Hobine’s Kennel, 29012 Farm Road 1070, Seligman, MO (2026)

10/20/2026

All good things must come to an end.

We are getting down to the last few litters of Pomeranians that will be bred here at Hobine’s. I absolutely love the breed. They are beautiful, sassy, loving, and happy. However, they are a toy breed and like so many toy breeds, they are so very hard to raises, especially weaning and hypoglycemia. It is not an easy experience and definitely a heartbreaking one. I have a few litters of puppies now and I will like have a few more at the beginning of 2027, but by mid year, I will be retiring them.

With that said, I not sure where the wind will take us here. I can’t decide if I should just keep my focus on what I know and love, or if I should bring in a second breed to learn and love, but I do know that as long as there is a dog here, it will be a Cocker Spaniel, so don’t worry. Those aren’t going anywhere.

Reach out if you have any questions!!

10/16/2026

Commercial Breeder Regulations(Housing)

A lot of this section is common sense, and I would think any responsible breeder would automatically do these things without the need for regulations. One thing people need to realize is that if a commercial breeder CANNOT keep breeding dogs in their homes. It is against the law. So, I know a lot of people are going to say “get fewer dogs so you can keep them in their houses.” But you have to ask yourself a question, there is already a shortage of puppies. Where will puppies come from without the commercial breeders? I mean people claim there are so many puppies in shelters, but then ask yourself another question, why are the rescues importing dogs from other countries if our shelters are already full? The point is that there is a need for our puppies.

So here is a FEW of the rules for housing our dogs.

All kennels must be structurally sound, kept in good repair, protect animals from injury, keep animals secure and keep other animals from entering.

All surfaces must be sanitized and spot cleaned daily. No rust can be present and there must be no jagged edges or sharp points, and all surfaces must be impervious to moisture.

All kennels must have electricity for adequate air, heating, and lighting. There must be running water to supply potable water for cleaning and drinking. All food must be kept in a place that protects it from spoilage, contamination, and vermin infestation. All feed must be stored off the floor and away from the walls so things can be easily cleaned. Food must be kept in a leak proof container. Any chemical or cleaning supplies must be stored in a container or cabinet with secure doors. All things must be labeled.

The kennels must have working smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.

Indoor Housing

The inside of kennels must have sufficient cooling and heating to protect the animals from extremes. Temps cannot be below 50 degrees Fahrenheit or above 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The insides must be ventilated to minimize odors, drafts, ammonia levels, and moisture condensation. Ventilation can be provided by windows, fans, vents, or air conditioning. Relative humidity must be kept at levels to keep animals healthy. The inside of kennels must be cleaned and disinfected daily. There must be sufficient lighting for cleaning, inspection, and observation of animals.

If dogs are kept in outside enclosures, there are specific rules for that as well. Dogs that are not acclimated to the temperatures prevalent in the area or region. These dogs have to be kept in a place where they have access to the indoors. Animals that cannot tolerate extreme temps without stress cannot be kept in complete outdoor enclosures. An example of this would be short coated animals in extreme cold. Dogs that are sick or old, or puppies cannot be kept in outdoor enclosures.
Outdoor kennels must have dog houses. There must be shade provided by trees, awnings, or tarps. The dog houses must contain a roof, four sides, and a floor. The shelters must keep the dogs protected from heat/cold, protect the dogs from the sun, provide a wind break, and have proper bedding in them, especially when the outdoor temperatures are 50 degrees or below. The outdoor kennels must have concrete, gravel, or be completely covered in grass. There can be no bare dirt or sand. All pens must have correct drainage and be able to be cleaned and sanitized readily.

Now, let’s talk about pen spacing requirements. For breeders that have between 3-10 breeding females, pen sizes for dogs are calculated by (length of dog plus 6) x (length of dog plus 6) divided by 144. They must have at least 6 inches of head space when the dog is in a standing position. For females that are nursing puppies, the room must be expanded by 5% per puppy. The length of dog is measured from the tip of nose to the base of tail.

