We do “Family” here.

It feels so good to be able to focus on loving, nurturing, caring for and enjoying the pups. I don’t mean this to come across as bragging at all but I really didn’t expect to be so blessed so early on in my breeding career. I know that for my mom and my aunt, it took around 10 years to establish themselves as breeders. Back then, we didn’t have internet and social media so that may have slowed the process quite a bit. In that aspect, I have my amazing daughter, Karolaina, to thank for this. She is our social media queen. When I say that this is a family business, I mean that quite literally. Out of my 6 current children, only 1 has gotten married and moved away from home. The rest of the kids still live at home building for their futures. They’ve grown up with Newfies and are all active participants in their daily care. None so much as my Karolaina. She is very quick to grab that camera and take the best pictures and videos. She has put countless amount of hours into researching the best hashtags for our little kennel and the best times to post to get the biggest audience. I can’t thank her enough for all the amazing work she does. On top of all the social media genius she has accomplished, she is also the one who is here by my side every day doing the “hard work” of cleaning the litter kennels, helping me with bath time, grooming and she gives the best puppy photo shoots ever. Because of her dedication, loyalty and hard work, our business has bloomed like I never thought possible. This litter was all spoken for before they were even born and the waiting lists for 2023 have already started filling up. I truly believe the reason for this is because she is able to capture the beauty, love, and awesome personalities of all of our dogs (and their pups) on video for the whole world to see.

I’ve paid my dues and by that I mean I have battled the “nay sayers” and the “haters” who wanted to come at me with accusations of back yard breeding, not following “proper protocol” and my favorite…not breeding according to “breed standard”. I never dreamed when I first started that I would receive that much hate for being a passionate, family, Newfie breeder. Coming from a family of AKC Siberian Husky breeders, I should have known but I was incredibly naive. I started a deep dive into the Newfoundland breed when I first became aware of them in 2004. By the time I got my first Newfie I foolishly felt like a “pro”. I learned so much with him…my sweet Buddy, my solid black male. Then, I found my beautiful Bruce who was a solid brown male. Bruce came from a puppy mill and I had missed it. Because of inbreeding and over breeding, Bruce only lived 2 years. I have zero regrets with buying Bruce because he was my boy and had the most beautiful heart of any animal I had ever known. He loved me with a fierceness and our bond was unbreakable. I gave him the best home I possibly could until his seizures stopped responding to medication and we had to say goodbye. The journey through his health issues was one of the biggest learning curves of my up and coming Newfie career. I learned a lot about the reality of an “AKC registration” and I lost all respect for them as an organization. When it comes to record keeping and the like, they’re great (as long as the breeders registering their dogs are being honest in reporting the parents of their dogs, but its a risk for sure). I learned about their DNA and why it was so important to know this before going forward with breeding. With puppy mills so popular these days, it’s so important to know your dogs DNA before even thinking about breeding. I would never breed a dog with health issues that would be passed to their pups and potentially put a family what we all went through with our Bruce. It took a few years to get over his death. I still miss his presence every day.

In buying Breezy, Bash’r, Grace and Buckley I made sure their DNA’s were all checked and verified from the start. I have placed over 60 pups now and only had to “re-home” 3 of them. The ones that have been re-homed are currently in their forever homes doing so well. Our private, Facebook group provides me the ability to watch all of my grand pups as they grown and I love it. Some people opt out of posting and instead, message or text me directly and that is totally ok. However, I feel so proud and blessed to have extended my “family” to my Newfie people. We are a family in and of ourselves. I cant even begin to explain how accomplished I feel. I get to see the families of my pups with their fur babies in action. Their shenanigans, their cuddles, their playtime with their “littles” (which is what I call the human babies of the families” are posted and I tear up every time. Newfies are the greatest dogs to have ever lived. Yes, I am partial. But I am just so happy, blessed and incredibly proud to have been a part of sharing the awesomeness of my Newfie bears with other families who now get to experience the life of love with a Newfie, too. I literally have the best job, ever!

Thank you to all of my puppy families for trusting me and joining our Newfie family. You have all come to mean so much to me and I’m so thankful that you guys are so good to all my grand pups. You’ve all made this such an enjoyable journey!

Thank you to my beautiful, amazing family who couldve easily thought I was losing my mind but instead had patience and fell just as much in love with our babies as I did. You guys absolutely rock and I am grateful for you, ALL!

AND

Thank you to the worlds best daughter and business partner, Karolaina. Without you, my Ameera, we wouldn’t be where we are and we wouldn’t get to live this Newfie life to the fullest like we do. You are my angel and I’m so proud of the young woman you have grown into. I love you!