pretty average. And I don’t think it made a difference.
And then one of them, I started offering incentives. So if it was a referral, then a certain amount went to the person who referred.
So one of them sold that way, but the rest were just basically ads and word of mouth.
Julie Swan | 22:32
Yeah. No, that’s perfect. Okay.
Which kind of ads?
Dana Filatova | 22:39
I did through Instagram. So I would just boost the post, and that worked for some of them.
Julie Swan | 22:43
Yeah, that makes sense.
Dana Filatova | 22:44
Yeah.
We got some interest that was kind of like, “Oh, I really want your puppy. But I have to go talk to my wife. I have to go talk to my husband first.”
So you know how those go. If everybody is not on board right away, it’s kind of hard. But some of them we did end up finding really good families through social media.
Julie Swan | 23:07
Good. That’s really good. Yeah.
And you’ve always been good at Instagram.
Dana Filatova | 23:14
It’s a lot. It’s taking photos. People think it’s, “Oh, it’s all puppies and it’s playing with puppies and cute.”
Oh my gosh, the puppy, the poop too. But the, the puppy picture days, it would take the whole weekend. And maybe I’m just slow, but bathing 11, blow drying, finding the right lighting and making sure you get the photo that you want. It’s a whole day, and then posting too, edits and posts and writing captions.
Julie Swan | 23:53
It’s a lot of work, especially at that time. Yeah, for sure. Even with my Shorthairs, each dog is like five, 10 minutes to get ready, which I know seems quick, but when I have to do next one and next one and next one.
And then the pictures, and you’re still in it for an hour, hour plus.
Dana Filatova | 24:10
It’s like a factory. With mine it takes at least half an hour per dog, because by the time you bathe them and you dry them and then you brush them and put a little bow or bow tie, because everybody loves the cute picture. And that’s one of the things. When they were not selling, one of my friend breeders goes, “wow, having a really good photo really helped me to find a family.”
And I said, okay, great. And I don’t know if that was it. And I don’t know if it’s actually a good thing, a hundred percent, because we had a hit on one of them that I ended up keeping actually, but they were so stuck on that.
“No, we want this puppy because we saw her photo and that’s it. We fell in love with her.” Like, you don’t even know anything about her.
I always offer for them to come to the house. If they live close enough, obviously, if not, there’s always FaceTime. Because I want to see them too.
Of course you want to see the puppies are right here. I’m not some kind of a scam, but I want to see the family. And they’re just, “no, no, we just want that one.” They didn’t want to see her live.
And I thought, okay, this is really weird. How can you just fall in love with a photo, with one photo, and then you’re stuck with it?
No, we just want this puppy and that’s it, which I get it. But I don’t know if it’s a hundred percent a good thing. Because then they don’t consider the temperament.
They don’t consider other things. It’s not just about the coat color and their pretty eyes and lashes. Because they have really beautiful eyelashes, and I can see how you could fall in love with a particular one. But it’s interesting because a couple of them, families thought they were selecting one puppy. They would come over and they go, “nope, we want the other one.”
Julie Swan | 26:06
Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 26:07
Because of the interaction and just the way you see them in real life.
Julie Swan | 26:11
It does change things. Right. Did you find that wasn’t too uncomfortable, that process?
Dana Filatova | 26:19
No, no. Ideally, we like to place them by six-weeks. So there’s a selection process, and then whoever’s first on the list gets the first pick, and then it goes by the list. But we didn’t have that with the first litter.
Julie Swan | 26:34
It happens. The first litter is always weird, right?
Dana Filatova | 26:37
It was kind of like, okay, well come over, see all of them, play with them. The families wanted to bring their kids like, “Oh, let’s see how they interact with kids.” And that was good.
It was good for their socialization, and then it’s great for the kids because they had fun. And yeah, it’s interesting. It’s like, “Oh, we thought we wanted this one, but no, it’s going to be this one.”
Julie Swan | 26:57
No, no, it’s this one. Yeah. But that works out good. Because then they take it and own it. Have you had any like issues, people complaining or anything like that?
Dana Filatova | 27:04
The only thing we’re hearing is like the other day I got a text like, “okay, so my husband and I decided we’re getting another one from you. So we need more business cards from you, but maybe when he is two years old, we’ll get another one.” Like, okay, great.
So no, people are just, they love them. They’re so sweet that we haven’t had any, knock on wood, negative feedback from anybody.
Julie Swan | 27:30
That’s so good. I know that’s the hardest part about it. We expect it from time to time, but all the time.
Dana Filatova | 27:40
I know, every time I get a text I’m like, “Oh, is something wrong?” Not that I expect anything to be wrong, but sometimes things happen. I remember one of the buyers texting, “Oh, I don’t know what’s wrong, but it seems like there’s like a poop stuck.
I think she has constipation.” I’m like, “are you sure? Is it just not like something stuck to her fur?
Let me just bring her over. I’ll trim her up up there.” That was probably the worst thing that ever happened.
Julie Swan | 28:13
That happens. Yeah. Especially with that kind of hair.
Dana Filatova | 28:17
Yeah. You have to keep that area really clean and short. Yeah, for sure.
Because if it’s a little bit looser, then forget it. Yeah.
Julie Swan | 28:26
Right. Oh my gosh.
I know that is one thing that I am so not qualified to do.
