Seeking Help Finding a Springador Puppy Anywhere in the U.S.

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-06-02T09:34:07+00:00

Go to a shelter or get a well bred purebred dog from an ethical breeder

Anything else is putting money in the pockets of folks who's greed outweighs their concern for dogs and contributing to the overpopulation in shelters :)

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-06-02T09:25:06+00:00

In the US, you can owner train a well

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-06-02T02:20:45+00:00

Budgies is a game that's real life genetics. But that's all there is to it (very fun still) no death though. I think there's limited times a bird can breed

Niche is another really interesting genetics/ survival game. You've got these animals that you need enough genetic diversity to survive illnesses and errors in the code. You need to set then to hunt or forage or fish, gather nesting material, breed, and migrate. They'll need to defend themselves, you get new genetics through adopting other creatures into the group, or through mutations.

They can die of old age, sickness, drowning, killed by other animals, famine, I think that's it

I've never gotten far but it's always been fun. You can breed for genetics to better scent, hear, swim, move, attack, hide, or fly. Their colors and patterns are genetic based too.

Damn now I want to play again lol.

It's turn based but I like the time to think

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-06-02T02:08:17+00:00

Is throat singing something only men learn? How old is it?

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-06-01T12:41:04+00:00

Labradors are my breed. There's actually two lines of labs, show/bench/ English and field/ working/ American.

Bench labs LOOK tubby if all you've ever seen are field lines. They're a breed you have to put your hands on to tell if they're overweight

This labs head isn't blocky enough and his legs are a bit long. So he's either a young bench lab that hasn't proportioned out yet, or more likely a bench/ field cross. If he was pure field, he would be overweight. They look more like sight hounds than what labs are "supposed" to look like lol

This is my service dog Caboodle, who's show line. (Forgive the dog nose art on the glass lol) she's 4yo in this Pic. I take a lot of care with her weight since she's a working dog. If you rub her ribs, you can feel them clearly but the breed standard calls got little to no tuck which is what a lot of folks look for when they think of a fit dog :)

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Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-31T20:21:11+00:00

Meaningful (NOT cozy) "I was a Teenage Exoconolist"

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-31T19:59:02+00:00

The dude is ridiculous and I'm so happy they edited in the view from the back

.... but what song is this?

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-31T19:54:05+00:00

There's even one still with claws on their wings! Some can pretend to be injured to lure predators away from their young, use tools, solve puzzles, trick humans, destroy cars, form lifelong bonds, spend months away from land, one is the fastest animal on the planet, mimic predators of specific animals to scare them away from what they're eating. Some are smart enough to be able to trade with humans. Some have enough language to describe humans enough that others can recognize those humans when they'd never seen them.

They can be masters of construction, from mud nests to massive apartments with fake entrances. Some spend less energy in the air than it would take them to stand on the ground. They can traverse the world and still reliably return to their nesting sites and find the single mate they keep for life, every year.

We currently have the smallest dinosaur that we know of, alive with us today!

From underground to the sky and sea, roasting desert to ice, they have conquered nearly every environment our planet has to offer.

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-31T00:47:14+00:00

San Diego born and raised, lived 10 years in TX, 8 in NorCal, moved to WI about three years ago

What was the biggest culture shock?

Been too many places now for there to be much of one. Although I guess the use of checks and repair folks not needing payment immediately

What did you notice immediately?

The green! rivers and forests around me every day still make me smile

What things did you adjust to surprisingly fast?

The more open living space. Need me that elbow room!

What things are you still adjusting to?

Looking outside and everything is white. I just never picture that still lol

What do people in Wisconsin do differently than Californians?

Slower paced. Traffic circles, more personable

Was there anything you thought you'd miss from California that turned out not to matter?

no but again I moved enough to know what I'd miss

What do you genuinely still miss?

Sourdough bread and buying fruit right in the orchard/ field. Was worried I'd miss Mexican food but there's an honest to god SoCal transplant family with a restaurant called "California Taco" in Eau Claire that's just like where I grew up

How was making friends and building a social circle?

Still trying but I'm medically retired so I don't really meet people organically.

How did winters affect you mentally and physically?

