I am not a nutritionist nor am I a vet. So there’s that! But I have tried my best to research and find the best dry food I can that meets my dogs dietary needs as well and my budget. I have always supplemented with real human foods including meat, veggies, and fruit. I am not a food Nazi and unlike others I do not judge and I do not force my opinions on food on others. A fed dog is a happy dog, and we all do the best we can. I promise your dog rather stay with you and be fed a less expensive food than be rehomed because you can’t afford their food!

I have been happy with Victor for many many years. Even when they were sold and talks of recipe changes were all the gossip. I stayed with what worked. My dogs were at a healthy weight, nice coats, firm stool and vets always complimented my dogs and puppies on their health. The recall hit hard.

I had to find a replacement fast. I decided on Diamond Naturals Chicken and Rice (all stage) the transition was easy and my dogs seem to be doing fine. I can find it locally, it gets a good reviews and it seems to be a good food at a affordable price. I will stick with Diamond Naturals for now.

I am waiting to see what happens when Victor comes back. I know some are saying “oh no it was recalled, how can you consider using it?” My reply is “Many of the top dog food companies have had a recall! It hasn’t stopped them. Blue Bell Ice Cream has had a massive recall and I still enjoy it on occasion! Lettuce is recalled several times a year and I still buy lettuce! We can go on and on!” So I’m going to wait and watch. I am no opposed to going back, but there is another food I have my eye on. Next Level is a dog food created by the same people/guy who created Victor (before it was sold). It seems like a sold food for a bit higher of a price. Again, I’m just gonna wait it out for now.

I openly share what I use in total transparency, and to share that I’m in the same boat as so many, trying hard to find a quality dry food that fits my budget in a time of price increases and recalls. In a time where the prices keep going up and the size is going down. It is honestly bullshit but corporate greed knows we are left with little choice. If I change foods I will let everyone know.

Scammers are getting harder for the average person to spot. First I want to say that no one is perfect. Certainty not me. Breeding even if done perfectly by all the “ever changing rules” experts spew is still flawed. How can it not be? We are dealing with living breathing beings. But honesty and integrity, learning from mistakes, gaining more knowledge in addition to experience are all important. This is where many mislead and lie.

Once again another breeder has been called out for abandoning her Siberian Huskies, moving out of Texas and starting over in Colorado with Poodles. This “breeder” bragged about “changing the game in Siberian Huskies” being the best “woolly coat breeder”, doing all the health testing, and charging over 3000 for her puppies. She was listed on the “Good Breeder” website, boosted about using Puppy Culture, and hiring a trainer to train all her puppies before going home. She posted YouTube and TikTok videos giving advice on breeding, training and food. None of which she is qualified to do. She came up on my radar several years ago when I saw her on my Supernova Siberians facebook page. When I started to investigate her I saw she stole a lot of my verbiage and wording. She was trying hard to sound intelligent and knowledgeable without any true knowledge or experience as she just started in breeding and huskies. The next thing I noticed was her constantly acquiring and rehoming puppies. Always blaming the rehoming of the puppy she acquired as being faulty, bad breeding, bad temperament, etc. She first wanted to breed show quality but then got into woolly coats (because some breeders choose to charge double or triple for long hair). She often insulted other breeders on social media for poor breeding accusing them of being “back yard breeders” and “puppy mills”. The truth was she was the fraud. She quickly acquired woolly coat Siberians focusing on blue eyes and the popular coat colors, mostly black, mostly coopers, agouti etc. The “money makers”. One can assume she gathered too many, too quickly some have claimed the dogs were under weight, and had scars from fighting. In the end she abandoned these dogs and they ended up in a shelter. Thankfully many on social media called her out, and I believe all her dogs were adopted. But she moved out of state and is trying again with a different breed.

The lesson is that there is no registry (akc, ukc, ckc, etc) that makes a breeder reputable. There is no health testing or training that makes a breeder reputable, no dog sports and no puppy program that makes a breeder reputable. Because they are only reputable as the breeder claiming to use them are. In the time of social media where everyone wants to be an influencer, I also want to point out that going viral and having the most followers also does not make you trust worthy. Putting your ego above your dogs welfare is not responsible.

