You Can Love Dogs and Still Put People First

I love dogs.

Like… probably an unreasonable amount. 😂

I build a huge part of my life around them. I raise puppies. I study pedigrees and genetics. I health test. I lose sleep over pregnancies and deliveries. I clean up more poop before breakfast than most people will see in a year.

I worry about these dogs.

I love these dogs.

And I care deeply about where they go and the lives they have after they leave me.

But somewhere along the way, especially online, I think we forgot something really important.

There are humans on the other side of all of this.

That is exactly why I started saying:

People Before Puppies.

Not because puppies aren't important.

They absolutely are.

But because the entire reason I do this is people.

A puppy is never just a puppy

I get to see something most people don't.

I see the application come through from the mom whose kids have been begging for a dog for years.

I talk to the couple whose last dog died and who finally feels ready to love another one.

I hear from the person who lives alone and wants a little companion waiting when they come home.

I talk to families going through hard things.

Divorce.

Loss.

Kids leaving home.

New babies.

New marriages.

New chapters.

Sometimes they're just looking for a dog.

And sometimes I know, before they even know, that this little animal is about to become a really big part of their story.

That's the part I never want to lose.

Good breeding should be about more than producing puppies

Of course health matters.

Genetics matter.

Structure matters.

Temperament matters.

Early development matters.

Socialization matters.

All of it matters.

I will talk about those things until I'm blue in the face because breeders SHOULD be doing everything they reasonably can to produce healthy, stable dogs.

But you can check every box on a piece of paper and still forget how to treat people.

And I don't want to do that.

I don't want Boise Doodle Co. to ever become a puppy factory with a prettier website.

I want people to feel like they can ask questions.

I want them to know I'm going to tell them the truth, even when the truth isn't the answer they hoped for.

I want to know where my puppies are going.

I want to know the humans taking them home.

And I want those humans to know me.

Not some perfectly polished version of me.

Me.

Sometimes covered in puppy hair.

Sometimes running late.

Sometimes laughing through a Daily Wag because something ridiculous happened five seconds before I hit record.

Sometimes admitting I don't know something and going to find the answer.

And sometimes saying something people don't particularly like because I believe it needs to be said.

That's real life.

Transparency does not mean unlimited access

I've talked about this recently because I think it's an important distinction.

I believe strongly in transparency.

I health test my dogs. I talk about my breeding program. I educate people about what I do and why I do it. I answer a LOT of questions.

But transparency doesn't mean a stranger on the internet gets to demand anything they want from me whenever they want it.

There are scammers.

There are people who steal breeder information.

There are people who copy photos, pedigrees, testing and entire websites to pretend they're selling puppies they don't even have.

And yes, there are also people who aren't actually looking for information at all.

They're looking for a fight.

I'm not interested in that.

If you're considering one of my puppies, there is a process.

An application.

A real conversation.

Questions both directions.

That's where transparency belongs.

Transparency builds trust. It doesn't require abandoning boundaries.

That's true in breeding.

And frankly, it's true in life.

Kind doesn't mean quiet

This may be the biggest thing I've learned lately.

I can care deeply about people and still have boundaries.

I can be kind and still say no.

I can listen to criticism without allowing someone to be disrespectful.

I can change my mind when I learn something new without apologizing for everything I've ever done.

And I can stand up for myself, my dogs, my clients and other good breeders without becoming cruel.

There seems to be this weird idea online that kindness means you have to sit quietly while people say whatever they want about you.

Nope.

That's not kindness.

Sometimes kindness needs a backbone.

Maybe that's why these words have started meaning so much to me:

Big Heart.
Strong Spine.
Humans Together.

Big enough heart to care.

Strong enough spine to stand for something.

And enough humanity to remember that we don't have to destroy each other because we disagree.

I want to get louder about the good stuff

There is plenty of ugly on the internet.

I don't think we need help finding it.

I want to get louder about the good.

Good breeders doing things the right way.

Good families giving dogs incredible lives.

Good people helping other people.

Education without humiliation.

Conversations instead of attacks.

Accountability without cruelty.

And dogs doing what dogs have done for humans for thousands of years:

Making our lives better.

I have watched puppies bring complete strangers into my life who have become people I genuinely care about.

I've watched families send me updates years later.

I've watched kids grow up beside their dogs.

I've cried over messages from clients.

I've laughed until my stomach hurt at videos they've sent me.

I've watched a puppy crawl into someone's lap and somehow know exactly where they belonged.

That's why I do this.

Not for Instagram.

Not to win an argument with somebody in a comment section.

Not because breeding dogs is easy. Because let me assure you, that would be a hilarious reason to choose this life. 😂

I do it because dogs matter.

And people matter even more.

People Before Puppies

I don't expect everyone to agree with everything I do.

They won't.

That's okay.

But I know what I want this business to stand for.

Healthy dogs.

Thoughtful breeding.

Honest conversations.

Real relationships.

Education.

Accountability.

Kindness with boundaries.

And remembering that behind every application, every comment, every puppy and every screen is a human being.

That's what People Before Puppies means to me.

It doesn't diminish the dogs.

It reminds us why we're doing all of this in the first place.

Because the best part of raising puppies isn't actually the puppies.

It's watching what happens when the right dog finds their people.

And that part never gets old.

Big Heart. Strong Spine. Humans Together.

xoxo,
Laura