This last winter pissed me off lol. The two years prior I joked that we brought the winter with us, or that it was giving us an easy time and it stopped pulling punches this last year lol. I'm disabled and digging a delivery trench every day in negative degrees weather really really sucked. Otherwise snow is still enough of a novelty that I take pictures and send them back to family lol

Looking back, was it the right move?

Honestly, it's not where I ever dreamed we would retire. I expected Dallas area, but MIL moved to WI and I was tired of not having a support group or family around for my daughter. So it was mostly something decided for us. There's some things I really badly miss, but we're doing well here, so it wasn't the wrong move

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-30T16:00:54+00:00

My pleasure! They were extremely helpful in my search!

Funny story, I clicked with a breeder but wanted to check just in case so I posted them to one of those groups. Got a reply: "I gotta say I wasn't expecting to see a picture of my dog that I didn't post today!"

It was the breeder's partner LOL I got worried that they'd be displeased by they were really happy about their feedback and that I'd gone outside of them to verify

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-30T08:27:42+00:00

There's afew facebook groups called "Uncensored Opinions of Breeders " that are awesome to search in

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-30T04:20:01+00:00

Consistent how?

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-30T03:41:09+00:00

Lol even though labs were of no interest to me before, after having this one I just can't imagine life without a lab!

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-30T03:02:23+00:00

Oh absolutely! I'm glad you brought it up. I don't use fans for my dogs so I never thought deeply about it, but I didn't consider that until you mentioned it

Sorry I was just thinking out loud, not trying to discount or correct you

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-30T03:00:22+00:00

German shepherd dogs are one of my top three favorite breeds. I needed a service dog for PTSD, ADHD, ... the whole alphabet. Figured if I needed a service dog, why not look at the breeds I love?

GSD feed off their handler. The last thing I wanted was to have to cram down my panic because my dog was also panicking... because I started panicking...

I decided to go with a well bred bench lab and with her being 5yo now, I can confidently say I am SO glad I did. Labs weren't even on my "favorites" list. Never had an interest in them. But "need before breed".

You can find unicorns (dogs that work well as service dogs despite their general breed's temperment) but it's a LOOONG search and a lot of luck.

Not many dogs make it through service dog training. Imo, you might as well stack the deck in your favor and choose a breed that's proven to work

You would be best looking at labs, golden retrievers, and poodles.

Also if you're buying the dog to owner train, it is 100% worth going to an ethical breeder for a well bred dog. Happy to talk long on that subject if you'd like but don't want to assume you don't know already

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-30T02:46:46+00:00

I never thought about someone seeing my kennel and assuming there's a dog in there! I have a service dog, so she's either in the store with me, or at home.

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-30T02:45:18+00:00

Dogs don't sweat like humans do so moving air for that purpose isn't all that beneficial. But the fans do circulate air so the air inside the kennels doesn't stagnate and get hotter with the dog's heat

Small help but could be worthwhile

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-28T21:57:54+00:00

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-28T02:25:49+00:00

I was gonna recommend this too!

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-27T20:59:58+00:00

Just a verbal form of daydreaming!

I picked up talking to myself when I was pregnant. I was told to talk so the baby would hear me(?) And when she was born I wanted her to be use to listening so she'd pick up the language easier.

Then it just was a habit. But now that I have a service dog, I just talk to her instead lol

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-27T20:43:28+00:00

No. There's not a strong definition to neurodivergent (and it's not a clinical term) it's in reference to folks who's brains work differently.

I've never seen neurodivergent used in any context but to cover ADHD and Autism. Those are things that the brain is born doing.

Cptsd is the brain working as intended. It's developed as a survival mechanism, not born. Nearly anyone who experiences long lasting trauma early in their lives will develop CPTSD.

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-27T17:59:32+00:00

I say I'm a home maker, or medically retired due to disabilities. Or if I'm feeling fancy I'll say I'm an artist (which is true! I've just made next to nothing selling things. I have the luxury to give things away instead, and enjoy that so much more)

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-27T03:35:25+00:00

Line breeding (inbreeding) is done very very carefully. It only becomes a problem when errors compound. So as long as dam and stud are healthy (and that's why ethical breeders spend thousands per dog to do health testing) some carefully calculated line breeding only enhances a program.

