Not every dog must be bred and not every dog is breeding quality.
Therefore some dogs will be retired before being bred, as was Gemma and Novel.  Ethical breeders will not breed a dog just to breed them; they will select the best from the litter.  Sometimes, the pick of the litter doesn't turn out unfortunately.  The true mark of an ethical breeder is one that is willing pull a dog from their program if it has serious faults in conformation, temperament, or health.  It is a huge loss for a breeder when this happens. Another time to retire a dog is when it is in their best interest.  Here at Ghibli, we only breed our females 1-3 times before we let them retire to enjoy the rest of their life. Reasons to retire dams may be that she's produced enough litters for us/we have progeny to move forward with, she didn't like motherhood, she struggled to whelp without interventions, etc. 
When a dog is retired, all breeders have a difficult decision to make: keep or rehome.

We Cannot Keep Them All

Because I want my dogs to get the most attention and live the best lives, I choose to retire some dogs like Gemma and Novel into other pet homes where they would be the apple of their owners eyes instead of being part of a large pack here sharing all the attention. It takes a lot of time and energy to raise litters of puppies as well as to raise, train, and title new generations so it is a sad reality for breeders that we must be willing to part with some dogs in order to continue to provide excellent quality poodles and continue to provide the best care to the dogs that stay here. This is not an easy thing to do. We recognize that there are those that are not able to raise a puppy but deserve the companionship of a healthy, well-bred Standard Poodle and when we can match a home to one of our retired dogs, it is a beautiful thing. Although it breaks our hearts to say goodbye, every time we receive a picture or update of that dog so happy in their new home, we know we had made the right decision.