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#123 – Reflecting on the Year of Dog Breeding & What I Plan to Change for Next Year

#123 – Reflecting on the Year of Dog Breeding & What I Plan to Change for Next Year

by Julie Swan | Nov 21, 2025 | Business Management, Dog & Puppy Management, Facilities Management, People Management

Jump to Show Notes The holidays are coming up and maybe it’s like this for you: you’re going along, getting excited for some turkey and cranberry sauce, Aunt Julianne’s cheesy potatoes, and then you blink and you’re toasting cheers on New Year’s Eve. We toast at 10pm...
#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...
#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...
#113 – How Many Litters Should You Have?

#113 – How Many Litters Should You Have?

by Julie Swan | Jul 12, 2025 | Business Management, Dog & Puppy Management

Get the Breeding Dog & Litter Number Calculator  Get the Calculator Jump to Show Notes I remember a few weeks ago I was sitting on the edge of my bed, feet resting on the bed frame. We have one of those wooden bed frames that has a 3” ledge at the foot, perfect...
#112 – Q&A – Puppy Applications, Delayed Pickups, Deposits, More than One Breed, and Turning Down Red Flag Buyers

#112 – Q&A – Puppy Applications, Delayed Pickups, Deposits, More than One Breed, and Turning Down Red Flag Buyers

by Julie Swan | Jul 5, 2025 | Business Management, Dog & Puppy Management, People Management

Jump to Show Notes WHAT ARE THE BEST PRACTICES FOR HANDLING A DELAYED PUPPY PICKUP? It’s really great for us breeders when people are ready to pick up their puppy the day they’re ready to go! Last weekend, I was able to deliver 5 out of 6 puppies in one trip—it was...
#109 – Is Your Dog Breeding Business Leaking Money?

#109 – Is Your Dog Breeding Business Leaking Money?

by Julie Swan | Jun 12, 2025 | Business Management, Dog & Puppy Management, Facilities Management, People Management

Get the Pricing Cheat Sheet Jump to Show Notes In business, there are two ways to make profit: you have a good margin or you have volume. In dog breeding, it’s very hard to do volume. The more puppies you produce, the more systems you have to have, the more cost that...
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Recent Posts

  • #131 – Why Dog Breeding Feels So Overwhelming – and What to Do About It
  • #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

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#131 – Why Dog Breeding Feels So Overwhelming – and What to Do About It

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...

#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,...

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