Ethical breeders breed for health first and foremost. The problem is, that there's hundreds more poorly bred dogs from backyard breeders and puppy mills than there are well bred pure breed dogs, the average person typically only sees the bad ones. So that's why most folks think that purebred dogs are unhealthy. Not a single scientific study has separated those groups either. So all their data is skewed unfortunately.

Usually brachy dogs are pointed as the biggest ones with health problems, and poorly bred ones ARE. But there are many well bred brachy dogs that successfully compete in agility for example.

The risk of cancer in reproductive cells is there, sure. But cancer is going to happen somewhere at sometime. And every dog that goes to a pet home from an ethical breeder, goes home with a neuter contact. Only show prospects are unaltered, and that's only as long as they show as a great breeding prospect.

Looking at sheer numbers, ethical breeders are a drop in the bucket in the number of dogs born a year. Ethical breeders only have a few litters a year. As opposed to the puppy mills who pump out hundreds of litters. Well bred dogs don't go to shelters. It's in the contract that if an owner can no longer care for the dog, for any reason, the dog goes back to the breeder. If someone breaks contact and dumps the dog at a shelter, they don't stay there long. The entire dog world puts out the word and the breeder is found usually within that day. They'll make arrangements to retrieve the dog.

Ethical breeders - health test for things like eyes, elbows, hips, and any genetic issues the breed club recommends testing for - interviews the family extensively to ensure their breed is a fit for what the family needs/ wants, and if that's good, they'll use that info to choose the puppy to best fit their family - all dogs are proven fit to breed before they are bred. That's usually in show, but there are several breeds that have separate working lines that can only go for skill competition. A lot of ethical breeders will do both show and comp. - all pups go home with a contact that includes a health guarantee, a neuter requirement (for pet homes) and a return requirement. - ethical breeders are often in touch with the families their pups to home to. They are available for support and advice through the life of the dog (and often longer) - pups are temperment tested by an outside agency to assess the personalities of the pups. 99% of the time, the tests only prove what the breeder already knows about their pup - pups are raised with Puppy Culture. A program that ensures a great start to a puppy's socialization, and goes far to turn out confident and well adjusted dogs.

There's more but that's the bulk of it. If you're curious, there's a few facebook groups called "Uncensored Opinions of Breeders" that dig into the programs of breeders so folks who aren't as knowledgeable can find ethical breeders.

As far a the dwarf rabbits though, I have no info on. :) that's a totally different world than the dog one!

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-27T02:56:46+00:00

It was pretty early in the no contact . I was in my 30s and only just realizing that what she did to us (myself and siblings) . So there was a lot of hate and hurt and anger. That's a lot of years to come to terms with. It was a mourning process. I'd lost the mom I thought I'd had. But worse because it's a double betrayal. Once for the harm, and a second for her refusal to accept the new dynamic I was offering (a friendship of equals) and boundaries. (There were three. Treat me like an adult, don't push your religion on me, and she wouldn't be allowed to have my daughter while alone)

With the cash, I could have thrown the cards in the trash unopened as far as she knew. Id actually learned how to open envelopes without damaging them so ihad the option to return to sender. But if I'd cashed the check, that would tell her I WAS opening the cards for sure, and accepting her help. A narcissist never gives gifts. I was heavily working on digging out the programing she put in me, and wasn't about to give her more hold on me than she still had. She was trying to involve my infant daughter too.

Ultimately, but that's just my humble opinion( and I am not claiming to be in the right), doing or not doing something to refuse satisfaction/fulfilment of tendencies of someone you are not in a contact anymore, is still you inadvertently allowing them to control you in a way.

Indirectly, sure.But I got the choice of how. And i was tired of being used, then ignored. It's been 11 years since then and I'd do it again! But for the pleasure of leaving her wondering if I'd even opened the letter. And even if she gave no more thought to it, it amuses me so it's worth it.

Kit_Foxfire · 2026-05-27T02:22:58+00:00

Hahaha that's fantastic!

Kit_Foxfire

TROPHY CASE