Dana Filatova | 28:32
I know, this morning I had to clean one of my adults, I’m like “oh boy.” It’s okay. We do a lot of poop cleaning.
That’s another thing I think a lot of our buyers don’t realize.
Julie Swan | 28:45
They have no idea how much work we do. “Oh, it’s so great. Isn’t this so fun?”
And I’ve had people buy breeding, where it’s a female and they come back to breed her. They do not stick with it.
Because it’s just not, like when I watch organically what happens, like in your situation and breeders that stay with it, it’s something that grows and grows and grows for years. It’s a different kind of person. And then you have these people that they both work, and their kids are not as interested in it, or not maybe helping or something like that.
It just doesn’t become a long-term thing, because it’s too much work for most people.
Dana Filatova | 29:29
It’s a lot of work. And it’s also hard when the partner is not completely on board.
I have a supportive partner, but then again, they’re in my living room. We have a whelping room that is a room that’s kind of attached to the living room, kitchen, with its own bathroom. And sometimes puppies have to go to the bathroom and I can’t clean it up right away.
Julie Swan | 29:58
I know. Oh my gosh, I know.
Dana Filatova | 30:00
“Oh, what is this?” Although, luckily, nobody has ever said anything. Like people visited, but you know how it is when people visit.
You clean, and you do things, and it’s not like you don’t clean otherwise, but it’s like extra, extra work.
Julie Swan | 30:17
You have to get everything fresh.
Dana Filatova | 30:19
But we never had anybody like, “oh, it smells in here.”
We’ve only got “oh, they smell so good. The puppy smells so good.”
Julie Swan | 30:26
When people tell me that, I’m like, “yeah, are you sure?” Like, I’m always wondering, I’m like, does your nose work? Like, I don’t know, that’s me.
Dana Filatova | 30:34
I don’t know. I try to refresh them.
I use this waterless shampoo too.
Julie Swan | 30:43
Oh, right, that helps.
Dana Filatova | 30:45
So they’re fresh and smell really good.
But, some days it’s just like, okay, I just cleaned everything and there’s poop again everywhere.
Julie Swan | 30:54
I get about seven minutes. I think that’s about all I get.
Dana Filatova | 30:58
Yeah. Yeah. That’s good.
Julie Swan | 31:00
I know. Don’t you hate it when there’s one where you clean it, and the litter box is there, and then they’re like, “but I think I’ll just go over here.” And I’m like, ugh.
And I just changed that and now I’ve got to leave. Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 31:13
We use little wolves potty tray. So that’s a little better, because we started potty training at three-weeks, but sometimes it doesn’t fall through. So they step on it and it’s everywhere.
Yeah, I know. The amount of laundry. We need a new washer because the amount of laundry.
Julie Swan | 31:31
I do think like going forward, I was like “Bill, do you think we could get one of those all in one units just for our bedroom?” They’re kind of maintenance intensive is what I understand. But Bill’s really good at that stuff.
So I’m like, “Oh honey, we’ve just got to change that filter” and then he’ll take care of it. But then we can keep everything separate. So I’m going to try to sell him on it, just for the fact that we don’t have to share the laundry with dogs.
Dana Filatova | 32:00
Yeah. I think that’s a great idea. Yeah.
Ideally I would love a separate laundry for the doggies. Yeah.
Julie Swan | 32:06
And I have my clothes that I can only wash in cold water. I never want those to follow a dog load. It’s just not good.
Dana Filatova | 32:15
I know, I know that we’ve been thinking how to add another unit, and where would we put it. But we really need a separate one for them. And these pads, the reusable pads that you have to wash three times a day. Yeah.
Julie Swan | 32:30
I know it’s a thing, it’s a thing, but it is true. But it seems like you had a pretty good flow. Can you tell us a little bit about your setup, and how you manage this, especially as they got older too, because that gets a little bit more intense, but it’s super common.
Dana Filatova | 32:44
Yeah. Yeah. It does because they’re more mobile and they just want to explore.
We have a whelping room that is downstairs, and it’s kind of like a guest room, I guess they call it, an in-laws suite. There’s a bathroom right across from it with a shower, which is a doggy shower. So this is the doggy room.
And so when she’s ready to whelp, I have the whelping box in there. Everything is set up for labor, delivery, and then nursing the first three weeks or so. Then once they get more mobile, like four or five weeks, these guys the mama decided at three and a half weeks that she’s done with nursing.
Julie Swan | 33:28
That’s not unusual for first-time moms and with big litters. Did you have to work to keep weight on her? That’s really common with a big litter.
Dana Filatova | 33:36
She was great. It’s also one of the other things, which was interesting, because my friends are like, “do not let her eat more than one placenta. She’ll have diarrhea.
You’ll have to clean everything.” And I go, okay, I’ll let her do whatever she wants. So she ended up eating eight placentas and I gave her a probiotic.
I’m like, you’re going to have a probiotic and we’ll see how it goes. And yes, it was a little looser, but it wasn’t explosive diarrhea everywhere. It’s expected to be looser anyway, but no, she was really good.
She lost weight obviously, because she had them. Because it was about probably six pounds of them. They were great guys.
They were like nine, 10, 12 ounces. I think one of them was a little smaller. She did really good. She didn’t blow her coat, but she was on fish oil.
