Our names are Glyn and Tanya Trafford and we live in the Cowichan Valley on beautiful Vancouver Island. We have two fantastic human daughters that are grown and living on their own but help out now and then with our kennel (including our artist Charrlie who designed our logo), two beautiful furry doggy daughters whom we lovingly share our home with, and a wonderful kitty daughter that permits us to live with her.
The animal enthusiast behind Kinsol Kennels is Tanya, that’s me.
I have always been involved with animals of all kinds. I grew up on a farm and I’ve had dogs and cats in my life, my whole life. I’m a firm believer that every child deserves a dog and every dog deserves a child, so my children grew up with cats, dogs, fish, lizards, frogs, rats, chinchillas, and rabbits (because why stop at dogs, right?).
My first experience with CKC registered dogs was back in 1998 when I bought my first precious heart dog Musket, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. After showing him the first time I was hooked. The world of preserving and maintaining healthy dog breeds got its grips into me and never left. Life gets in the way and I was unable to show dogs for many years, but the desire was always there. Since 1998 I have shown Cavaliers, Scottish Terriers, Rough Collies, Ibizan Hounds, Borzoi, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers, Beagles, and Finnish Spitz to name a few. Animals of all kinds are very important to me, but I am truly one of those people that love dogs far more than I will ever love people.
Being involved in the dog show world has naturally led its way into breeding. My dream is not to breed a large quantity of dogs. My dream is to contribute to preserving the primitive breed that I have fallen in love with, the Finnish Spitz. You can never stop learning and I will be the first to admit I have a lot to learn. But under the mentorship of Til Niqudet (Pikkinokka Kennels) and Wendy Lee (LeaLee Tollers) I have developed a passion to keep this wonderful breed of dogs pure, healthy, and beautiful.
I was introduced to the joy of having a dog from my lovely wife Tanya. Prior to meeting her I had never had a pet. Tanya brought Siren into my life and I realized how special and impactful dogs are to our world. Siren was a perfect first dog. When we got her the breed was unusual and I really liked having a dog breed no on knew. Now, although I still love tollers, they are a very common breed. When it came time to getting our second dog I wanted another unusual dog. I was introduced to the Finnish Spitz and love their quirky personality. There is no doubt that Valo keeps us on our toes.
I am the paperwork guy behind the kennels. I love to watch my wife show her dogs and I am the one responsible for making sure all the paperwork is done correctly and on time. I call myself the Manager, but I have been called another name by lots of people in the dog show world. Whatever you call me, I have as much passion as Tanya does in breeding to preserve this primitive breed.
Here at Kinsol Kennels we treat our dogs as part of the family. They live in the house with us, they share our furniture, and they are treated with respect and dignity. We have a securely locked and private back yard that the dogs can access whenever they want through a doggy door. They are not “just dogs” – they are FAMILY. To treat them as such we have made some judgement calls that are not necessarily very popular with everyone, but they are important to us. We do not expect our extended family (our puppy buyers) to necessarily do as we do, but we do want to explain why we do as we do.
We follow the principals of “limited vaccines” when it comes to our pets. It wasn’t until I went to get Siren’s first litter vaccinated that I found out something that was very disturbing to me. Did you know that they give a 6 week old puppy the same amount of vaccine as they give to a full grown Newfoundland dog? I was shocked and dismayed. From that point on I did a lot of research and believe instead to get my dogs titer tested. This tells me IF I need to get vaccine and WHAT vaccine I need to get. Keep our dogs healthy but not overdosed!
Along the same lines as the vaccinations, we believe very strongly in Nomographs. What the heck is that you ask? I’m glad you asked. Some time within the two weeks before or the two weeks after the puppies are born, we draw a sample of the bitch’s blood. That blood sample is sent off to a lab and we get a notification stating exactly WHEN the puppies need to receive their vaccines. That way the puppies are not over vaccinated in hopes of catching it at the right time. We know when it is the right time. All puppies will go to their new homes with a copy of that notification so the puppies receive their shots when they are needed, not too early or too late.
We feed our dogs at Kinsol Kennels a combination of raw and kibble. Mostly we feed a raw diet to our dogs. We go from making our own raw combining all the ingredients to make it nutritionally complete and buying premade high quality raw food. Depending on our energy level. We also feed (off and on, but probably about once a week) a very high quality kibble. The reason we do this is if we want to travel kibble is obviously easier and we don’t want our dogs to have stomach issues with the change. The puppies born at Kinsol Kennels will be given a variety of foods from the moment we start feeding them. This will include kibble and raw.
We do not expect our puppy buyers to follow our philosophy completely. We DO expect our puppy homes to feed high quality food. If you spend more on dog food it saves. You feed less and get less waste (no fillers) and you also save by far less vet visits. My biggest philosophy is that I will not buy my dog food at a place that sells Purina. If they care so little about what they sell, I don’t trust them. I like the way my good friend Wendy said it, buy the best you can afford. Buy from a local, non-chain, pet store. You are keeping your pet healthy and helping out one of your neighbours. It’s a win-win.
I would encourage everyone to research it themselves, but I’ve included a link to a short video with basic ideas here.
Bark Collars!? When we first got Valo we were totally against bark collars. But we have neighbours AND we want our dogs to have free rein outside. This is not a good combination with a Finnish Spitz puppy. A young Finkie is going to bark. If the dog is in a crate or inside your house, it is very easy to control. Not so much if they are outside. Like Valo’s breeder Til said, they are in complete control if they get the correction (zapped, sprayed, noise, vibration). We relented and got a collar. It did it’s job when we needed it. Now that Valo has matured we do not need this collar, but it was a useful tool when we needed it. We encourage you to research how you react to your Finkie’s barking…because they DO bark.
