We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashley Tufte a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?

I had a young woman reach out to me wanting to purchase one of my puppies. She wasn’t going to be able to have all the money until she got a bonus, which was after the pup was 8 weeks and it needed to be small enough to fly to Virginia. I typically require that the puppies are paid in full prior to going to their new homes and do not allow people to make payments, but I trusted her and felt that she was a good fit for one of my dogs. She flew into Des Moines airport from Virginia to pick up her new puppy. She was extremely excited and bubbly, and I could tell the puppy was going to be loved! She made payments slowly, however the puppy had eaten something and got a blockage, so it took even longer since she had some unexpected medical bills and was waiting for insurance to pay her. We kept in touch and a few months later she was able to pay the puppy off. When she sent her final payment, she wrote a long message to me that made me cry and feel overwhelmed with happiness and reminded why I do this with all the ups and downs of the business. She has since contacted me again about getting another puppy! Here is part of her message:

I just wanted to say thank you so much
to be honest, I genuinely don’t know how I would’ve made it through this break up and all of my life changes recently without Ruby…. she’s been the best little companion and has helped my heart to heal so much❤ LOL I’m so in love with her, I’m already thinking about when I can get her a Dobie puppy to be her best friend.
So thank you, so much, for allowing me to adopt her – she has truly been the most amazing dog and everything I hoped for!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have always loved animals. Growing up on a farm, we always had a dog and cats and other farm animals. When I moved out on my own, I continued to always have a dog (or two). When I got married and had children, my husband and I wanted a dog that would be protective and loyal, good with the kids and grow up with them. We live in a rural area and felt that a good dog to help protect us and our family was what we needed. My husband wanted a German Shepherd. I wanted a Boxer. Instead we got a Doberman Pinscher. We loved our first one so much and had never had a dog so smart and loyal. We decided that we wanted to get a male and just have one or two litters. Although we didn’t have a lot of puppies our first or second litter, we loved the experience of raising puppies as did our two boys, Lincoln and Wyatt.
We eventually got another female, and another. I learned about genetics and health of the breed and different bloodlines. We got our first European female and loved the fearlessness and confidence in her temperament. Slowly we grew with more females and higher quality dogs, mostly imported or offspring of imports.

We loved raising the puppies and meeting the new owners, seeing photos of the puppies growing up in their new homes, and hearing the stories of how dogs had changed their lives for the better or saved their owner’s life. Many of our dogs have also gone on to be service dogs or to individuals with PTSD or even in schools. The best part of what we do is seeing the positive affect that they have on peoples’ lives. They are healing people’s hearts every day!

What I believe sets us apart is our communication with and commitment to clients. I am committed to these dogs and my clients, ensuring that everything goes well throughout the puppy process as well as the rest of the dog’s life. We want to ensure that the dog and their family are successful. The dog is a reflection of us, and we want them to succeed! We know life happens and we will always take a dog/puppy back and help the owners rehome them if necessary. It ensures us that they never end up in a shelter or unwanted.

I am proud of where we are, considering where we came from. We had never even owned a Doberman before our first one 9 years ago. Our genuine passion and love for the breed has grown our business faster than we anticipated. We have met many truly amazing people as clients and others also in the dog world that we now call friends! Our love for animals brings us all together and helps us heal hearts together with these amazing creatures! My boys absolutely love growing up with dogs and puppies all around them. They have learned how to act responsibly around animals and care for them as well. I am now raising dogs (and kids) full time and love every second!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

We have established ourselves as a reputable breeder and have had many clients recommend us to others as well as come back and purchase another puppy or two! I believe our honesty and transparency is what stands out and builds our reputation. We are always honest about our dogs/puppies. If there is any issue at all with one of our puppies or parents, whether it be a bump, heart murmur, or underbite, we are always open with the new owner and give them the option to choose another puppy. Our goal is for our clients to be happy as well as our puppy! Being open and honest is imperative for all of this to happen.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

When we started, we did not intend to breed for a business. It started as a hobby. After we had a few litters, we saw a little return in our investments and decided to continue investing in the dogs. We slowly grew and I cut back my hours at work in order to care for more dogs and puppies, running to vet appointments, meeting clients at the airport. There is always something to do when caring for a litter of puppies! We had a litter of 11 puppies that were European and very nice bloodlines. After this litter we gained some confidence in our program and had many people recommending us. We got our logo and business name going after this litter. We increased our number of females and got licensed by the state of Iowa. That was definitely a key milestone to our business! We purchased a couple of females who were ready to be bred that spring, and really stepped up our number of females as well has had our own European male. We continued to grow and invest more and more into the business!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.royaldynastydobermannkennel.com
• Instagram: royaldynastydobermannkennel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/royaldynastydobermannkennel
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/royal-dynasty-dobermann-kennel-aredale

Image Credits
lens and leash photography