There was a period in her pregnancy where like second part of pregnancy, she wasn’t eating well. So I had to keep getting creative every couple of days. Because sometimes she would take eggs and cooked food.
Other times she’s like, “no, I don’t want this.” So I would go to the store. I’m like, okay, let’s do the raw, like semi-raw, I guess, I would warm it up for her and it would be cooked.
So she would go through the period where she ate that and then like, “no, I don’t want that.” But she’s fine. She is normal weight.
Everything is perfect.
Julie Swan | 35:06
It all comes back anyway. Yeah, exactly. But it is nerve wracking, isn’t it? When you’re like, “you’re feeding babies, you need to eat.”
Dana Filatova | 35:12
I know, I know the whole thing. I give vitamins, there’s pre-natal and there’s post-natal. So she was on that while she was still nursing them, the fish oil, and the probiotic, and all the things.
But at three and a half weeks, she’s kind of like, “I’ll just go in there whenever I feel like it.” And so we had to start weaning off. So then the setup changed.
I took the whelping box out. Because like, okay, you don’t need to use it anymore. They need more space.
It’s 11 of them. I ended up expanding, I have the Clearly Loved Pets playpen.
And so I ended up expanding it twice because they needed more.
Julie Swan | 35:57
More and more space. Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 35:57
Yeah.
And then we got the little playroom thing going with the toys that help development, and the little thing they can climb, and the toys that hang and that’s like a puppy gym. Different textures they can step on and wobbly things.
And then they grow out of that. Because at that point they need to be hearing the sounds of the household, so they can get used to the blender and the coffee machine. And I moved them into the living room.
So then they were in this playpen in the living room. So that they got to experience the sounds and noise. And I played the CD. I think it’s called Through Dog’s Ears.
They have the outside sounds and the inside sounds. So it’s a CD that goes for like an hour, and a different sounds and music in the background.
Julie Swan | 36:57
Yeah. What a fun setup. And it works.
That’s a good flow.
Dana Filatova | 37:02
Yeah. Then I have to run the vacuum cleaner. I mean, anything you can think of like trash can opening, closing the door, the doorbell, anything you can think of that the new family would have. So they’re not surprised by anything.
Julie Swan | 37:19
Yeah. Well, it seems like it paid off. Your people seem so happy with them.
Dana Filatova | 37:23
They are. Yeah, they are. Thank goodness.
Julie Swan | 37:26
Yeah. So how do you feel about going into the next litter?
Dana Filatova | 37:31
I feel good. The only thing is we have a baby on board now.
Julie Swan | 37:39
Congratulations.
Dana Filatova | 37:39
Thank you. Yeah. So the next litter is probably going to be spring, where the baby is due around the same time.
So I’m kind of concerned about the logistics of it, but yeah.
Julie Swan | 37:53
But spring babies is a thing, so it’s good. Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 37:55
But I’m excited. I’m excited though. They’re wonderful puppies.
And I know we have families already out there now that could speak to the puppy, like, “Oh, we love our puppy. Get one from Aspen and Zeppelin.”
So I think we’ll have more advocacy out there. I feel like it might be a little easier, because I think honestly, the hardest part was finding the right families.
Julie Swan | 38:21
Yeah, it is. What was the hardest part? Was it because you weren’t sure like what to ask them?
Or you weren’t really familiar, because it takes a while to get used to that process. I know all the questions I want to ask. And when they say something, I’m like, “Ooh, red flag.
Let me ask about that.” But I’ve done it for so long, and maybe that’s the shift that takes a while.
Dana Filatova | 38:46
I think a lot of it, was it felt to me that some of it was like being on a dating app, because people send a message, and then it goes to you or like, “Ooh, we really want your puppy.” And then they just disappear. And it’s like, okay.
So that part was really weird. And we tried to use Good Dog as well, which I know a lot of breeders use and they’re successful. But I felt like I was on a dating app, and they send a bunch of messages to different breeders and like, okay. And then never bother responding back, which whatever, fine.
But once you’ve had a conversation with someone and they just ghost, it’s kind of strange.
Julie Swan | 39:27
And I think it’s too because you get excited, especially if they check the boxes, and you’re like, “Oh, this feels right.” And then you never hear from them.
Dana Filatova | 39:34
Yeah. Because they will tell you their whole story. “Oh, this is our family.
This is how we do it. No, no, no. We want them.”
Okay, great. Or people, when you offer to get on FaceTime, some of them didn’t want to do that. And that’s a red flag for me.
Julie Swan | 39:51
Oh, they didn’t want to see their dogs, or what did they say?
Dana Filatova | 39:55
They’re like “Oh, we want your puppy.” And then you’re like, “okay, let’s get on FaceTime,” and then crickets. Okay.
Or it was, “Oh, it’s too far away.” Okay. “We don’t want to use puppy nanny. Oh, it’s too far.”
Julie Swan | 40:08
That is something I think you run into with Good Dog more than other places, just because it’s so national. Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 40:14
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, even with Instagram, you have to specify the area. And I think originally I went a little bit far.
Julie Swan | 40:25
With your ads? Like you were boosting too far?
Dana Filatova | 40:27
Yeah, because one of them went to Maryland and the family totally didn’t care. They paid for the puppy nanny. They tipped the puppy nanny.
It was all good. That’s how I was when I got my first one, I flew to Michigan to get him. I don’t care.
