Discover Our Corgi Family

​My name is Jessica and my husband is Travis. I've always been an animal lover, and dogs have held a special place in my heart. When I first learned that dog breeding was something that a person could do, I said, “This is it! This is what I’m supposed to do!” I was ten years old when that happened, and I’ve been obsessed ever since then.
 

My first dog was a poorly bred CKC Australian Shepherd, and she was my soul mate, my heart-dog, and my whole life. Her name was Chloe.

After bringing her home, I began researching for hours and hours about Aussie genetics and health, learning all the ins and outs of breeding and whelping puppies. It made sense to me that when I became an adult, I would get another Aussie to breed.

Upon turning nineteen years old, I sought out another breeder to get my first breeding dog from. I was shocked by how many people flat out refused to sell me a dog that I could breed. “Limited Registration Only” was something that I heard from nearly everyone. The first breeder to be willing to give me full breeding rights was definitely not my first pick, but she seemed nice enough.

Looking back, there were a lot of red flags, but I was afraid that if I didn’t start somewhere, I wouldn’t be able to start at all. So I picked the best pup I could from her and went to work. She was a red tricolor named Nala.

I almost immediately sensed that something was wrong. This dog was not a good match for me or my family, and she seemed skittish and afraid of every new thing, even as young as ten weeks old. She was a live wire, constantly moving, constantly searching for stimulation. She was a tiny tornado in a fluffy package. And I’ll never forget how hard she was to house train.

Nala had not only behavior issues, but she also started developing health issues as well. She would get cysts on her skin that would come and go. One had to be surgically removed. She developed allergies that seemed to be seasonally triggered. At this point, I knew I couldn’t breed this dog in good conscience.

I made the decision to have her spayed. It turned out to be a really good decision, because when she was five years old, she developed epilepsy. She would have seizures occasionally for the rest of her life, even with medication (which was not cheap, by the way).
 

She started to get urinary incontinence when she was six years old, which led to chronic UTIs. At the young age of seven, she developed an internal mass on her spleen that ruptured a blood vessel. She had to be euthanized the day we found out about it.
 

This was all very tragic and emotional to deal with, but I learned so much from my experiences with her. And now I am more motivated than ever to breed healthy, sound, balanced dogs for people like me who deserve to have great, long-lived pets.