To Adopt or To Shop, Part 2: Shop

In this episode of the Dog is Love Podcast, Chrissy and Cara explore the “shop” side of the adopt or shop debate, focusing on how to choose a puppy from a breeder. They discuss puppy development stages, the importance of socialization, health screenings, and responsible breeder practices. The hosts share their personal experiences and offer practical tips for evaluating puppies and breeders, including questions to ask and red flags to watch for. The episode emphasizes making informed decisions to ensure the health and happiness of the puppies and you, their future family. Tune in!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

dog is love like the roots of the trees and the stars up above

SPEAKER_04 0:29

Hey,

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everybody. Thanks for joining me on the Dog is Love podcast. I'm back with Cara Kelly. Hey there. And we're talking about the other side of adopt or shop. So today it's about the shop.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

Yep.

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And this is picking a dog from a breeder.

SPEAKER_04 0:53

Yes.

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Okay. Shopping for a purebred or a mixed breed from a breeder has this learning curve too. Yes, absolutely. And most importantly, hear me now world. Not just choosing the first pup you see. Not the first pup that runs up to you and chews on your shoelace. Not the first pup. Necessarily. You see just because it's a puppy and you want to take it home right then and there. Yeah. Okay. Gosh, they are so darn cute. Yes, they are. And they have that little puppy smell.

SPEAKER_04 1:31

Oh, smells like Fritos.

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It's like a sweet, pleasant scent.

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It's like,

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like vanilla. Malt. Yeah. Freshly cut hay. Yes. Oh, I don't know why it smells so good, but it does. But when talking about to adopt or shop, it's very interesting to really learn about each stage of a puppy's beginning. There is something magical about watching nature grow. Yes. From baby birds to small does. And like the little kits. The fox kits. We

SPEAKER_04 2:11

just saw two really sweet little fox kits. Oh my goodness.

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Okay. And of course, our little canine pups. Of course. So I'm going to walk us and Kara's too through the stages. Okay. I really am fortunate to have seen all this because with my old dog, Franklin, we bred him with a fellow breeder up in Pennsylvania. Mm-hmm. And actually it's a funny story because I was such the pack leader with Franklin that when I would take him up there, he would not perform. And so then we had to send him up with my, well, it was actually, we sent him up because we were away on vacation and my brother-in-law took him. And it literally happened in like 2.2 seconds. So we were

SPEAKER_04 3:01

like, I'm not listening to you, Timmy. Mom's not here. Let's go, baby.

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We still laugh about it today. So Tim was our pimp. But anyhow. So what was really cool is I got to really see this live from a weekly basis, either from him and I FaceTiming or when you mean the breeder, the breeder. Yeah. Or like going up and visiting the puppies. And then at the end, we took one of the pups and i gave it as a wedding gift to a girlfriend of mine

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oh my that's an amazing wedding

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yeah it was so from birth to two weeks old puppies are completely dependent on mom for food and care such as keeping themselves clean the sense of touch and taste are present at birth yes so neonatal puppies have limited movement and are capable of only a slow crawl

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Right.

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So they're not walking around yet.

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Right. No. And they can't even see. Their eyes

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aren't open. Yeah. And then two to four weeks old, puppies become aware of and interact with their litter mates as well as their mom. Okay. So they start opening up their eyes. Yes. Their sight is well developed by about five weeks. Okay. So there's still some Sounds right. Yeah. Yeah. And then this sense of hearing and smell are developing and their baby teeth are starting to emerge. Shark teeth. During this puppy development stage, the pups begin to walk, bark and wag their tails.

UNKNOWN 4:33

Right.

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And then in this period, the weaning from the mother also begins. Okay. And about three weeks, usually breeders start to feed them solid foods. Okay. So by the time that the puppies are eight weeks old, they should be eating solid foods and no longer nursing. So three weeks.

SPEAKER_04 4:52

That's the two to four week range.