I just really wanted this dog. Yeah. But I get it.
It’s extra money, so then I had to kind of keep it within our area. Plus, they were getting bigger and I was getting worried.
Julie Swan | 40:58
It’s a little bit harder to ship, in cabin doesn’t always work. And yeah, all that stuff for sure. I think it’s nice when they’re local.
And I think it’s really awesome to have a group, like for me, Phoenix being three hours away, it’s a great hub, tons of people there. Dogs do great in the area. I love it that I can just go up there and unload most of the litter in one day.
Dana Filatova | 41:20
Yeah. Yeah. So it’s nice that you also get to see them.
Like getting one of them back when they’re traveling, you know, oh, I get to see my babies.
Julie Swan | 41:32
Oh, I think it’s good. When you prepared for everything from the business side of it, what were some of the things that you prepared that you were glad you did? And maybe if there’s anything that you thought, maybe I wish I would have done more of this or done this different.
Dana Filatova | 41:49
Hmm. That’s a great question. I think probably just kind of playing out the marketing and the sales part.
Because you concentrate so much on the clinical side for me, because my background is clinical. So you’re like, let me make sure I take care of them, and everybody’s in perfect health, and everybody’s nourished, and all of the things in development. That you kind of forget that, oh yeah, you need to also run the Instagram, and you need to make sure that you find the right families, which I know to us, we say sell them, but I kind of don’t like that, because it’s finding the family.
Julie Swan | 42:27
No, it’s good. But that’s also the feel that works for your buyers too. So that’s good.
Dana Filatova | 42:31
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So I think that piece, it was stressful because it’s just so time consuming to sit on social media, and every day we had to post something, because I noticed, it was interesting, sometimes I felt like I’m just posting into the ether and nobody cares.
People would watch the stories, but then like, I’ll get five likes on the post, okay, whatever. But then what happened, my really last one that found a family, apparently the new mom, she said, “Oh, I’ve been watching your litter since the very beginning.” So she’s been watching this whole time.
And then she goes, “I’m ready. I’m now ready. So I want your dog.
Because I see what you’ve been doing this whole time.” So I’m like, okay, I guess that wasn’t wasted time. Because I tried it every day.
You’re like, this is what we’re doing. Whelping, I don’t know if I shared a lot. I think I posted something about it, but it was more, here’s the development, here’s the training, what we do and day to day.
And this was just fun for me to do. And then apparently people watch.
Julie Swan | 43:48
Yeah, that works out. It’s true. There is a lot of like, I don’t know, people that sort of like, I don’t want to call them creepers.
Right. Because they’re nice people, but they do sort of hang out in the shadows and watch. Like I have one lady who finally told me, she says, “Julie, I’ve checked your website every day for five days.
When are you going to put new pictures up?” And I’m like, awww, they get used to it, and I forget to do it and they want to see them. And it’s really cool to me when people contact me and they know the dogs, the breeding pair they want to get a puppy from.
They’ve gone through my website. I love that. So I think you’re right.
Oh, the lurkers. I think that was the word that I was looking for. Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 44:29
Yes, we have those too. And even some came to visit the puppies and then crickets. They spent two hours here in my home with their whole family, and then never bothered to say like, “oh, it’s not a good time now” or whatever, but they’re watching every single story, still to this day.
Julie Swan | 44:49
Yeah. They’re still waiting. I’ve noticed a lot of people get really, really excited about the shopping and finding the breeder, finding the right everything. And then they have like this weird, slap of reality, like, “oh, we’re not ready for this” or, “oh, financially, we’re not ready for this” and so I think it’s good.
I have found that they usually come back three to six months later. You’ll probably have a lot easier time.
Dana Filatova | 45:20
Life happens too. We had one family. They really wanted one of them. I mean, they were so upset that it didn’t work out, but they had a family emergency happen.
And so that money had to go there, and it’s understandable. So they’re like, “we’re definitely getting a puppy from you, but it’s just not right now.” And that’s understandable.
You know, I don’t want the puppy go somewhere, and all of a sudden, “oh, we can’t take care of it.”
Julie Swan | 45:43
Right. It’s much better when that happens before they get it. Absolutely.
Dana Filatova | 45:46
So it’s always a blessing when it happens before they actually take them home.
Julie Swan | 45:56
I agree with you a hundred percent, a hundred percent. I know it feels like a real letdown when it happens, but then later you’re like, “oh, I’m really glad that that was that way.”
Dana Filatova | 46:03
It’s a bummer too. It’s not just for me, but for the family, because I know sometimes they would tell the kids, and the kids are already excited. Like with my guardian that happened, they really wanted her.
And then they realized we’re not ready for this. This is going to be our first dog, and it’s a lot of responsibility. And anyway, I’m glad that they are responsible people and they didn’t just take the dog, because it’s emotionally you’re on this high.
Get a puppy. And it’s so exciting. And they realized early on that, “wow, this is too much for our family.”
Julie Swan | 46:41
It is good. It is good in the end. It’s a bummer though, because you get so excited, especially when they have enough awareness that they know they’re not ready.
Those are people that make really good owners. And you’re like, I just wish you were a little further along. And just for people listening, I have had situations.
Because I have a text me button on my site. When people text me, sometimes I’ll have a great conversation. Everything flows.
And they’ll say like, “oh, I need to just talk with my husband.”
