Sara Lamont (01:13)
Hello
everybody, thanks for joining me. It's Sara and it's New Year's Day. I hope you enjoyed the little bit of an intro there, which was taken from a cartoon, Charlie Brown. Hopefully I won't get copyrighted or told off for this, but it was just a nice little introduction into New Year's Eve and how many people spend their celebrations to bring in the new year. Auld Lang Syne that's saying,
it's a Scottish tradition and it's part of their Hogmany which is like a New Year's Eve celebration. And I tell you that because Isobel isn't with me, she's actually in Scotland celebrating in a very traditional Scottish manner, no doubt, maybe even...
Catching and eating some haggis anyone that knows the in joke there But yeah, it's a song pretty much that's sung about old time shared journeys and moving forward with intention rather than regret And I thought
it was quite fitting for today because it's about pausing, taking stock, which I think we've done quite a lot over these 12 days of Christmas. But it's just thinking about what can we carry forward with us and what do we silently leave behind. And pretty much the lyrics of the song sort of says that
which I should know because obviously I singing it last night no I wasn't I was watching Ricky Gervais on Netflix being the savages he's always savage but it pretty much says should old acquaintance be forgot and never be brought to mind so you're aware of people that exist and you don't need to bring them forward with you into the year
So Isobel and I thought, let's walk through individually what some of the biggest lessons that we each learned for 2025. So for me, the big lesson was about suitability matters more than convenience and that boundaries are not about pushing people away, but it's about choosing what fits.
I say that because I think sometimes there's quite a pressure in dog breeding and pretty much honestly in life is to keep doing what you already know. I think If someone tries to change for the new year and it's the typical isn't it? New year, new me and whatever it might be losing weight, dry January.
detox, December, whatever, whatever, whenever it happens, whatever it is, actually, sometimes the people around that person trying to change become quite uncomfortable. And sometimes they can be quite negative and quite toxic to you trying to change because you're making them feel uncomfortable by changing because by natures of being human, we quite like comfort and we quite like the status quo. We quite like predictability. So then obviously when someone positive
actively tries to enforce a change, you kind of turn that upside down. Stranger Things reference there for anyone that watched that as well, that dropped on very late in the UK. I've not watched it yet, but I'm on the train.
But yeah, so it's easy to keep going with what you already know because obviously it doesn't take any Extra mental capacity just to stick to doing what you always do Which is pretty much what we say about the breeders brew podcast of trying to learn something new trying to actually Action be practical and try something new which is easier said than done sometimes But you know you you might keep your existence set up. You know that you've got the experience
You know what other people expect from you and on paper it all works.
but when something works well enough, it can almost feel irresponsible not to question it. So I guess that's what New Year's resolutions and like this time on New Year's Day that a lot of people get to stop and question what they're currently doing and should they carry on doing that into the new year. can tell ourselves things like, it would be silly not to, I've already invested so much or people rely on me for this or it's easier to continue than to change. And then that's how, unfortunately,
convenience slowly becomes the decision maker of how you spend your next year, your next breeding, your next weekend, your next month, whatever it might be. And it's not wrong, I guess, because the reasons I said it just is what feels comfortable and obviously some people can take what what's comfortable means is what's right. But...
Sometimes you have to question the suitability. And that's totally different question when you think about it. So if you yourself suitability wise, does it align with who you are now? Does it suit your energy levels, your values, your future plans?
does it allow you to consistently work at your best, not occasionally? I think with the thing with suitability is that it's not like really glaringly obvious. It's just a sort of quiet whisper, a of like a nagging presence in your brain. Or sometimes it's just a flash of this doesn't seem right, but you carry on doing it anyway.
it can do is it can show up as friction. So as a sense of being stretched in a way that doesn't feel productive. So you feel like you're wasting your time doing stuff or that it's a background drain rather than a crisis. So it's just like slowly sucking your energy and like that stuff can be easy to ignore, but you shouldn't ignore it.