The rule changes majorly for breeders with 10 or more breeding females. The formula is the same as above, but then you take that answer and multiply it by 6.

Here are some examples,

A single dog that is 18 inches long has to have an enclosure of 24 square feet. A pair of dogs that are 18 inches long have require the same. 3 dogs of this length are 28 square feet, 4 dogs is 32 square feet, 5 dogs is 60 square feet and 6 dogs is 72 square feet.

A single dog that is 30 inches long has to have an enclosure of 54 square feet. The same is for a pair of dogs. Once you add a third it is 63 square feet, 72 square feet is required for once you add the 4th dog. If you have five or six 30 inches long they enclosure has to be 135 square feet and 162 square feet.

Breeders must provide dogs, with the exception of puppies and whelping and nursing females, with constant and unfettered access to the outdoors. This means, regardless of the breed, all dogs must be able to go outside whenever they choose. The only exception to this is when dogs can be kept inside is when the temps are extreme.

As I said, this is just a few of the rules for housing for commercial breeders in Missouri. There are many more on the books. I would be here for several weeks if I went through and broke them all down. Next week, I will be talking about feed and cleaning regulations.

10/10/2026

I have some Pomeranian litter announcements.

Moody and Rhett had a beautiful litter of three girls. One is a solid lavendar, one is a lavendar and tan, and one is black with some white on her chest.

Karen and Fraiser had a lovely litter of partis. One is an orange sable parti girl and the other is a chocolate sable parti girl.

One of these are spoken for. Message me for more information.

10/08/2026

Today is part two of my series of “What is a Commercial Breeder?”

Today we are going to get into the parts that talk about regulations and what you and your vet have to do to make the dogs and puppies are getting exactly what they need. This is also going to include things on record keeping.

Commercial Breeder Regulations

In this part, I am going to break down the dog breeding regulations for commercial breeders in the state of Missouri. Please remember, this is only from the commercial breeder’s stand point, and it is also on from the stand point of a commercial breeder in Missouri. Other states may have no state laws at all or their laws may be vastly different from these.

The first part of the regulations we are going to talk about has to do with having an attending vet and what the breeder and vet are required to do. First, and before you can even get a license, you must employ a veterinarian under formal arrangements. This means the breeder must go into the veterinarian’s office, meet him/her, and formally ask for the vet to be that breeder’s attending veterinarian. After that has occurred and the vet agrees, then a time must be scheduled for the vet to come to the kennel and do an examination on every animal used for breeding. Every dog must be examined yearly in order to keep the license. So, basically what that means is that the vet must examine every breeding dog at least once yearly. Obviously, it can and probably will need to be done more often than once a year. At this time, or any other time, if the vet finds something wrong with the dog, a more comprehensive exam is done, a diagnosis is produced, and medications and treatments are to be administered. The vet can allow the breeder, under their discretion, to give treatment to the animals. This usually means vaccinations, dewormings, or antibiotics, can be given by the breeder for the dog.

Yearly, the breeder and veterinarian must come together and make a program of veterinary care for the kennel. This talks about breeding practices. Are the dogs sound for breeding, meaning they are at a good weight, a good age, are their joints good, do they need dentals. All of these things are very important when it comes to breeding and producing happy dogs. This program of veterinary care includes the kind of disease prevention practices that the kennel does, meaning cleaning and disinfecting practices, breeders have to list out what vaccinations, dewormers, and parasite protocol they use, and the vet must agree with this before signing off. If the vet adds something else into the protocol, the kennel MUST follow it. The program of veterinary care includes pest control protocol, such as bug and insect control as well as control for vermin, such as mice. It talks about nutrition such as what the dogs and puppies are being fed, how much, and what type of food. If you feel you must make a change in your feeding, the vet must okay this for the program of veterinary care. There is a section about euthenasia, and guidance on preventative care. The vet also must approve an exercise plan for all dogs to make sure they have maximum opportunity for exercise. The vet must be able to provide emergency treatment for all animals or have an alternative set up with another vet facility if the need arises. An example of this would be if a dog goes into labor in the evening and needs vet attention right away, usually in the form of a cesarean section or maybe it needs treatment for eclampsia. The breeder and vet must work together on what to do if the need arises for quarantines. All puppies and dogs brought into the kennel need to be quarantined for at least 30 days to ensure that nothing is spread to the other dogs in the kennel. Dogs or puppies that are in quarantine cannot be shipped or sold.

