Why Retire Dogs?


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.


Miya

Miya is Ghibli's Foundation Dam.
She was retired after three beautiful litters
- the Keepsakes, Virtues, and the Treasures.
She still lives here at Ghibli and will remain here for the rest of her life.
Visit Marnie & Memrie & Meadow pages to follow her prodigy.

Learn More About her Here:
  MIYA'S PAGE

Wishes

Wishes lived at Ghibli from 2019 - 2022. Had it been an option, Wishes would have stayed here forever to live a life with her favorite boy, Charlie. Our intention was always for her to be ours forever and she will forever be in our hearts. Wishes legacy at Ghibli will live on through our special oopsy puppy, Moxie, and Moxie's daughter Kiki, Ghibli's Nightfall Nostalgia.
Learn more About Wishes Here:
WISHES' PAGE

Seairsha

Seairsha was retired after two beautiful litters here at Ghibli - the Beaches and the Symphony.
Seairsha was placed in her guardian home at 1 years old with my neighbors, Cathy and Richard.
Seairsha will live out the rest of her life in her loving forever home.  Seairsha has a daughter from her first litter with her breeder at Properts Way and a hopeful upcomer boy from the Symphony litter in a co-own show home.
Learn More About Seairsha Here:
  SEAIRSHA'S PAGE

Ellie

Ellie was retired after one litter for us here at Ghibli. She is the momma to the Groovy puppies. Ellie came to us from another breeding program, at a mature age with limited time to safely produce a litter. We had her entered into a show when she came into heat earlier than expected. We decided the best thing would be to do is breed her. After her litter weaned, we realized she would rather live in a smaller pack without other females, so we let her retire after one litter to go live the spoiled life  at her new home! Our dogs being happy is our utmost priority. Although she wasn't able to prove her nice conformation in the show ring, she has two lovely daughters placed in co-own show homes, one of her boys is also showing just for fun, and one daughter training to be a service dog, and the other three are in wonderful pet homes.

Learn More About Ellie Here:
ELLIE'S PAGE

Moxie

Moxie was retired after one litter for us here at Ghibli; she is enjoying the rest of her life in the guardian home she was placed at 1 years old. She is the momma to our very special Wishing Girls litter. Moxie is Wishes' daughter, our Miracle puppy. Moxie was born during a very difficult time for our breeding program and during Covid so we were not able to finish her Championship, although she was halfway there. She didn't get the necessary socialization, didn't like showing in conformation and instead enjoyed a variety of performance sports instead. Not wanting to make a habit of breeding dogs not proven in the conformation ring, we decided the most ethical thing to do would be to only breed her once and move forward with her daughter, Kiki. Kiki has been in handling classes since she was 12 weeks old and we look forward to her show career!

Learn More About Moxie Here:
MOXIE'S PAGE

Cocoa

Cocoa was retired after one litter for us here at Ghibli. She is the mama to the Sweets born on 1/21/23. Cocoa came to us from Foxxy Poodles already titled and health tested. After her first litter for us, we repeated some health testing, as we health test above and beyond, and we discovered that Cocoa was testing Equivocal on her thyroid at 4 years old. At 5 years old, she was retested for OFA Thyroid and tested positive for Autoimmune thyroiditis. She was officially retired and all her puppy owners were notified of her diagnosis. Cocoa after her spay told us she would rather not live with other intact females and so she is now living the absolutely best life I could have imagined for her here in Ohio with her daughter. The buyers of Cupcake, now Ahsoka, decided to make her a part of their family and we are so thankful!


Learn More About Cocoa Here:
COCOA'S PAGE

Wall-E

Wall-E earned his retirement! With his time here at my home, he earned nearly 30 titles! At 6 years old he made it clear he would appreciate a home without so much puppy antics, and was placed as a guardian dog. In his guardian home, he served as a service dog!

When his handler's circumstances changed, he returned here but we knew he missed having all that individual attention, and we decided his happiness mattered most of all and we found him a retirement home. He now lives with David and his two cats, enjoying his leisure on the couch.  Although he is neutered, he is collected and frozen and we hope that someday, he will get to be a father.

Learn More About Wall-E Here:
WALL-E'S PAGE

Some Dogs Retire Without Being Bred for Various Reasons

Gemma

Charm's Black Gem at Ghibli

Sire: Brienwoods Spencer Reid
Dam: Kissme Just A Dream Stella


Although Gemma had a very sweet temperament, not every dog will meet our high standards to keep in our program. She came to us at 6 months of age but upon turning a year old, we decided to place her into a pet home because her bite was not correct. Gemma is now living the spoiled life with a trusted friend and dog training colleague.

NOVEL

UCH MyTyme's First Edition at Ghibli TKN ATD CGC

Sire: BIMBS RBIMBS UGRCH Family Affair's Floyd B Poodle
Dam: BIMBS RBIMBS UGRCH CelticHearts Feather O' DragonHaus CGC TKN BCAT SPOT

Pedigree: http://www.poodledata.org/pedigree.asp?ID=549360
 OFA PROFILE: https://www.ofa.org/advanced-search?f=sr&appnum=2166604

Novel was retired due to straight rear and although I loved his temperament, he had earned the nickname The Bull at our house. His intensity and energy level was not right for my program or my home as we prefer dogs with a better off switch and more gentleness. His breeder Kim retired him into a pet home.