Or “Oh, I’m getting back to work. I’ll talk to you soon.” And then I’m like, “cool, let me know what questions you have.”
And it’s crickets.
I even last night had one, the girl we talked like four weeks ago, five weeks ago, I don’t have puppies available right now. So it’s just kind of out there in never never land. And she just messaged me, “okay, I’m ready to put a deposit down.”
I was like, like, well, hello. You know, hi.
We never even finished the conversation, you know, it’s just funny. A lot of that happens. People get just what they need.
And I noticed I do that too. I reached out to a company and I get a response. And then I realized I never contact them back to say like, “Hey, it worked” or, you know, I just keep going.
Dana Filatova | 47:55
Yeah, exactly. That happens too. But it’s also like you said, they usually come back and it’s not right away, but yeah, exactly.
We had one like that, conversation was going on for hours and then crickets for a whole day or two. And then all of a sudden, “okay, can we come visit this weekend?” Okay.
Julie Swan | 48:17
Just when you’re ready to give up on them, they’re like, “Oh no, we’re really ready.”
Dana Filatova | 48:21
Yeah. Yeah. And then they’re like, “Oh, we wish we took both puppies.”
So like two families now that said, “Oh, we wish we took two, a boy and a girl.” Okay. Well maybe next litter or whenever you’re ready, but yeah, it’s interesting.
You know what I’ve noticed if the first question they ask is the price, then it’s not going to work out.
Julie Swan | 48:48
Isn’t that so funny? It’s almost always true. I would say probably 95% of the time, every once in a while you get one person who just needed to make sure that was something they could afford.
Dana Filatova | 49:00
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 49:01
I honestly, I plaster my price everywhere. It’s surprising though, how much I plaster my price everywhere and people still ask me.
Dana Filatova | 49:12
Yeah.
Julie Swan | 49:13
It’s weird. The dog’s name is right there and the price is right next to it. And then it says available and they’ll contact me and say, is this dog still available?
And I’m like, yep. And they’re like how much?
Hmmm, okay. It’s just the funniest thing to me.
Dana Filatova | 49:29
It’s almost like they’re like, oh, it’s still available, so therefore it should be less in price. Which is wild to me because we end up doing more work, the more they stay with us.
Julie Swan | 49:39
I know. It’s so funny. It’s really, really relevant with the Rat Terriers.
I find my buyers, I could sell all my dogs very quickly if they were a little bit cheaper. There’s a mindset shift for my Rat Terrier buyers. They’re unfortunately the people that like, “our last dog was a part Rat Terrier from the shelter.”
Or it was free, or we found this in the alley, and I’m like, “yeah, this one’s not from the alley.” I didn’t abuse it before you got it. Sorry.
And so then they’re like, but you want to get paid for them? I do, you know, I do a lot of work with these guys, and it’s just so funny, but then I’m always relieved when they don’t get one.
Because I’m like, “Ooh, you don’t have the right expectations.”
Dana Filatova | 50:25
Absolutely. No. If there’s already devaluing happening before they even reached out to you, I don’t think that’s a good setup at all.
Julie Swan | 50:35
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Dana Filatova | 50:38
Do not devalue these precious puppies.
Julie Swan | 50:40
Right. I know. They’re always like “Well, I don’t need papers.”
I’m like, that’s not what makes them expensive.
Dana Filatova | 50:45
No, no. Yeah. I think people also don’t realize how much goes into it financially too.
It’s not just time we spend cleaning stuff. We don’t even charge for that. That’s not even.
Julie Swan | 50:59
That’s just free.
Dana Filatova | 51:00
Right. But the amount that goes into doing it. Doing it right I should say, because if we don’t do it right, then yeah, it could be a lot cheaper, but we don’t cut corners.
Julie Swan | 51:13
No, we can’t. Not for that, and it doesn’t make you feel good. I’ve found too, that those people that you end up, because I’ve been that guy and I did discount a dog.
They are the worst. They are the worst people. They call you with problems.
Everything’s your fault. I’m like, do you realize when you’ve got a deal on the dog that it came with the understanding that you weren’t getting a full price dog, and they don’t, they just think they should get more. And it’s a very difficult dynamic.
So I know it sucks hanging on to price, but I was so relieved when you texted me and said, you hung on to your price because I was like, yes, I know you got all the good buyers.
Dana Filatova | 51:50
Yeah. Yeah. I would have regretted it because the way the conversation went, it was kind of like, but would you take care of this dog though?
Because the next thing will be, “Oh, the food you recommend is too expensive” or this or the other. And it’s like, you’re paying for health of this dog. Because we know where it came from.
We know the genetics, not to say, things happen, obviously we can’t control everything, but we try our best to give you the healthiest dog that we could possibly breed. Or raise I should say, I catch myself that I should switch it from saying we breed to, we raise dogs, because there’s a whole label about breeders. That was another thing, we got a couple of comments on some of the posts, go get a real job instead of selling puppies.
Julie Swan | 52:50
Because I work with breeders who are so good every day, people who, look how much you care, you know? And I think what’s the most frustrating thing in the world is you have all these breeders who care, they’re putting all this time in and the product, if you will, that you’re making is so good. And because marketing is like, a freight train that you have to build and build momentum with when you have these leftover puppies, there’s this huge disparity between what people think they’re worth and what they are worth.
