We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Suzanne Cook. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Suzanne below.
Hi Suzanne, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?
I’ve always been a fan of having a website, so when we got into breeding high quality Frenchton Bulldogs, an amazing website was TOP of my list.
Years ago, it was fairly easy to sell puppies – many websites allowed you to post info on your litters, and 12 years ago when we bred boxers, I had a waiting list with 50 names on it.
However as the years went by, that CHANGED.
Suddenly, you couldn’t post info on puppy litters ANYWHERE.
I faced TWO options: stop breeding the most amazing dog breed ever, OR, push my website presence harder.
I opted for the latter!
I spent a good year CRAFTING my website, finding the perfect programs to put it together and gathering photos and information. At the time, the goal had just been to help people find me. BUT, by solving THAT problem, I solve several others . . .
As the years went by, OTHERS began breeding Frenchton Bulldogs too, trying to make a quick buck. They had little to no knowledge on the breed OR how to raise them. This resulted in puppies that were difficult to train and had behavior issues.
Worse yet, scammers began popping up.
By solving the problem of giving buyers a way to find me, my website ALSO proves to them that I am NOT a scammer, and showcases all the care, attention and love that goes into EACH puppy, giving them FULL confidence in my program.
Having a website also gives my customers FULL transparency. I can post test results of genetic health testing and full information on each litter as well as individual puppy updates. AND, it keeps all my social links in one spot – giving them instant access to whatever is currently happening out here.
VERY few Frenchton Bulldog breeders have websites, and IF you are a serious business owner it’s a MUST DO. Breeding Frenchton Bulldogs IS my business, but it’s also my PASSION, one that I ENJOY sharing with others!
Suzanne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Suzanne and I am the owner/operator of Zan’s Frenchtons, producing some of the highest quality Frenchton Bulldogs here in the US. When we moved onto our property of 87 acres in the country and built a farm, we wanted a dog that thrived in all four seasons, was EASY TO TRAIN, low shedding, SMART, athletic but not hyper and medium to SMALL sized since at that time, we were stuck living in a doublewide trailer and space was limited.
My husband adored the look and personality of Frenchies, but I did not want a dog that I had to babysit with SO MUCH work needing to get done on the farm.
Then he stumbled upon Frenchton Bulldogs, a mix of 75% Frenchie and 25% Boston Terrier and he was in love. When we went to buy one locally and realized there were no local breeders at that time, we decided to take on crafting the breed into something more people could enjoy (having previously bred boxers years before).
As with anything produced here on our property, we wanted ONLY THE BEST. When you produce the BEST, your customers always walk away HAPPY . . .
And they ALWAYS come back for MORE!
So from the start, we launched an informative website and carefully began crafting our breeding program to produce DNA health clean dogs that were athletic, strong, smart and DEVOTED – EASY-TO-TRAIN and personable!
We wanted our customers to love the breed as much as WE DO, and carry our puppies on to be ambassadors for the breed itself.
Since the breed is exceptionally intelligent, they can be DIFFICULT TO RAISE. This means MORE WORK on the end of the breeder to produce a quality puppy. Frenchton puppies need to be stimulated from birth, and given the opportunity to choose the right decisions.
Our pups are raised in our fully devoted puppy room, that has a large, bright window overlooking the backyard, clean pads, fresh water, clean toys and a FRESH HAY LITTERBOX. At 3 weeks old they KNOW to crawl to the litterbox to potty. It’s AMZAZING! Sadly most breeders do not want the extra work, and the pups are forced to potty wherever they crawl – this actually TEACHES THEM that it’s ok to potty in the house.
By giving them access to a hay box, they learn that GRASS is where potty happens, so when they are introduced to our potty and play yard outside at 5 weeks of age, potty happens instantly.
They are also taught that they must potty before exiting the pen for playtime in the puppy room on the floor. I teach them that once they potty, THEN they can play.
THIS gives them structure and teaches them HOW to listen to commands and that it BENEFITS them to do so. Teaching them YOUNG ensures the correct foundation to grow into a HAPPY, well-raised adult with VERY few issues.
We stay connected to our customers over the years and even host a puppy reunion every few years for families to join together and share stories and see each others dogs.
ONE THING we are most proud of, is our dedicated puppy room, which we ENCOURAGE our guests to come visit. With our new house build, that was the FIRST ROOM I designed, and actually the house was designed FIRST with the puppy room in mind. We tend to get large families coming to visit their reserved puppies, so the puppy room will be larger but also connect to a guest bathroom and a living room to give customers the chance to feel at home while visiting their baby.
One question I’m frequently asked is “Are you afraid your puppies will end up in the wrong hands?”
And the answer is NO. I charge 3x more than the average breeder and my customers come to me BECAUSE they know they are getting a quality pup and they are making that decision CAREFULLY. All of my customers are AMAZING families and individuals, and each puppy ALWAYS ends up in their perfect home. And by always being available to call or text, they KNOW that should their situation change, I am always willing to take the puppy or DOG back.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
This is an excellent question, and I will actually roll it into ALL of our businesses.
We are BIG fans of flipping. We are both dedicated workers and save every penny (that means NO GOING OUT TO EAT OR VACATIONS. SKIP the STARBUCKS.) Most can’t do that simple part, and fail.
My husband would buy wrecked cars online, then repair them and flip them for profit. One of his car flips was recycled into buying our first two Frenchton Bulldogs.
With our farm, we found property that wasn’t listed as for sale and bought it cheap. We used cheap, old hay equipment to harvest and sell the hay, and used hay profits to upgrade our equipment.
Some of the hay profits went to buying supplies for our first puppy litter. Then in turn, the puppy litter profits were recycled into upgrading our puppy facility.
NOW, puppy profits are recycled BACK into the farm as we begin a LARGER INVESTMENT of starting a u-cut Christmas Tree farm. Eventually the farm will begin selling trees and re-coup the money spent. THEN the customer base will partially migrate into puppy buyers as well, allowing both businesses to do a give and take.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Building a farm from scratch is NOT easy, but it TEACHES you a lot.
When we first moved out here, builders were booked up and we could not start a house for a year, so we decided to put a double wide trailer out here instead and re-save for a house later.
Unfortunately, the power company had a 2 month waiting list to connect it, and we were living in a camper with 6 kids.
IN THE DEAD OF WINTER.
I’m talk -14F at night and blasting wind. Since we were heating with propane, I wasn’t allowed to use the stove or oven to cook and the propane grill was my best friend.
However, gas grills do NOT like wind, and it wouldn’t stay lit one day. After some struggle I decided I would instead make a pot of stew over an open fire. So I set off to the woods with the chainsaw to cut some wood.
I had only used it ONCE a year ago.
Somehow I got it to run and sat down to cut a widowmaker. If you don’t know, google “why you shouldn’t cut a widowmaker down” . . . I didn’t know . . .
The saw got STUCK in the tree due to the tension, so I had the bright idea of crawling UNDER it, and using my feet to push up the log.
It worked!
And the chainsaw landed RIGHT on my face.
Bloody and sobbing, I dragged the log back to the firepit and continued cutting it up. It took 3 hrs to cook the stew thanks to the log being wet, but I learned that if you WANT SOMETHING, it takes WORK and sometimes a bit of pain :) And I went on to learn MANY more lessons on the farm after that!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.zansfrenchtons.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/frenchtonfamilyfun
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQuEO01jp9V9fqIRHilwc9A
Image Credits
All photos taken by me, Suzanne Cook