SPEAKER_02 4:53

Yeah. Two to four weeks. And then from four to six weeks, puppies continue to be influenced by their mother and their litter mates. They learn to play. they start gaining their social skills from their litter mates, such as a little bit of like. Like

SPEAKER_04 5:09

the nipping, the play nipping.

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So it's like play, but it's not really necessarily to hurt at this point.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

Well, and that's also how they learn because of the only way, you know, puppies play a little bit rough. And so when they're with their litter mates, that yelp will indicate, okay, too hard, too hard. Yep. And then that's how they learn. Oh, sorry,

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you know. Yeah. And what's cool about that Yelp is it's a, this, this is the sound

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and

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you can actually use that

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when you're training,

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when you're in a relationship with your dog, when you're training with your dog and they will respond to that because it's a puppy. Yeah. Because it's an instinctive trait that they come with.

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Yeah.

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Yeah. They learn the ins and outs of the social structure of their little family and the rankings within the group.

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Yes.

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So what kind of happens in this stage is they start learning to romp and play, to learn how to hunt and do all those natural things that they need to do, you know, out in the world. But when they're learning their social structure, that little play and the little yelps, they go up, you know, and they stop play. Well, one day a big guy comes in and maybe bites a little bit hard. And instead of like a yelp, it's a, and the dog skitters away. And everybody in that pack is like, whoa, stay away from that guy. And then that's where the little hierarchy starts. Puppies become more vocal during this period. They might start barking at each other. And then at this point, if the mom is aggressive or fearful of people, the puppies might start being affected by that. So it's really important at this stage that the breeder starts socializing them with humans. And we were up in Vermont. It's really cute. We went to this golden retriever farm. It's hilarious. We'll talk about another time. But the owners have this truck and they take the puppies in the truck and they go into town and like you know are just socializing them to the sights and the sounds you know um with along with their moms along with the other golden retrievers that they have um but yeah so they start to get to socialize a little bit

SPEAKER_04 7:39

so it's it's a i mean to your point like this is the the time frame this is This is like four to six weeks, I'm going to say. But this is the time when all those behavioral things begin. So they're not only the behavioral within the pack and their litter mates, but also they're picking up on the behavioral personality of their mother. So if they see that their mom... is fearful or a little bit aggressive or anxious, they are going to inherit that.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Yeah, they're going to become aggressive of like, if they see their mom doesn't like, you know, like a vacuum, right? And they see her reaction towards that, they're going to inherit the same reaction.

SPEAKER_04 8:25

Yeah. That's so fascinating

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to me. So it's just really important to have a good breeder that really socializes these puppies. You hear of breeders that they bring in their grandkids. Yes. They do a lot of vacuuming, ringing doorbells. This is where they might start crate training the pups too. So they get used to being in that type of setting I

SPEAKER_04 8:51

know that we experienced this with Juniper, our chocolate lab. She was a large animal vet, the breeder. So she would not interact with the horses, but they knew the animals well. like the fenced in area where the dogs went out, you know, was it was like they could see the horses. So, you know, it was good exposure. And also she would bring in her her son would come in and help and all that.

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Yeah.

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So

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so important that you ask if a breeder is socializing. Yes. They're puppies. They also can start like house training a little bit at this point for you. So definitely you want to be interested in asking that of the breeder as well. Like, are you doing that with them because that's going to be just a one-up on having that already set in place. It's just a helpful thing.

SPEAKER_04 9:52

It's actually a game-changer. It's a game-changer. Our breeder for Junie did. Juniper was basically house-trained. She had accidents at first, but she knew she was supposed to go outside. She had that understanding that she didn't that the inside was not where she went to the bathroom. She she pottied outside.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Yeah.

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You know, so it was just a matter of of us. Getting her there in time.

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Yeah.

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Kind of thing. But that was helpful.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

And then around like six weeks, I think it's great if breeders start, you know, putting collars on the puppies, encourage them by using like different names. If you have already picked out your puppy and that's the name, the breeder can start using that name. They can start praising, really training with the dog and so forth. So it's a really fun period for the breeder and also like for the puppy because they're learning so much.