Identification:
All dogs in the kennel must be identified. There are several ways to go about doing this, but some are easier than others. DISCLAIMER: puppies 8 weeks and younger can be identified through their mother. However, as soon as the puppies are weaned, or she is separated from the puppies for any reason, they must have some form of identification. This can be a collar made of leather or plastic that has their name on it. It can be a distinctive and legible tattoo. The dogs can be identified through microchip numbers. And lastly the dogs can be identified by cage cards that include their name, breed, s*x, color, and descriptive markings. If the dogs need medication, the med and how it is given must be on the cage card, along with the veterinarian's number. All of my puppies are chipped prior to their mom being separated from them. All of my adult dogs are chipped, and I have records of chip numbers so all dogs are easily identifiable.

Records that must be kept:

Records must be kept on all animals and puppies on the premises. If a dog or puppy is sold, you must have, at the very least, the name and mailing address of the person who purchased the dog or puppy from you, regardless if the person has a license. If a dog or puppy is being purchased from someone else, you have to keep the same records. You MUST have the date of death if a dog passes in the facility for any reason, including humanely euthanizing the dog or puppy. I always get a letter from my vet stating their decision on why they feel the dog or puppy should have been humanely euthanized. All of these records must include the dog's identification number, in my case, the microchip number. The dog's description and how the dog was transported. In our case here, it is either by car or by plane(in cabin nanny). Any puppy that YOU are transporting across state lines is required to have a health certificate. If the person purchasing the puppy comes to your home and takes the puppy back across state lines, it is their responsibility to get that health certificate. Health certificates have to be issued within 10 days of the puppy or dog leaving. It must include a full description of the puppy/dog, the breeder’s information, the person getting the puppy/dog’s information, the date the puppy was examined, and how the dog traveled. If a puppy is over 16 weeks old or in some states 12 weeks old, it also must have a rabies vaccine and certificate before they can go to their new homes. All records must be kept on the dog the entire time it is in the kennel and it almost must be kept for 1 year after the dog/puppy is sold or given away.

The next part will still continue on regulations but it will be specifically about the facilities that the dogs and puppies have to be kept in, by law!!

10/07/2026

Puppy updates!! These three are absolutely loving life!!! This is what it is all about!!

10/06/2026

What is a Commercial Breeder?

In writing this, I figure I am going to get flack from certain people, mainly about the subject matter in general. Over the years, the idea of being a “breeder” has been put in a bad light. It doesn’t seem to matter what kind of breeding you are doing, you are the scum of the earth in the eyes of most people. Propaganda ploys from HSUS, PETA, and ASPCA, showing animals kept in deplorable conditions play on the hearts and emotions of so many people. I am not saying these kinds of places are not out there; in fact, quite the contrary. You can get sub par, terrible breeders in all types of breeding: hobby, show, and commercial breeders, not to mention the unethical, unlicensed back yard breeders that are out there, that most people do not know about.

I wanted to write this in an educated way rather than a rant on a facebook post. After all, I do have a master’s degree, so I am capable of doing so. This is going to come out in a lot of steps over the course of several weeks here on my page. I obviously do not expect everyone to agree, but very few people ever get to hear the side of a commercial breeder. They assume we are automatically bad. To be honest, that is like saying all teachers are bad because your child had a bad experience with one, or that all doctors are bad because yours had terrible bedside manner and wouldn’t listen to you. There are bad apples in every batch, it doesn’t mean every apple in the orchard is bad!

