Why We Decline
Ethical breeding is, before anything else, the willingness to say no. A note on the gate — and why it protects the dogs far more than it protects us.
People are sometimes surprised that an application can be declined. They should not be. The decision to decline is the most important one a maison makes, and it is made far more often than the decision to accept.
The gate is part of the ethic
A dog placed badly is not a sale we regret quietly. It is a life that may spend a decade in the wrong home. So we ask questions that a shop would never ask, and we are content to lose the impatient buyer at the first of them. The gate is not gatekeeping for its own sake; it is the part of our work the dog cannot do for itself.
Whom we decline
- Anyone reselling commercially, under any description.
- A surprise gift to a person who has not asked for the responsibility.
- Renters without written, in-hand permission to keep a dog.
- Households empty more than eight hours a day, with no plan for the dog’s day.
- Buyers seeking a dog as a status object — the breed deserves better.
- Anyone unwilling to sit for a short video interview.
The interview, and what it is for
The interview is not an interrogation. It is a conversation in which both sides are allowed to decline — and that symmetry matters. A family that asks us hard questions in return is usually the family we hope to hear from. We would rather a litter wait an extra season than a puppy leave for a home we were unsure of.
Ethical breeding is the willingness to decline — and to do so more often than one accepts.