And it’s all just because of the marketing. And when you get that piece it’s good. But then the part that sucks about that is sometimes there are breeders that are good at the marketing, but aren’t good at the dogs.
And that gives the rest of breeders a bad name. But I like that. I really like that terminology you use that you’re raising.
Dana Filatova | 53:39
I think it’s also this is all I know, because the breeders I know, they do the right thing a hundred percent every day. So I don’t know. And obviously there is backyard breeders, but when somebody calls us backyard breeders, it’s just so wrong.
It’s so wrong. My dogs eat better than I do.
Julie Swan | 54:00
I know you do the best with them. They’re so good. I think it’s just, it’s so weird. I think it’s so hard for me to wrap my head around, that people think we should have really good, well-behaved dogs and that wouldn’t come from somebody putting time into them.
And then to think that people putting that time into them shouldn’t get paid for that dedication. Like, I don’t know.
Dana Filatova | 54:26
Yeah. The amount of holidays we miss, and outings. Especially the first three weeks I was living in her whelping box.
Julie Swan | 54:38
Right, all the chiropractic care you now need. Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 54:41
I went back to my exercise class and everybody’s like, “Oh, we thought you’re dead. What happened to you?” We had puppies.
I’m not leaving my babies.
Julie Swan | 54:49
They thought you were dead?
Dana Filatova | 54:53
Yeah.
Yeah. So there are a lot of sacrifices if you want to call that, but it’s much needed to do it right.
Julie Swan | 55:02
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Anything that worked out super, super well that you’re glad you did or did ahead of time, before you had your puppies, anything that made your life easier?
You did so much research.
Dana Filatova | 55:20
I felt like I wasn’t ready because no matter how much you learn and you read, and I did several courses, because there are a couple of really good ones out there on whelping and then development. And so I tried to learn as much as I could. But then I realized, I think it’s better if I just do it week by week.
So, okay, they’re turning two-weeks. Let’s learn what we need to do this week, instead of overwhelming yourself to do it all at once. But I’m glad that I have friends who are also doing this, and that I could reach out and just ask, what do you use for prevention?
Like the parasites and the bacteria and this, and which cleaning products. And so we were prepared. Nobody ever got sick.
So that was really nice, because I know there’s sometimes, you deal with giardia and different things. And so everybody was healthy. That’s probably the most what I’m grateful for is having you and having my other breeder friends on call.
Like, “hey, what would you do?” “Or this happened – how sh*** is that?”
I just can vent if you have to. Or if you really need advice, they will honestly tell you what to do or not to do.
Julie Swan | 56:43
Yeah, exactly.
Dana Filatova | 56:44
That’s probably the biggest asset.
Julie Swan | 56:47
Yeah. Just having that community, having people that you can talk to who understand, because I swear, there are times where like Bill’s really sweet. And he’ll just sit there and he’ll listen to me really intently.
And I’m like, “what do I do?” And he’s like, “I don’t know. Why would I know?”
Dana Filatova | 57:03
Yeah, exactly. I think it’s also scary.
It’s like even like, “oh, can you watch them for an hour? I need to run out and get something.” “What do I do? What do you need me to do?” Just watch to make sure nobody is hurt or whatever. Just just keep an eye on that.
Even though I have a camera in the whelping room, I still need somebody else to be there. Were there days where I would just sit on the floor and cry?
Yes. Because you get overwhelmed.
Julie Swan | 57:37
Yeah.
Dana Filatova | 57:38
And you get like, “am I doing this right? Am I doing everything that I can?” You know, I’m sure it’s like the mom brain that kicks in too.
Julie Swan | 57:48
When they’re getting older and they aren’t sold, the waking up at 3 a.m., that’s how it would always hit me. I’d be like, “oh, yep, yep. I’m really worried about this.” And I’m like, what are you going to do about it at 3 a.m., Julie? Just get some sleep.
Dana Filatova | 58:00
Exactly, exactly. So all you can do, like you said, you either pray about it or you put it out there in the universe, whatever you believe in. And then it happens because you attract it.
And it happened with every single one. And just being grateful. Yeah.
I took the time every night and every morning. I’m so grateful for every family that we found. That was amazing.
So grateful for every family, for every puppy. And then thank you in advance for the next family.
Julie Swan | 58:31
And I think you touched on something earlier when you said you turned down families and then a good one just came around the corner. There’s some weird thing. I think when you stand up for your dogs and say, “you’re not good enough for one of my dogs,” it very much raises their value.
And now it sort of projects out to the universe that a better family has to come in. I don’t know how it works, but I do see it happening all the time. I’ve seen it in my program.
Dana Filatova | 58:56
Yeah. I’ve seen it with one boy, which was, he’s amazing. He’s gorgeous.
And somebody offered me a third of the price basically, and I’m like, no. And their argument was, “well, he’s older now. So you think about it.”
I’m like, um, no, there’s nothing to think about here because he is valuable and he’s going to wait until the right family. And the family that got him, they’re obsessed with him and now they want another one.
Julie Swan | 59:28
Yeah, exactly. It’s so much better. And I think too, when you have a hard negotiation start a relationship, you know, you’re buying a dog, here’s a 15 year relationship and you just started it off on the wrong foot.
You just don’t want that.