SPEAKER_04 10:53

So we want to always make sure that your breeder is doing all of the appropriate vaccinations for your dog because there are certain times like dogs, the puppies can interact with each other, right? They can interact with their own litter mates. But when you bring a puppy home, it's some time before the dog is fully vaccinated before you can say, take the puppy to a dog park, that kind of thing. So you do want to kind of ask about what is the vaccination schedule?

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Yeah.

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What? What are you doing? So that you know where to fill in the blanks for your own life.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

And then usually about eight weeks, sometimes 12 weeks. is when they the breeder will start allowing you to take home the pup yes and some breeders will even let you stay a little bit longer they'll have like a training session with them and stuff just again to give you a one-up when you're bringing the dog home just to start on the right foot so you can ask for those questions i think i've seen somebody like pick their dog and the breeder had it for like three more months it went through a whole like board and train

SPEAKER_04 11:59

Oh, that's really interesting.

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So they matched with the families, then it stayed for a board and train, and then they got the dog.

SPEAKER_04 12:08

Yeah, I guess that if that's your preference, that's... I... loved having like the beginning phase.

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For sure. Me too. But I was like, yeah, I

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want to.

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But now that everybody's like us.

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I know. I

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know. So then I think just like we talked about last episode, there's a couple of questions that are really important to ask a breeder when you start getting involved in, you know, like after you've picked out the breed and Then, you know, you might be asking word of mouth about breeders that other people have used. Plus, you also might just randomly I mean, I've gone up to people when I've seen a dog that's like super handsome. And then I've watched that, you know, I've seen that dog like kind of out and about if it was at a park or something. And I'd be like, your dog is so handsome. Like, where did you do you remember where you what breeder you got him from? Right. So you can also just kind of figure it out that way. But word of mouth is the best way, I think, or just deep dive research into finding a good breeder. I

SPEAKER_04 13:17

also think it's important to say why that's so important, because there are a lot of irresponsible breeders out there. Sure. And if you're buying a dog from an irresponsible breeder, then you're just perpetuating the cycle of, puppy mills and bad environments for the dogs and then but if they're selling the dogs off then they keep doing it and they keep doing it and they keep doing it and it's kind of like dog you know it's It's very traumatic. So

SPEAKER_02 13:47

yeah. And the puppies are not well adjusted to socialization, you know, the real world, because sometimes they're out in barns and not necessarily like hearing cars and all that. And, you know, there's so, yeah, it's really, really important.

SPEAKER_04 14:02

And you might end up with a dog with a number of health problems because the, the, the breeder is not a responsible breeder. So the breeder is not really, doesn't really care, you know, and you then might end up with a huge financial burden and, So it is important to know your breeder, if that's the route you choose, to know what you're getting into, and to ask some very specific questions, which let's dive

SPEAKER_02 14:33

into that. So I think the biggest one is experience. So how long has the breeder been doing this?

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Right. And it's okay if they're just a hobby breeder.

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Yeah.

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Right. For sure.

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Yeah.

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But just understand their background.

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Yeah. And they've just because when you have somebody that's more experienced or it's been generational.

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Yeah.

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Like they just you find that they're more the breeder that's going to socialize. Right. That might do like pairing of the owner with the temperament of the dog.

