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#122 – Which Kind of Breeder Are You?

#122 – Which Kind of Breeder Are You?

by Julie Swan | Nov 17, 2025 | Business Management, Dog & Puppy Management, Facilities Management, People Management

Jump to Show Notes Which kind of breeder are you?  The Reactive Breeder The first kind is what I call the reactive breeder. They’re passionate, hardworking, and they care deeply — but they’re always catching up. It’s like they can never get ahead, they’re running...
#121 – Does Placing Dogs in the Wrong Homes Make You a Bad Breeder?

#121 – Does Placing Dogs in the Wrong Homes Make You a Bad Breeder?

by Julie Swan | Nov 3, 2025 | Business Management, People Management

Jump to Show Notes You ever place a puppy in a home and almost instantly regret it? I’ve done it. You ever place a dog in a home that seemed perfect—only to find out months later they were nothing like they seemed? I’ve done that, also. You ever have to clean up a...
#120 – Puppy Buyers Are Changing – How Dog Breeders Can Adapt

#120 – Puppy Buyers Are Changing – How Dog Breeders Can Adapt

by Julie Swan | Oct 24, 2025 | Business Management, People Management

Jump to Show Notes Remember the Adopt-Don’t-Shop Movement? I wish they were easier to forget. This movement pioneered this push towards making breeders bad, and teaching the public that they were wrong for getting a dog from a breeder. It was in the movement’s best...
#119 – Secrets to Discounting Puppies – When it Works, When it Doesn’t, and How to Do it

#119 – Secrets to Discounting Puppies – When it Works, When it Doesn’t, and How to Do it

by Julie Swan | Sep 25, 2025 | Business Management, People Management

Jump to Show Notes SHOULD YOU DISCOUNT OLDER PUPPIES?  Discounting older puppies is tempting. Discounting is what stores do as the seasons change. They’ll have sales for summer clothes as summer comes to an end. Yet, does it work for puppies? The answer? Well,...
#118 – How to Manage Parvo Once You’ve Had It

#118 – How to Manage Parvo Once You’ve Had It

by Julie Swan | Sep 13, 2025 | Dog & Puppy Management, Facilities Management

Jump to Show Notes If you’ve ever dealt with Parvovirus, you know it’s the worst. It is by far the worst thing I’ve ever dealt with in dogs and puppies. It is relentless in how it takes over their system, and it has nearly around 90% fatality in puppies. One summer I...
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Recent Posts

  • #130 – The Breeder You Need to Stop Being
  • #129 – What Actually Makes a Good Dog Breeder?
  • #128 – Q&A – All About Puppy Deposits
  • #127 – Setting Up Your Year for Success
  • #126 – Is Your Dog Breeding Program the Bringer of Good Things?

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#130 – The Breeder You Need to Stop Being

In the last episode, we talked about what actually makes a good breeder. Not checklists, not rules, not appearances. Good breeders are defined by the quality of their decisions. But there’s a deeper layer that makes those decisions hard to change, and that layer is...

#129 – What Actually Makes a Good Dog Breeder?

If you ask ten breeders what makes a good breeder, you’ll get ten different answers: Health testing. Registration. How many dogs you have. Where the dogs live. What you feed. What you do — or don’t do — in your program. And most of those conversations don’t stay...

#128 – Q&A – All About Puppy Deposits

1. Should puppy deposits be refundable or non-refundable? Breeders love to use non-refundable deposits because they mean that they don’t need to worry about paying people back if they cancel, so in theory it locks in that they want a puppy. It’s also nice because, in...

#127 – Setting Up Your Year for Success

The new year always brings a lot of noise. Big goals. Big plans. Big pressure to do everything differently all at once. But before we rush forward, I think it’s worth slowing down for just a moment and taking an honest look at where we actually are. In today’s...

#126 – Is Your Dog Breeding Program the Bringer of Good Things?

I love that stores are closed on Christmas Day—it forces you to not go anywhere and not do anything. My favorite thing to do on Christmas is sit with the family, enjoy our new gifts, while we talk and share stories. Yet, as it always goes, when I have too much time to...

#125 – The Secret to Higher Priced Puppies

Recently I got rejected. The kind where you think everything is going well, and then it doesn’t. I was trying to get a guest on the podcast, and when I asked for them to come on the podcast, they were all excited. Then they realized that I had a smaller audience on...

12 Days of Breeders – 12 – Dana Filatova of Kismet Labradoodles

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,...

12 Days of Breeders – 11 – Andrea Gardner of Desert Sky Poodles

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,...

12 Days of Breeders – 10 – Megan Smith of Acadia Goldendoodles

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,...

12 Days of Breeders – 9 – Leilani Nichols of Northwest Cairn Terriers

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,...

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