So one of the clearest examples I've seen of this and then I come onto mine because it forced one of my lessons is that
a client that I work with that I see face to face quite regularly. She's a licensed breeder actually. She's an ABA annual Breeder Awards winner. And over time she's moved breed. So originally when I first met her, she was breeding Labradors. Then she decided to move into Cockapoos and Cavapoos. Now to me, this shows somebody that's constantly looking and assessing what she's doing and checking it for suitability. And so she'd already shown
flexibility she'd already moved from one breed to another because dog suited her lifestyle more was more suitable for her setup and her priorities to change with family so I thought well that's that's good that she's recognized that and she's adapted and pivoted friends reference for anyone that's old pivot anyway I'm not even that into friends I don't know why said that but she had already pivoted
I
guess once and then she's constantly reviewing and I think that's not always something that we all do as people that are known as dog owners. So because she's a licensed breeder her focus obviously is being able to consistently produce X amount of puppies because she has the wait list waiting for her pups and she found that
that she has the fertility is important as well as the planning to make sure you build your wait list for the puppies to be available and what she's realized dealing with cavapoos is their fertility isn't as reliable as for say the Labradors that she's previously had which they are yeah pretty robust breed
And what she's also realized is the litter sizes are smaller in Cavapoos. So it has become apparent to her that she probably should focus a bit more on Cockapoos. They're a slightly bigger dog. Demand is still just as big. They're more reliable in their fertility. Generally produce slightly bigger litter numbers because they are slightly bigger dog. So when you think about it for what her plans are, where she's heading for, it makes sense for
it's just interesting to see somebody obviously she breathes responsibly. They're all health tested She's got the wait list and all that kind of stuff But it just goes to show that don't know if Cavapoos are a big trend It still doesn't make sense for her to breed those when for the reasons that she's identified she probably should be breeding Cockapoos So it's just interesting to see somebody work through that process
and sort of come out the other end going, I know I've tried this for the last say three years and what I've learnt is that this work I'm more successful and I get more enjoyment from doing it this way and so I'm gonna focus on that section going forward. So I thought that was interesting because I hadn't realised it but I had the same kind of feeling with my Labradors so for anyone that doesn't know I've bred my bulldogs since I was like
13 years old. I've shown them I was 16 or 17 with her first litter. I've shown them since I was 13 years old. I've lived with them since I was 6 years old. So I am a bulldog person through and through and I love them.
I had other breeds with the bulldogs Mainly being French Bulldogs, so they're a cousin not too far apart You know in some personality traits, but very far apart in others because they are French Bulldogs are much more terrier I mean, that's why they got the stick up ears because they've been crossed with terriers got much more terrier temperament So you're not getting a mini Bulldog you are getting a French Bulldog with a different temperament anyway bred those I did have three generations
at one point and then I decided you know what French Bulldogs aren't for me. Lucky enough it was before it all popped off with their numbers and it went a bit crazy. I think when I got my first French Bulldog there was was actually only 950 born that year under a thousand French Bulldogs born in the UK that year. Now they're like the second top in the UK which I think is like some crazy numbers. Off the top of my head I don't know, say 20, 28, 30 thousand and that's what's registered so
probably
more like 60,000 but anyway had French Bulldogs they all passed had my little honey that probably about four years ago she probably died she was the granddaughter of the generations that I had and then that's when I decided I want another breed but I'm gonna get a Labrador this time I'm gonna get a dog that actually listens to me wants to make me happy wants to learn stuff because Bulldogs are none of that they just they live their own life and so yeah Bulldogs I always say like little
mini people round into a dog's body so they're like moody and stubborn and temperamental. obviously see a Labrador is pretty robust in their demeanor and willingness and they want to let their very doggy basically like you throw a ball they run after it they want to make you happy the default is happy like they're a great dog without a doubt.
And to be fair, having Spice has taught me a lot about bulldogs because I didn't realize how weird they were because I'd always had bulldogs. And as I say, the French bulldogs aren't that far apart. having a Labrador, even I've talked previously about like I have an email sequence for anyone that inquires about a bulldog. I literally have this email why what I call like bulldog versus Labrador. And I point out all the things that are different between them, because if you
understand those differences then you'll know whether you're actually one of Bulldog or not. So she's taught me loads absolutely love her to bits. She's had her third and final litter and the first litter I enjoyed because it was new to me and I hadn't reared Labradors before and they are super easy to breed in the scheme of things especially fertility side getting them to four weeks to weaning. They're a little bit more hard work four to eight weeks because they are so switched on and they're so
intelligent
and with the bigger litters there's a lot more puppies to entertain shall we say. So I really enjoyed the first litter, the second litter I did enjoy and obviously I put into place the things I did wrong on the first one I was like let's improve this and the final litter I haven't enjoyed at all.
I've had winter litters before, so it's not the fact that it's a winter litter and they're cooped up indoors a bit more. But I just don't enjoy... I think what I realise is when there's a large gene pool of Labradors and I'm just adding to it, where with the Bulldogs it's a smaller...
gene pool of dogs, but because I've achieved so much more to them, I know the quality I'm adding is top tier quality with the Labradors. Obviously they're fully health testing everything, but like I have no bigger reputation behind that. So I don't know. I just feel like deep down inside and just breeding a dog for the sake of breeding a dog where I know when I'm breeding my bulldogs, are, I know somebody can spend 3000 pounds on a bulldog one day and then be at the vet's the next day spending another 3000 pounds.
So I know I'm really confident in the ability of what my dogs are and finding puppy owners that appreciate that so then it feels worth it worthwhile for me feels worthwhile for them and Bulldogs are really hard to breed in my opinion. You'd have to be crazy to kind of pick them by choice Which is kind of why I wanted to breed a Labrador to see the differences.
the Labradors from my opinion obviously is a saturated arena because they are like one of the most popular dogs and so therefore the people looking for them in my opinion the sort of devalued the quality of the puppy that they're receiving they don't necessarily appreciate it not saying that's like true but that's my opinion
opinion
and experience of it.