SPEAKER_04 15:08

Yeah. You just said it. So let's touch on it. Yeah. There are two ways that I have found that breeders will do that. They will either say breeders will either give you a pick like, oh, well, I have this list, you know, your fifth on the list. Then you can pick your dog or they'll say, what are you looking for in a dog? And then they will say, here are here are what I think are the best options. And that is pretty awesome. Yeah, you can get that. from your breeder, then that means that they know they're dogs. They're paying attention to what's going on in the social structure of the litter. Yes. And, and they're going to say, I think this would be a good dog for your household. Yep. So if, if you can meet, if your breeder will do that, that's, that's good. That's the breeder for you. Yeah, totally. Totally.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

I think what health tests are done on the parents. Oh, that's good. Yeah. Like hips, eyes. So a really responsible breeder will have the medical background for both the male and the female involved. Totally. And then you can also ask like, what are some health concerns that have come to you from other families that have purchased your puppies before? Yes. Because sometimes there could, you know, sometimes there's just a genetic mutation, but sometimes, you know, there might be a breed line that has a gene that's going through it, you know? So you just want to make sure that they're not having too many I guess what, like callbacks. Sure. About some like medical issues.

SPEAKER_04 16:59

You better hope that they'll be honest with you about it. But

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yeah, they should be. Yeah. I think meeting, if you have the opportunity to, meeting the parents. Oh yeah,

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this one was huge for

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us. The full litter.

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That was the biggest green flag for us because when we went to see Junie's litter, first of all, we saw Junie. All of the puppies. She had the males in one pen and she had all the females. We knew we wanted a female and she had all the females in a pen. And the mama, she let all the females go outside and she let the mama come out with us. And my husband, Brendan, was holding one of her babies and the mama came over and she licked his face. Yeah, so that's a really... Yeah, while he was holding one of her babies. That's a great sign. And I was like, we're getting one of these dogs because... The temperament. Her temperament was sensational. I mean, she was so gentle. And I was like this. And you could just see it. And Juniper has a very, very similar temperament.

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As the mother? Yes. She's

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very loving. Not territorial. She's not territorial.

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Yeah. And when you see the litter, you're able to see all the litters. And sometimes now in this day and age, you're seeing that breeders, people are flying to go get dogs or having them driven up to them. So you might be able to get videos of them or have Facebook Facebook Live, whatever that is, but where you can see...

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Whatever that technological advance

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is. Yeah, where you can actually see the litter mates. And we did this with one of our customers and they had picked a dog and they asked me to look at the litter. And I was like, oh, that's the dog you don't want. And they're like, what? And I'm like, yes. I'm like, wow, that dog is so... aggressive towards the other dogs you're going to come

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home yeah

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he was kind of the bully of the of the litter or the pack leader i don't know which one but i was like don't take that one

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right

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and they didn't thankfully and they picked the other one and gem the other one's a gem

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right

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really awesome disposition and stuff you

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want the one that loves to play but then loves to also roll over

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yeah we'll talk about that yeah yeah yeah

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okay okay um more questions

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So, yeah. And then I think also like just asking them if you can see like where they were raised, you know, are they inside? Are they in a barn? You know, and it's not necessary to be in judgment. It's just to be like, well, what's the scenario? Like let you have like the full background. So, you know. Sure. You know, if they're in a barn, they might not be like really familiar and walking on hardwood floors. Oh, yeah. You know, so just that. So just like different things like that that you're not thinking of when you're bringing home a puppy. It'll just help you understand your dog a little bit more. And then... the way they feed the dog. Once they get to that marker of where they start introducing food and weaning off of the mom is so important. Do they individually feed or do they trough feed? Trough feed means that they're putting the kibble in one plate and all the puppies are eating out of that one.

SPEAKER_04 20:24

They're fighting for food.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

Yeah. And that for me tends to be the reason why Why then you bring home a dog and they are just inhaling their food and then that owner needs to go buy that product of the slow feed bowls and you see them more and more and more. I'm very curious of why we're seeing it more and more. So I keep on going back. Did you ask your breeder if they were trough fed? And the owners are always like, no, we didn't. I'm like, I think that dog was. And so that's really important to know too is because that might be the outcome. It might not, but most of the times it is. It can also lead to food aggression. It can, yeah, food aggression. And then even like a bigger concern is bloat because your dog is like inhaling the food. There's a possibility of them eating so fast that their stomach flips, which is a really dangerous situation to be in. So I always love the individual feed.

