Workshop for
Dog Breeders
Paring Puppies with Parents: Help New Dog Parents Set Realistic Expectations
Adoption research shows that behavior concerns drive over one-third of returns, and many happen in the first week, before a family understands their dog. A clearer conversation at the start gives a family a better chance of keeping the dog they chose.
Explore the Honored Dog Journey
Discover and explore the 5 stages each Dog Parent and their dog go through together so that you can help prospective adopters set realistic expectations.
Discover the Honored Dog Profiles
Will the litter consist of Doggy Divas, Bossy Pants, Social Butterflies, or Goodest Boys and Girls? At their young age, their personalities are not yet formed, but you can help adopters understand what traits to look for to better understand the dog in front of them.
Have Confident Conversations
Learn questions that reveal what families hope life with a dog will be like, and how to talk with them about the everyday changes ahead. You’ll leave with ways to support families before and after their puppy comes home.
Dog Breeder Workshop Details
Placing a puppy with the right family is a skill, and it can be a difficult one. A family can love the litter and still be a poor match for the puppy who goes home with them. This workshop gives breeders a shared way to talk about dogs and families. A puppy’s personality is still forming, so the session focuses on tendencies you can observe and how they fit a family’s daily life. It does not assign a fixed label at eight weeks.
In a session, your group will:
- Discover the 5 Phases of The Honored Dog Journey
- Explore ways to help prospective dog parents set realistic expectations
- Meet the four Honored Dog Personality Profiles through your own dogs.
- Practice noticing emerging tendencies in a litter without labeling puppies too early.
- Explore questions that help a family describe their own household, pace, and expectations.
- Talk through the first weeks after go-home day, when many returns happen.
You leave with a shared vocabulary for your group and a set of questions you can use in your next placement conversation.
Session details
Length Options: 90 minutes / 3 hours
Group size: 15-20
Format: In person or virtual. (Either or, but not both at same time)
Investment: Contact Kimberly Jo for details.
Bring a workshop to your group. Simply share a few details about your group and what is hardest right now, and Kimberly Jo will shape a session that meets your needs.
The Honored Dog. Because all dogs deserve to be known.
Meet Conor, Deborath, & Little Archie with a Big Personality
Like most new dog parents, they already had a picture in their minds of the dog who was coming. What they had yet to discover was Archie’s own unmistakable personality, and how their relationship with him would take shape.
Read more about their story below…
Conor and Deborath had each grown up with dogs, but raising Archie was different from what they remembered. Their parents had done much of the daily work when they were too young to understand the responsibilities. Now the walks, expenses, routines, and decisions were theirs. And as little Archie grew into his big Bossy Pants personality, his constant barking and evening zoomies left them unsure how to respond.
As they moved from the Discovery phase into the Challenging phase of the Honored Dog Journey, each privately questioned their decisions. They kept loving Archie and working through the unsettled days together. With consistent routines and structure, his barking eased. Gradually, they found their way into the Settling phase.
During an Honored Dog workshop, Deborath looked back at those early months and saw their journey as a whole. Hearing other dog parents describe similar doubts helped her realize they hadn’t been alone. She could also see how much the difficult period had taught them about Archie, and how it had strengthened their bond.
Archie was nearly two years old, and Deborath and Coner had begun having discussions about adopting a sibling for Archie. After learning about The Honored Dog personality profiles, they realized something that might once have surprised them: if they were to decide to bring home another dog, they would prefer to welcome another Bossy Pants into their family. The journey had asked more of them than they imagined. It had also given them a relationship they treasured.
That is why conversations with families matter beyond choosing a puppy. Breeders can help individuals, couples, and families prepare for the daily reality of bringing a dog home and remind them, as they get to know each other, that a challenging chapter can be a part of forming a meaningful, cherished relationship.
Meet Founder, Facilitator, & Coach, Kimberly Jo DeVault
Kimberly Jo DeVault is the creator of The Honored Dog, where she helps people better understand and connect with their dogs through personality-based insights.
Prior to dedicating 20 years helping teams and leaders navigate corporate change, Kimberly developed and delivered humane education courseware and curriculum standards for The Arizona Humane Society. For the first time in state history, her humane education work was adopted by the Arizona State’s Educational Reading program and she was recognized as the catalyst and primary driver behind the initiative.
Kimberly brings a thoughtful, observant, and engaging approach to the relationships we share with our dogs, offering language and perspective that make our bonds with our companion animals even more meaningful.