So as I say, when I breed my bulldogs, it's totally different because I know their heritage. I know they're health tested. I know they've got amazing structure, temperament. Like they literally come with my back in my guarantee. My intention of the breeding is totally different to the Labradors. I've got decades of knowledge. You know, I judge them, show them, all the things with them. So don't know, my passion level is just definitely different. And I didn't expect it to be the same with the Labradors. But on reflection,
I don't get any of the excitement that I get from my bulldog puppies, even though they're easier to breed. Yeah, it's just not as fun. So I've decided that I'm gonna breed no more Labradors and I'm gonna take the harder route and carry on breeding my bulldogs. A conscious, active decision. And I think that's because when I breed my bulldogs that the puppy owners come on the journey with me
so they're engaged from a very early point, like if not 12, 18 months, two years before they even get a dog off of me, which I weirdly absolutely love compared to placing a Labrador advert at six weeks old and someone viewing and then picking them up two weeks later and never hearing from them ever again. I like that with my Bulldog people, they're on the journey with me, they experience all the ups, all the downs, and there's tons of downs with Bulldogs. They understand
uncertainty and they see the care that goes into it the planning the responsibility involved in breeding dogs properly and then because of that I truly feel that they do value their puppy differently once they receive it is it's not a product it's like a whole experience that they've been on with me to get to this end point where they actually get their puppy and I know that some people will be like I don't want to put up with puppy owners like constantly having to engage them for that long but
for some weird reason I actually quite like it with my bulldogs and so I'm going to continue doing that because that's what I enjoy. I think I enjoy the sense of satisfaction of them appreciating the quality of dog they get when we get to the end of it. So yeah, definitely, I'm not taking the easy route anymore so there will be no Labrador litters.
on the agenda and I guess I think it's knowing when you've taken enough from something as well. kept a female from Spices First litter that's in the Guardian that I could potentially breed from and it's an opportunity I'm probably not going to take because I don't really want to and I don't think it betters anything that I'm doing
an individual so I'm not going to do it anymore. I'm going to do what suits me so yeah I think that's a big lesson. I think the reason that maybe some people struggle with these decisions is guilt like of letting people down or changing direction or just stepping away from something others would be grateful to have and say likewise I already have one female and a guardian so there have to be a conversation with their owners about what my plans are so it probably will be uncomfortable and a little bit awkward.
and let's hope they don't listen to this podcast before I those conversations. But obviously we're acting everyone's best interest. But you shouldn't feel guilty about making a decision that's the right decision for you, so you're not obliged to continue with something simply because it once made sense and
I think you've just got to see that you just setting some boundaries isn't about rejection. It's about clarity, isn't it? It's like you go to a shoe shop. If you go to JD Sports, you know you're after trainers. If you go to Clarks, you know you're after school shoes or sensible shoes. You've got to go in the right shop in the first place. And then even when you're in the right shop,
you still try on different pairs don't you and some fit better than others and just because you don't take a pair like you just don't need them at this time isn't it they're just not right for you at that moment or for the reason that you needed those shoes so i think um you've got to kind of see it like that you you get to pick you get to decide because you've got to walk in those shoes see two labradors getting noisy now
So the one thing I've learned this year is that when you change direction, you also change who you need around you. And it's not necessarily more people, but it's about having the right people. We talked about, you know, marathon running and athletes having coaches and, you know.
why tutors exist, it, for academia and all these kind of things and, music and there's always somebody willing to teach the next person. And it's because generally you need people around you that understand suitability, those that respect boundaries and people that think rather than react. And again, this is why we put the Brew Crew Support Club together. So it's just a space for people to talk through what they're going through.
to other people that are going through the same thing and totally understand and get it. And also you've got to remember guys that it is a two for one. I like this podcast where it's just me today. You do get two people's different opinions and perspectives. So Isobel and I, though we agree on a lot of things, we still...
brought up different ways, have different backgrounds, have different focuses, so we still bring different perspectives to it and so it's good because I think we bring a more holistic approach to the advice that we're given because we're just not blindsided by one person's opinion, you get both. So I think yeah, what could you ask for? So don't forget, don't miss the opportunity, let's start on the right foot, you've got your discount code for
which is birds 246 it runs out on the 12th day so don't dilly-dally as they say so it's taking it back to Auld Lang Syne
It does not say old choices were mistakes. It simply acknowledges passing time and that people change and as you step into a new year that you give yourself permission to reassess. So this is the time that you should start doing that.
So I'm gonna play a little bit of the outro and you won't hear from me tomorrow, I don't believe. I think it'd be over to Isobel or it might be a joint one. We might stick a joint one in and then you'll get Isobel the day after, let's see. But otherwise, have a super new year and I'll catch up with you soon. Bye.
