ATB: Journey of a Breeder

"You cannot open a book without learning something..." The pages within the hardcover lab notebook pictured above tell a story. Full of valuable information and data, the binding is cracked, there are some stains on the pages but the book itself is well used.  The first entry in this journal says:

"....We are inspired to more fully appreciate this incredible breed through the death of our beloved Hunter in 2003 and we will continue to endeavor to establish ourselves as reputable, responsible breeders. Although we are aware of mistakes made and occasional bad decisions resulting in one issue or another all in all we believe that this is a path for us to follow.  Our dedication and commitment to our Brittanys is strong... Together we have discovered this new found passion through our mutual love and enjoyment of our dogs and each other. We both know we have truly been blessed and led by God, knowing full well that the people, events, dogs, learning tools that have come into our lives could only have reached us through favor and divine intervention. This is a very hard work, extremely expensive, sometimes quite discouraging but over all worth it all. This record will be an attempt to document our experience from this point on...  We'll demonstrate the fine foundation which has been built since 1986 and bring things together..."

The  journey of a hobby breeder requires a lot of faith.  Charles Mueller says that developing a strong faith means enduring great trials where the certainty of faith is learned by standing firm amid severe testings. The Bible defines faith as when we are sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Faith is that  assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

This is a timely reflection, a nugget of truth to hold fast to as once again, we have opened the book to share what we hope will be an uneventful and normal pregnancy, a journey that results in the birth of a healthy litter of puppies.  Anything can happen along the way and we have experienced that reality a time or two.  But here are two beautiful, outstanding Brittanys from our program that have been brought together by our own design. We have a lot to look forward to, much to hope for and reason to be very very excited !  There are those who will personally follow this journey that will eventually lead to what we call around here "the 1st day of the rest of their life."  That's the joyous day when your puppy is lovingly placed into your awaiting arms, the leash is handed to you and a new journey begins! And then again, John and I are blessed by the knowledge there's many others who are part of our ATB family that will enjoy this journey because they know us, they know Treasure and Bullet, and they know and love our Brittany dogs!

In the meantime, we appreciate your words of encouragement and especially the prayers said. We also hope that you enjoy the occasional splashes of blessing that you encounter as a result of reading our blog. Speaking of reading, this is when we remind those of you expecting a pup from this anticipated litter to be sure you have the book "Art of Raising A Puppy" by the Monks of New Skete".  Chapter One begins on Day 59 of a pregnancy and takes the readers through the approaching day of delivery, the behavior of the dog, the eventual whelping, and each stage of newborn puppy development.  (It's required reading for ATB!)  Take care and God bless you and yours,  as always John, Ann and All Things Brittany

PS Thank you to those who responded to the recent email and update. I appreciate that some of you have been waiting since spring 2011!  Things are looking good and I do believe there is still some availability. This breeding will potentially produce fun and beautiful, close working gundogs of even temperament, strong natural instincts especially in regards to retrieving and honoring, and easily trained. Preference will be given to prior Brittany owners and especially bird hunting families. We are still accepting serious inquiries into this litter due Easter 2012. If you are interested we would love to hear from you, simply CONTACT US via this highlighted link!