SPEAKER_04 21:36

If you can, if they, yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Yeah. And then obviously we've talked about it in the three ways to be the pack leader, how to slow the dog down, put them in a calmer mindset. So if it is a trough feed, I'm not going to say like if everything else checks out and that's the one thing that just know that that's what you're bringing home.

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And you're going to work on that.

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And then really focus in on that. Right. Get that dog. retrained into like what's going to happen when the the feeding occurs right right

SPEAKER_04 22:07

um what important question to ask your breeder or to just like a policy to find out from the breeder is what is the policy if it doesn't work out if you get a dog and you bring them home and then for whatever reason it doesn't work out will your breeder take the puppy back most Will and most are pretty adamant. Responsible breeders are pretty adamant that if like don't don't put the dog in a shelter or rehome him. I want the dog back. But that is something to check out.

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Yeah.

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To ask about.

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And then going back to understanding like the health of like their parents. It's also sometimes really good breeders will have health guarantees. Yeah. Nowadays, breeders are doing contracts. Usually that is in there. So yeah, do they offer a health guarantee in their contract? How can you contact them after picking up the puppy? We

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had a client that-

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Yeah, so we had- Went into a

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situation. Yeah,

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we had a client that didn't have that health guarantee in their contract. And- The dog ended up having like a neuro issue.

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Yeah.

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And so eventually, you know, they had to live a wonderful life, but it did pass away early. Like

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really early, like two or something.

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Yeah. And there was no like money back or anything like that. And that's also so

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heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Yeah.

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It's so crushing. I mean, you just like, you're a few, you have a, bonded.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

Yeah, I know. It's tough when you're bonded. Yeah. But, you know, just remember this is, you know, like everything. It's life. It happens. Right. It's not the breeders fault. But if they back their breed line, then maybe they can give you like a pick of the litter the next time. Right. Just help you in a little bit of ways, because nowadays it's like so. And then, of course, you want to ask them, how do you place the puppies in the home? And you said this earlier, like sometimes you can pick it out. Right. And sometimes the breeders will match, will match it. And that's up to you, you know, like matching. I mean, you know, it can go very well. And then sometimes it doesn't. You know, I don't know. I've never experienced that personally myself. Right. But I think it does. Go ahead. You want to say something?

SPEAKER_04 24:39

Well, I was just going to say, I think if you. I think if you know what to look for, which is what we're going to talk about next. So if you know what to look for in a puppy, then it matters less to you. Right. So if you know exactly what you want to look for and you have and a breeder says you have the first pick of the litter, then you're golden. But if you have, say, a if it's a breeder that says you're the last on the list, you better really know what you're looking for and then be okay walking away if that dog is not the right fit for your family. You know what I mean? Whereas if you have a breeder who says, tell me what it is that you're looking for in a dog, then being a number on a list matters a little less, I guess. So I guess it just depends on, um, yeah, it's just, it's situational.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

Yeah. And I think so. Like maybe if it's your first time, it might be good to have like a match done by the breeder. But if you're somebody like me, um, that, you know, can go into a litter and really like observe it and pick out a dog, then, you know, I'm always going to want to go and pick out my puppy. I, because I just know what I, I, right.

SPEAKER_04 26:01

Knowing now, knowing what I know now.

UNKNOWN 26:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:05

Whereas like I didn't know what I was doing when I got Moose. And if I had known then what I know now, I probably would have said this is not the right dog for me at that time. Like she deserves to be with a bird hunter. She deserves that for her life. She still had a great life. But just knowing what I know now and I was able to go in with a different mindset and when I picked Juniper and I was able to observe and pick every single puppy up and do all that stuff that we're about to talk about next, you know. But what I did like about our breeder was that she asked us what we were looking for in a dog. So that more than anything, told me that she's paying attention to her dogs. She's paying attention to her dogs. She's paying attention to their temperament. She is paying attention to the way that they interact together. And she wants the dog to end up in the right house, all of her dogs. She wants them all to end up in the appropriate household, which to me just signals this is a responsible breeder. This tells me a lot about who she is.

