My love of animals started when I was very young .To tell you about myself as a person and to properly describe my love for my dogs would lead me back to my childhood where it all developed. We do not suddenly become adults. It is a long process built by the people we meet as well as the good and bad experiences in our lives.
As a child I loved to read. A trip to the library created joy within me equal to any trip to an amusement park.
I loved babies of all kinds.The second greatest pleasure for me as a child was the love I had for babies. Human babies or animal babies, it didn't matter to me. I loved babies of all kinds. I enjoyed playing with baby dolls nearly as much as I enjoyed reading books. I also spent plenty of time looking for fairies in my mother's gardens. How many of you recall movement in a bush and remember your excitement as you rushed over to try to catch a glimpse of "whoever" it might be?
My favorite movie as a child was "The Wizard Of Oz". In those days you could not rent a video, so it was a long yearly wait for the movie to make it's way back on to television. I used to count the months, then the weeks and then the days.......I have many happy childhood memories.
Detroit riot of 1967. Childhood is magical indeed and I had a wonderful dose as a child.. As we all know, magic leaves us in one way or another as we grow up. Some of the magic left me during the Detroit riots of 1967. I was 9 years old and lived in Southgate Michigan . Unfortunately I was spending time at a friend's Detroit home, near of all the chaos. I witnessed widespread looting of stores on the street below the building I was in. I also witnessed crazed people scaling apartment buildings, including the one I was in.They were also breaking out the windows of cars that were in parking lots. My friends father opened a window and showed his gun to the men scaling the walls. I was on the second or third floor of the building. Army tanks and soldiers filled the street. One could hear the sound of gun fire over and over again.. I was there, during this troubled time in American history.
As I climbed into the pre teens I was absorbed in the never ending supply of small critters I would bring home to nurse back to health. I was a true to life little Doctor Dolittle.
There are dog breeders who truly love what they do. Most can say that their love of animals dates back to when they were very young children. Most were probably taking the same course as I was.........not only rescuing hurt animals, but also breeding and raising fancy guppies, hamsters, rats, bunnies and various types of birds. ...I had outdoor aviaries with cockatiels and English parakeets
Although I viewed breeding of tropical fish, bunnies and rats as okay, when it came to breeding dogs and cats, I felt it was just about sinful.
So I did not always have the view that breeding dogs was acceptable.
I wasn't very open minded and lumped all people who bred dogs into one pot of stew.
What led to my change of view?
What put me on the path that would lead me to become a breeder?
I was stricken with liver disease at age 18, followed a few years later by failure of the liver. I was very sick and bed ridden for several of the years I should have been in college.From 18 to 23. While siblings and cousins went to schools and college to become contractors, a superior judge and lawyer, I lay in bed sick . Since I spent alot of time in bed i educated myself in medicene.Human and animal medicine as I planned to study to become a Veterinarian once I was well. I would have a great head start by so much study and research! There were no home computers in those days so I literally walked the halls of libraries, pale little ghost that I was.I also asked Vets and Doctors to borrow their manuals. I "lived" in hospitals throughout California, including Stanford University. I became somewhat obsessed with medicine and medical research.
I had so many painful liver biopsies over a period of years, that to this day I will never allow another one, no matter what. I must have swallowed hundreds of anit- nausea meds over those years.I also have scars today from so many needle pricks. If you look closely at the skin on my arms and back of hands in the photos I place online of my puppies , you can see many small dotted and line scars. I had blood tests WEEKLY even DAILY for many weeks during the critical periods. I had a unknown liver disease. I was a medical oddity. Just one of a few cases world wide of a new and un-named liver disease.So my case drew attention from doctors the world over.
Finally at the age of 21 my liver began to fail rapidly. I lay in the hospital unable to even lift my head from the pillow. I honestly did not understand what was happening to my body. I only knew I was too weak to move. It was as if my body was not my own. Family members, and friends who I had not seen for years, visited me during this time. Can you believe that I did not know I was dying? Was it denial? It never occurred to me that I would die. I did wonder why I could not rise up out of bed, but I figured I was weak and it would pass.
The following day I removed my tubes, got up went into shower. I saw a frantic looking nurse open the bathroom door. She looked as if she had seen a ghost and literally dashed from the room. I was very worried by her actions and felt I had done something wrong so I quickly got out of the shower and dressed. My room filled with physicians and when I saw the smiles I understood they were happy I was better.I even heard the Doctors using a word you never hear doctors use. I was a "miracle".
In all truth, I thought the doctors were over reacting, and I wanted to go home. To this day I do not know what kind of "blinders" I had on so that I did not know I was close to death. All that alarmed me some, was being unable to lift my head up from the pillow as I lay in bed.. That worried me, but the next day I got up and showered, so didnt think of it again.
A few year later as I regained my strength, I met my soul mate and got married . Had my first child right away.Bye Bye Veterinarian school.
Bye Bye Vet school! Hello at being alive and a mommy with my very own babydoll! How more belssed could anyone be? I cn look back and niow I must say I am like a cat and have nine lives :)
Life hits all of us hard at one time or another. Not many escape. I too had another when my husband died of cancer and I was left with three dependant children, one with disabilities.
While my husband was alive we both had shared childcare duties. While he worked I took care of the children.While I worked, he took care of the children. We both worked different shifts. I held down 2 jobs in hospitals. I was a nurses assistant and hospital dietitian DTR.
After my husband passed away, I moved into a modest home I could afford, rather then keep up the mortgage on the new home we had purchased together.
In time I was able to save a few hundred dollars and buy my children a puppy. In my search for the puppy I had first looked at adoption shelters, but found only medium to large breed adult dogs.So I went to a dog breeder to buy a puppy. The experience with the breeder proved to be a very good one. Both my daughter and I had been impressed with the breeder of our puppy.
It was a few years after this purchase that I started to breed dogs myself. I had noticed how the puppy I had bought for my children helped to sooth their pain. New found laughter and smiles were brought back onto my children's faces. My daughter was the one to suggest I start raising puppies.
My views on dog breeders was changing.
Not all breeders created poor quality dogs. with bad personalities, who would end up in the pound.
Pets were an important part of my my life, as well as my children's lives.
My daughter had been asking for me to breed a littler of puppies for ourself and family members.The subject had come up off and on for years. I spent months researching canine pathology and genetics. I devoured the canine veterinarian manuals from my local library. I checked out every dog and puppy health or breed book I could get my hands on. I made appointments and visited several breeders. I watched breeders remove dewclaws and felt I could never do it. I also watched them give vaccine injections but when my turn came I developed shaky legs and was forced to sit down, or fall down.
I studied pedigrees of the top champions and I went to shows. I studied vaccine protocols and canine parasitology..
One thing I did very well was READ.
If I was going to breed dogs, I was going to breed the best!!
When I felt satisfied that I had acquired enough knowledge to begin breeding , I borrowed several thousand dollars and I purchased the best show stock I could afford. I spent several thousand more buying Champions and champion bloodline dogs.
Was I destined to be a dog breeder? I do not know for sure. Life brings changes and unforeseen events into our lives that can alter the roads we travel.
It seems I was destined to work with animals.That is for sure. Anyone who knew me as a child would have easily predicted that.
I feel God guided me around the obstacles in my life.
I am addicted to babies, either human or animal, so dog breeding comes natural to me.
My daughter and I take the money we earn and after the needs of family and dogs are met, we use the rest to further our rescue work with felines..
We pay Federal and State taxes.
It is a fact of life that pets are an important part of all of families.
We feel we contribute a service to society by producing healthy high quality dogs for pets.
Debra. and family