Breeding is wonderful, fun, but it is also a lot of work, and can be very heartbreaking. There is a difference between a breeder, a shitty person breeding hoping to get rich quick and an irresponsible pet owner who breeds. I know accidents happen, I’ve had some myself, but how those accidents are handled is everything. Breeders do not dump puppies, breeders do not dump dogs. Breeders know this is a life long commitment.

The ugliness in the dog world really turns me off. Because the scams also leak over to the “adopt don’t shop” rescue folks as well. It is getting harder for the average person to choose a puppy. No matter where you buy a puppy…. from a breeder, or shelter, please research first.

I’ve been unable to blog about this, because it honesty hurts so damn much. But I’ve come to realize that there are many folks who keep tabs on us via our website and not social media.

We lost our beautiful boy, Ghost, a few weeks ago. It was sudden without any notice. He had no outward symptoms of any illness or injury. It was a heartbreaking event that left all of us stunned, my 17 year old son in complete shambles and had my husband leave work to help us bury Ghost under his pine tree. Cersei, his companion since they were 8 weeks old had a very difficult time. She refused to leave him and even jumped in the grave. She has slowly recovered and is doing better. Tyrion, Amara and Nikita keep her company throughout the day and lil Nova plays with her.

Ghost sweet boy you are forever in our hearts, thank you for being the bestest boy!

A new law concerning dog breeding went into effect as of Sept 1st 2023. It states: “The law will require dog or cat breeders with five or more (previously 11) adult unspayed females to obtain a license to operate under the Texas Occupations Code. Breeding dogs and cats will be considered a profession, so Texas breeders will be held to a higher standard.” It is my understanding that if you breed dogs to compete (conformation, agility, hunting, etc) than exceptions will be made. We at Supernova Siberians have never wanted to be a large breeding facility. Our dogs are our companions first and foremost and they live and have free reign of our home and yard just like any other pet. Our dogs remain with us even after they “retire’ from breeding. This is their home forever. We have been in compliance with this law from the start. We do not plan on having any more than 4 breeding females at any given time. If that changes will be sure to stay within compliance of the state law.

I think with so many new laws being passed locally, it’s time I address why we have so many dogs.

When we ask our puppy parents to be responsible forever pet parents we are not asking anything more of them than we are asking of ourselves. So simply put our dogs are forever. In fact we have some fun stories on how our dogs came to us or how they decided they were never leaving. haha For instance, Rayder and Millie were never suppose to stay. Rayder had 3 homes fall though before I decided no more, he’s just staying. Millie had a home lined up but after months it also fell though. We had bonded by then and I could not let her go. Ghost and Cersei came to us severely emaciated and it took months to nurse them back to health. Rehoming was not an option as we could not see them have to leave yet another home. I guess me and my big heart are the problem. haha

Before I go on I want to stress that I am not taking about other breeders or how they run their program. I acknowledge that we all do this for different reasons, with different goals and in many cases responsible breeders find homes for adults once they retire from showing, and/or breeding. For families that do not want to go though the puppy stage this might be a good option for them. But there are also breeders who breed from first heat until the dogs are seniors and litters are no longer of good size and health. They will often change the names of senior dogs so you do not know they have been breeding the same female for 8+ years and rehome when a profit can no longer be made. So like most things there are 2 or more sides to every situation. I can only speak on ours.

Our dogs are forever and it would have to be in the best interest of the dog for us to ever consider rehoming our pets. While the exact age that dog become seniors can vary by breed size, I can say that half my pack are over 7 and what I consider seniors (or approaching senior status) and 3 of our seniors (Nikita, Zuko and Tyrion) have arthritis and take expensive supplements daily as well as food add ins to support joint health. Senior care can be expensive and it can take a lot of time and care. Not to mention having to decide when it’s time to let them go…. this is not for everyone. We feel it is our obligation to see them though their lives the best we can.

So our pack is big, our dogs are family, over half are altered (no breeding) and when we retire them from breeding and they stay here, with us. We are softies with big hearts, and maybe we haven’t always made the smartest decisions but we love and care for our family.