UNKNOWN 27:20

And

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Yeah. So we have kind of like a little canine to five technique for picking out a puppy. Right. So when you're picking out a puppy, you want to really pay attention to their physical appearance because you're paying all this money for a certain breed. Right. Right. So you really want to see like, you know, look at their paws, look at the shape of their head, you know, the coloring of them and really decide which one you like better. You know, sometimes in like, you can get a darker brown versus a lighter brown or the different markings of a dog. Yeah. And we said earlier, we do want to observe how the litter mates are interacting with each other. Temperament. Yeah. That

SPEAKER_04 28:05

was ours more so than physical appearance.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Yeah. Which one's more dominant, which one is, you know, being submissive, maybe rolling over on their side a little bit, you know, what's one that's, you know, not running around, uh, having a little puppy spaz out. Or

SPEAKER_04 28:24

which one is being particularly coddled by the breeder. There was a runt that was being coddled. I didn't necessarily want the one that was more coddled by the human because of our line of work. I wanted the dog's dog's dog. I wanted this most social dog. in the litter because I knew that that dog was coming to work with me and I wanted it to be super comfortable and happy to be around other dogs.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

Yeah. And it goes back to what are you bringing to the relationship with the dog so you can really have that clear, crystal clear relationship Yes. And then, you know, picking that puppy based on that. So that's a thousand percent. Yeah. So we talked about the other episode. It's just really important to get that clarity.

SPEAKER_04 29:15

Yes. So what else? So once you once you've established, OK, temperament, physical appearance.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Yeah. And you're just kind of paying attention to the pack and how they're playing with each other and stuff. Then what we love to do is the cradle hold technique.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

So I love taking each puppy and And putting them in my arms like you're holding a baby. Yes. So belly up and just kind of- A little

SPEAKER_04 29:41

piggy pup belly.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

Yeah. And seeing how they react. If they're not comfortable on their back, they'll start to squirm and spaz

SPEAKER_03 29:51

out.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

I really enjoy saying, that's not the puppy for me. Right. And I go and I keep on finding all the pups that love just to chill out in your- in your cradle hold, right? That's right. And so then that narrows that down to having maybe from a litter of 12, now you have six. Sure. Right. And then what you're going to do is you go from the top to the bottom. So then you start having them in the cradle hold and you start rubbing their ears and then you're kind of like touching their eyes and their nose. Then you go out to each paw and kind of tug on their leg and then like maybe rub your hand on their paw pads and going down. And then just down the belly, give them a little belly rub to make them feel secure. And then down to their other legs and then their tail. And if at any time of those six days, kind of squirm or get squirrely or don't like it, put them to the side. And maybe now you're down to three. And then of those three, maybe you sit there and you have those little pups playing together, seeing which one maybe plays and then go sits to the side or which one's really playful constantly. And then decide what temperament of these three do I want? Right. Process of elimination. Yep. For me, I would want the largest one. So I'm going to look at their paws to see which one has the biggest paws of the group.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Um, I like more boxier head looking dogs in each of the different types of breeds that you can get. Like if I'm looking at a King Charles or I'm looking at a Lab, like I want like a boxier head. So I'm gonna be looking at their parents to see what each parent looks like. And then I'm gonna look at the pup and you can kind of see, When you're looking at multiple pups together, that somebody has maybe a blockier head than the other. Absolutely. And then, of course, I'm looking at, like I said, the markings or the color of their fur. Yes. I might want a deeper brown or we have one little dog that has like a heart shape. marking on him like I would totally be like bing bing bing and then that would bring you down to the exact pup you want

SPEAKER_03 32:22

yeah

SPEAKER_02 32:23

so by this conversation I think what I'm just trying to help you if you're new to the game is knowing exactly what questions to ask the breeder, and then really understanding what you're looking for as a dog owner. Yes. And then by picking the puppies by this cradle hold technique, I'm trying to get you a temperament that will get you more in that calm mindset that you hear Kara and I Talk about on a constant basis. Every day. Yeah. And you're going to have more success with a puppy that chills out in your arms versus one doesn't. A thousand percent. I'm trying to kind of give you a leg up.

