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BeautyBea's
Flathead Lake Bassets
Meet The Breeder
Hi, I'm Sarah, the breeder behind BeautyBea's Flathead Lake Bassets located in Polson, MT.
Q & A with Sarah
Why did you start breeding?
I spent a lot of time with my grandmother who bred and showed Basset Hounds. Her mother also bred Basset Hounds for hunting in the south. After my children were born, my oldest son and I started to visit AKC conformation shows to watch the Basset Hounds in memory of my grandmother. I decided that I was ready to start a new endeavor, walking in my grandmother's shoes.
Sarah's grandmother, Beatrice (Bea) Harrington,
showing a dachshund in Beverly Hills, California in 1967
What makes your program special?
My breeding program is special due to the amount of time and effort I put into it! From the moment that the puppies are born, they never leave my side! Their whelping box is located next to my bed, in my bedroom, until they are old enough to move into the puppy box to potty train. The puppy box is located in our dining room. This allows them to interact with the family at all times and get accustomed to daily household noises. This is my job and my passion. I do not work outside of our home. My dedication is to my dogs and my family alone.
What does a normal day in your dogs' life look like?
Our dogs all live in our home as family. They wake us up around 6:30am for potty and breakfast. We feed dry kibble with toppings such as pumpkin, Greek yogurt, eggs, green beans, blueberries, banana, sweet potato and the list goes on. After breakfast we rest our stomachs to avoid bloat, usually for an hour or two. Then we go outside for soccer. Most of our dogs participate but some prefer to play fetch instead so it's usually a multi-game activity. Afterwards, we do some grooming. I de-shed my dogs daily and brush their teeth. We do ears and toenails every 3rd week. Then I am usually doing housework. Washing dog blankets, dishes and the endless sweeping and vacuuming. They eat again at 5pm, kibble with topping, and another rest of the tummy. Usually, we are all pretty low key until bedtime. Maybe do some chews during this time. Bed time at 9 and that's a wrap! LOL
What does a normal day look like for your puppies?
As soon as the puppies are old enough to go outside, we take them out first thing in the morning with our adult dogs to start potty training. They go outside numerous times throughout the day. Usually around 4-8 times a day depending on their age and the weather. They also eat 4 times a day. We start out using Royal Canin puppy mousse and move into hard kibble. The puppies interact with our two kids at least twice a day. My oldest is 17 and my youngest is now 12 so they get a variety of age interaction. We also have 2 different play areas that we set up inside that we rotate with outside time. The most fun one is our play area with the tunnel and balls in our garage. During play time we also work on noise sensitivity. We play a variety of sounds like fireworks and sirens as well. Since the puppies are in our dining room, they already get experience with daily vacuuming, dishwashing, dropping things, cooking, yelling, barking and of course, howling. Puppies are usually put to bed around 10pm to accommodate their last feeding. Also, our puppy pen has a separate potty box to continue the potty training at all times. We introduce open crates at 6wks. This is just an introduction as we don't close the doors except during cleaning of the puppy-pen but this gets them used to the idea of sleeping in a crate. We do many more things during each day. I truly could go on and on and on. In fact, when you pick a pup from us you are added to a private FB group where I post daily with our activities and on goings so you can see what we do each day and enjoy the unedited videos.
Is there any additional information that you would like to share?
Just that I take what I do very seriously. I feel responsible for each and every pup that I bring into this world which is why it is in our contract that they be returned to us if they cannot stay with their family and that I am the second contact on their microchip, so they never end up in a shelter. It doesn't matter where my pup is, I will come and get them! They forever will be taken care of!
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