Dana Filatova | 59:44
No, no, no. Another red flag was, “oh, I’m always home. So I really want a dog.”
And it’s like, well, do you want a dog because you’re bored? Or are you actually getting a dog to take care of it and to raise it well and keep taking care of it? Or it’s just going to be something that, “oh, in the moment, I was bored so I got this puppy, and now I don’t want it anymore.” So it just felt wrong on so many levels that I actually ghosted her.
I’m not continuing this conversation.
Julie Swan | 1:00:14
Right, exactly. Okay, so we talked a little bit about your ideal puppy buyer before your litters came, that was something we discussed a little bit earlier. Now that you’ve sold a litter, did you find that changed a little?
Did it morph? Did you get a better understanding of it?
Dana Filatova | 1:00:35
Yeah, it shifted.
Julie Swan | 1:00:36
Can you share a little of that transition?
Dana Filatova | 1:00:38
Sure.
I think I was coming from a place where, when I got my first Labradoodle, I was in a relationship, in a different relationship, and my partner at the time got me the puppy because he didn’t want kids and I’ve always wanted kids. And it was like, well, “here is something you can take care of,” basically like replacing a child and it’s not the same. I love my dogs so much, but it’s not the same.
Yes, it is my baby, but it’s also a dog.
Julie Swan | 1:01:15
In a way, I think it’s disrespectful to the dog to treat them like kids, they have different needs.
Dana Filatova | 1:01:21
They do, they do. It’s different. And then I got my next one, and then we broke up, and I was single for a while with two dogs, then three dogs.
And then I met my partner, and it was just like, wow, this is a lot different, but here we are, we’re still a family of two with dogs. We don’t have kids. So my idea of an ideal buyer was like, oh, it’s somebody that really wants a dog to be a part of their family, but maybe they don’t have kids yet, or maybe they can’t, or maybe they don’t want, whatever.
It was just I think too much from a personal space.
Julie Swan | 1:02:03
Sure.
Dana Filatova | 1:02:04
And then what ended up happening is most of our families who got a dog are families with kids.
And it’s just so amazing to watch these kids getting their first dog and the excitement. So now it’s shifted to like, oh, we really want to complete your family with a puppy.
Julie Swan | 1:02:29
Yes. Oh, that’s so cool. Just that extra little, I always feel like they’re an enjoyment amplifier.
Dana Filatova | 1:02:36
Yeah. And then I remember it would make me cry, because we would get on FaceTime because one family was in Maryland, and the kids saw this puppy and I’m like, okay, don’t cry. Don’t cry.
Don’t cry. I’m like, I’m going to cry right now. And then more families that came over with their kids, and you see that excitement and not only the parents, but the kids like, “oh, this is our puppy.
Oh my God, we’re getting a puppy.” Oh my God. And then I found out I’m pregnant.
It was I guess this energetic, I joke that this household was just super fertile over the summer, but yeah, it’s just kind of shifted.
And then I realized the dog cannot fill a void for you. It shouldn’t.
Julie Swan | 1:03:31
Yeah. I think it can’t, you mean. . .
Dana Filatova | 1:03:33
In a sense, there was one family that reached out, for example, and they lost their dog, and they were looking for this specific color and pattern dog to replace their dog. And it’s like, you cannot replace a dog. It’s a different dog.
And then you have expectations. And I didn’t feel good about that one either, because then the expectations are not met. It’s not exactly the same temperament or the same way they look at you as your other dog.
They would just not love it the same.
Julie Swan | 1:04:04
Right.
Dana Filatova | 1:04:06
So that, or sometimes, you know, for me, it was like, “Oh, well maybe this puppy will fill this void of you wanting a child that I don’t want to have,” or, you know, my previous partner.
So something like that.
Julie Swan | 1:04:21
Yeah. I think the void has to be something, it can’t come out of an expectation for something the dog can’t provide.
And a dog can’t actually be a kid. It can be sort of like that. If you really decide you didn’t want kids, but you still want something to love on. But you really, you always wanted kids.
So it wouldn’t ever be enough, it’s just different.
Dana Filatova | 1:04:49
That love that you have that you’re like, “Oh, I don’t know what to do with it.” Then yes, you give it to the dog and then it’s fair. But then in some situations it’s like, is it fair to the dog?
Because it wants to be its own entity, and wants to be its own being, and then there you are like, “Oh, I expected you to do this for me because this is what I’m missing in my heart.”
Julie Swan | 1:05:12
Exactly.
Dana Filatova | 1:05:13
Which obviously there are situations where dogs provide that love and help somebody heal.
Julie Swan | 1:05:22
Absolutely. But it is different. What you’re pointing out is it’s just not the same, because humans and dogs are different, and it doesn’t make either one better or worse, but they are different.
You can house train a dog from the day it’s born in a few weeks. That’s impressive. You can’t do that with kids, they’re just different.
I think there’s a big movement in respecting dogs for what they are and what they provide, but that’s appropriate to them.
Dana Filatova | 1:05:51
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So yeah, that was interesting because that whole thing, I remember even thinking about it. I’m like, Oh, I remember Julie and I discussed the ideal buyer and now it’s shifted to, okay, families.
Obviously I don’t really, we don’t have a parameters. Like if you don’t have kids, of course, yeah. I would love for you to have your dog.