Over the next few weeks, I am going to talk about commercial breeding, what goes into it on a day to day basis, the paperwork side, the sales side, the dealing with customers, and the regulations commercial breeders have to follow. Keep in mind, this will be coming from a commercial breeder in Missouri, so other regulations in different states may vary slightly to significantly. This is also going to come from the point of view of a dog breeder. There are several other animal species out there that have their own sets of regulations, and since I have no knowledge of them, I will not be speaking on them.

Today, I think it is important to start by talking about what a commercial breeder is. You are not going to hear me use the word “puppy mill” after this moment because I truly do not believe in that term. I believe there are good and bad, ethical and unethical, and reputable and unreputable breeders in types of breeding. Research to find a breeder is key in your search for a puppy. You have to decide what you want and what you need for your home.

Commercial dog breeders are a person or a business that breeds and sells dogs for the purpose of pets and makes money from selling the offspring. This is a basic definition, but it is a pretty good summary of what a commercial dog breeder is. Some commercial dog breeders are a one man show, such as mine. While other commercial breeders are a whole family affair, or take on employees to make sure their animals are taken care of. This means I have to keep my numbers low and only have a manageable number of animals. That is different from person to person. To me there is no set rule on a number being too large. It largely depends on breed. I, personally, would think a kennel of 10 Golden Retrievers would be a lot for one person, but a kennel of 20 Chihuahuas would be manageable for someone who likes small breeds. I think it is important to never judge a breeder on the number of animals they have because you do not know what is going on behind the scenes to take care of the animals. A person with one dog can also treat that dog badly whereas a person or business can give 20 dogs the best care available.

Making money is part of that definition, but I do not for the life of me understand why that is a bad thing. In any profession you do, you make money. Beef and milk cow producers sell their calves and milk. Guess what, they make money. Sheep and goat farmers sell offspring, wool, and milk. They make money. A commercial dog breeder provides a puppy to people who want pets, why shouldn’t they be able to charge something for what they have done? Why shouldn’t they make money, too?

Some people may not know this and others may but there is a branch of the USDA that specifically over the regulation of breeding animals. Keep in mind, this license is only needed for commercial breeders that have more than 4 intact females used for breeding, if you sell to pet brokers or pet stores, or if you ship puppies either by ground or by air. My kennel is not a USDA licensed kennel. The reason is that I do not ship puppies. People either come to me to pick them up, or I take the puppy to them, sometimes by car and sometimes by plane(me or my husband actually get on the plane or I meet the person buying the puppy at the airport, and they take it with them. The puppies are not in cargo, they are in the cabin with someone). As long as I or my husband do the delivery, we are free from USDA regulations. People will not agree with this, but I have talked to my inspectors about this, and they have told me on many occasions that USDA is not a requirement for me. I am not going to go into details about USDA as I do not have the license and do not want to spread misinformation.

Also, some states have a branch of the Department of Agriculture that are specifically over the regulations of breeding animals. Missouri is one of those states, not only does it have regulations over commercial breeders, but it also regulates boarding kennels, pet stores, shelters, rescues, pounds, and dealers. If you have more than 3 intact females used for breeding in the state of Missouri, you are required to be licensed. The only exemption to this rule, that I am aware of, is a hobby breeder that has fewer than 10 intact females and has proof that they showed at least one of their dogs within the last 365 days.

Next week, I am going to get more into the Missouri State regulations so we can go through what all having and maintaining a license entails.

Again, this will be taboo to some of you, it is something that needs to be said. We are not bad people just because we breed dogs for the pet market. We aren’t bad people because we do this for a living. There is so much we go through that a lay person does not even begin to understand, yet they make judgements upon us like they know everything there is. That is why I want this to be broken down, piece by piece, and maybe, you will think a little differently of us and what we do.

09/24/2026

This little one pound eight ounce ball of fluff is off to his new home today in Oklahoma!!

09/23/2026

The M locus is the taboo locus as it is responsible for producing merle. If you choose to breed merle, it is very important you understand genetics!!! It could be detrimental to the puppies you produce if not.

09/23/2026

The r locus is what makes a dog roan!!

09/21/2026

The S locus is what’s responsible for making our Cockers, parti Cockers!!!

Hobine’s Kennel

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