SPEAKER_04 33:19

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

I

SPEAKER_04 33:21

mean, and also these dogs are expensive. You know, so you want to make sure you're doing your homework because you're putting out a lot of money. I mean, some of these... doodles are, are going for upwards of like four and five grand. You know, that's a lot. That's an investment. It is an investment. You want to return on your investment. If that's, if that's the route you're going to go.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

Yeah. I just went over for a puppy training session with a golden retriever and this, this couple hasn't really done. They hadn't done training. They are now, um, any leash training, um, But this puppy just trotted along with them. And you don't see that so often. I was perplexed by this puppy knowing already how to kind of trot next to the dog owner. And that is because the temperament of the dog, because that's what happens is breeders can really breed in either a look or they can breed in a temperament and out like a high excitable mindset.

SPEAKER_04 34:24

Yeah. Yes. No, I agree with that wholeheartedly. And- When we picked Juniper up, it's really interesting. There was a family there that was picking up that had, so we had the first pick of the litter and we wanted a female. And the first pick for the males was there. And it was a sweet family. And they said, this is our second dog from this breeder. And our dog, you know. buddy at home. I don't remember what the dog's name was, but he is the greatest dog, you know? And so that's why they came back to get another dog from this breeder because they just, the temperament, which is what was so important to us was super chill, super, super sweet. Just like very loving creatures.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

And if we're all honest, like at the end of the day, I think most dog owners want more of a calm dog versus like it's very, you know, it's not the common of somebody wanting a hunting dog or. Yeah, it

SPEAKER_04 35:33

would really be unless you want a working dog, you know, and and that is. But that I mean, that's common enough for sure. I mean, there are going to be plenty of bird hunters that are going to want We want the highest strong dog because we want a working dog. We want a dog that we can take into the blind. We want one that's going to listen, that's going to retrieve birds, whatever it is. And some dogs, you will see it. There are dogs that we walk that you see it. They just have that ingrained in them. It's just a part of their personality. All

SPEAKER_02 36:10

right. We'll take this information. To adapt or shop, think it over, and then enjoy the process because that's also very fun.

SPEAKER_04 36:21

And also feel free to, if you ever have any questions about anything that we talk about on the podcast, you can actually go and send us a message on, you can send us a text on the pod, or you can shoot us a message online on Instagram. If any of this, if stirs up more questions for you. Sure. You know, feel free to reach out.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Okay, guys. Well, until next time, dog is love.

SPEAKER_04 36:51

Dog

SPEAKER_02 36:51

is

SPEAKER_04 36:51

love. If this podcast aligns with you, it would mean so much to us if you would take 30 seconds to do these three things. First, follow or subscribe to Dog Is Love so you don't miss an episode. To do this, just go to Dog Is Love show page on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts and tap the plus sign on the upper right-hand corner or click on follow. While you're there, give a five-star rating and review why you liked our episode. and share an episode with a friend. We would be so grateful.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

Dog is Love is created and hosted by Chrissy Waltman and Cara Kelly in partnership with K9to5. Our show is produced by Tony Kelly at Baltimore Podcast Space. Our original theme song was written and recorded by our very own Cara Kelly.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

We could

SPEAKER_04 37:47

pretend That we have the answers Or we could lean into the light Cause man complicates The stillness of nature While dogs humbly watch with awe in their eyes We're not supposed to struggle alone A friend for a lifetime To guide

SPEAKER_00 38:46

you wherever you roam Dog is love Like the roots of the trees and the stars up above Dog is love Judgment

SPEAKER_04 39:04

free Shanuli