But more of this, like, “Oh, what else can the dog do and have a job out there?” Like working at the medical setting or working and being a therapy dog or maybe even service dogs.
Julie Swan | 1:06:29
Yeah. Yeah. It’s interesting.
And I think that’s something for everybody to know. I know a lot of breeders get stuck on building this ideal puppy buyer before they have their puppies, and they should, it’s really helpful for marketing and planning and writing a website and doing social media. But in your experience, you noticed a shift in what you were attracting, and it feels more in alignment with your life now than maybe when you started and that evolution is very natural. And it is important that we can always evaluate our ideal puppy buyer and shift them.
Dana Filatova | 1:06:58
Yeah. I think this shift happened while I was raising them, and I realized that we don’t have a child of our own yet. And we didn’t know, this was a blessing that was unexpected. So I was really careful about making sure that socialization piece happens.
So I had my friends come over with infants, two-year old, three-year old, five-year old, seven-year olds, teenagers. Our neighbor girls would come over every weekend and spend hours in the backyard with puppies. And so I was really careful, because there was a lot of questions, like, are they socialized with kids?
Because they don’t see kids on my social media, obviously, because I don’t have my own, but that piece happened. And then it was kind of like, Ooh, it would be nice to have my own in-house child.
Julie Swan | 1:07:53
Right. They’re very useful.
Dana Filatova | 1:07:56
Not that there was a reason, but it’s important. It’s important for both the child and puppies, for their development to be exposed to different situations and people and ages.
And so we try, we socialize, we started taking them out at six-weeks to breweries and wineries and in the stroller in the neighborhood.
Julie Swan | 1:08:21
Yeah, that’s perfect. That’s a great way, I love it. And I like how you were able to employ all your friends and their kids.
Dana Filatova | 1:08:28
Yeah. Well, it was a win-win because the kids always want to come play with the puppies. It’s a thing. And then it worked out for us because the puppies got socialization.
So it was really sweet.
Julie Swan | 1:08:41
It worked out so good. I know. We have a family that has four kids, and I’m always like, “Hey, bring your kids over.
I’ll watch them for a couple hours,” then they get a lot of time with the puppies.
Dana Filatova | 1:08:52
Yeah. Yeah. It’s great.
It’s great to have that. Just also from the standpoint of showing the kids the responsibility, but also this unconditional love towards an animal. And I think it’s so important.
So it’s on so many levels. So it’s not like, Oh, come play with the puppy. It’s like, Oh, you really love the animals.
And this is so great.
Julie Swan | 1:09:17
That’s perfect. Well, Dana, thanks so much for sharing your story. Oh, I just love it. I love the evolution of your ideal puppy buyer.
That is so, so good. And such a nice illustration of how that can just very organically happen in someone’s breeding program. So thanks.
So excited. And then, if you were going to give advice to new breeders getting started, what’s one thing you would say, Hey, definitely do this, or definitely don’t do that.
Dana Filatova | 1:09:46
Yes, I love that question. And I would say this, have a community because it takes a village. You can’t do it by yourself.
And it’s not competition. This is your network of people that will be supportive at 1am in the morning, like how’s it going? How’s your dog?
And you’ll do the same for them. And that’s probably the best thing you can have. And then everything else falls into place, because you’ll have the support of the people that are like minded.
And honestly, so here’s the thing, I can’t really talk to my partner about birth things and poop things over dinner, but I can with my breeding friends. One of them visited, and we’re just laughing, my partner was there, Justin was there with us, and we’re so sorry, we’re just talking birth. And oh, this dog has this sperm count.
You can’t talk to your partners always about these things. And there are a lot of supportive partners, but you need to have somebody outside of the home, that is going to be your network, and go to, and anybody you can text at 2 o’clock in the morning and ask a question.
And they’ll be there for you.
Julie Swan | 1:11:05
Yeah, no, exactly. Exactly. That group of breeders that is on Facebook is not real guys, they are not the normal, everybody’s so fun and so nice inside our group.
And I just think it’s where it should be. Instead of all this. “My stuff’s perfect. No, my dogs never poop.”
Dana Filatova | 1:11:28
Yeah, exactly. Or like judgmental. There’s a lot of that happening too like, “Oh, you didn’t do that.”
And it’s like, okay, we’re all humans, we all make mistakes and things happen that are outside of your control. Obviously, I didn’t want this to happen to my dog or whatever, whatever it is. We luckily haven’t had anything dramatic happen yet.
But I know it’s going to. Yeah. So having that support and it’s like, okay, you didn’t do anything wrong.
You’re not a bad person. Because we beat ourselves up enough already. You need somebody that supports you.
And when they were not selling, texting you and texting Christina, my other friend, and she’s like, you’ll sell them. You’ll be fine. It’s not their time yet.
It’s all good. Just having that little conversation. Super helpful.
Julie Swan | 1:12:20
Yeah, so good. Well, where can people find you?
Dana Filatova | 1:12:24
Yeah, so we’re at Kismet Labradoodles on Instagram and online on our website.
Facebook, I’m not there. I don’t know for whatever reason. I just held out.
I post everything Kismet on my personal, but we probably should get on Facebook at some point. But Instagram and the website.
Julie Swan | 1:12:46
All right. Well, thanks so much for coming on the show. It was such a fun time.
Dana Filatova | 1:12:49
Thank you so much for having me. This is a dream come true.
