We recently had the chance to connect with Ashley Tufte and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Ashley, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What is a normal day like for you right now?
A “normal” day here is never actually normal. Breeding dogs and raising kids means every day looks different depending on what stage we’re in — newborn litters, weaning age, expectant moms, go-home week — and whatever the kids have going that day. School schedules, appointments, no-school days, and the occasional sick kid all get woven right into the middle of it.
Even on the “quiet” days with no emergencies, there is still the steady, never-ending, everyday work: cleaning kennels and whelping areas, feeding and watering dogs, rotating and exercising them, updating the website, answering inquiries, doing paperwork, keeping medical and litter records current, and staying on top of messages.
When we have tiny pups on the ground, our days might be filled with vet runs for tails and dewclaws, bottle-feeding around the clock, and sanitizing whelping areas several times a day — in between school drop-off/pick-up, kids’ appointments, or a surprise sick day. When pups are older, we may be doing vaccines or deworming, taking them for ear crops, driving to the airport, or meeting families for go-home day, adjusting plans as needed around family life.
With pregnant moms we spend a lot of time waiting and watching: monitoring their behavior, setting up whelping areas, back and forth to the vet for X-rays and check-ins, and staying ready for the minute labor starts — even if it lands on a snow day or right before a dentist appointment.
This past year alone brought more than the usual curveballs: a puppy breaking its leg not once but twice and needing careful recovery, a mom with a stuck puppy that required an emergency pull at the vet, delivering another pup in the car on the way back home, and then an unplanned C-section the very next day — all in one weekend. I also drove to the East Coast to recover two stolen puppies and spent days on the phone with sheriffs and boarders handling that situation — all while still parenting and rearranging life around kids’ needs.
No two days ever look the same here. Breeding dogs and raising puppies — with real family life running alongside it — means plans change, emergencies happen, routines keep rolling and you do what needs to be done every single day, whatever that day happens to bring.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Ashley and together with my husband Duston and our boys, Wyatt and Lincoln, we run Royal Dynasty Dobermann Kennel. We started very small with no intention of turning this into a business — just a deep love for the breed and one dog that began our journey. What began quietly and casually has grown over time into something much bigger than we ever expected, and it has truly become both a blessing and a passion for our family.
We breed and raise European Dobermanns in a true family setting. Every dog here lives as a pet first. They are part of our routines, our noise, our kids’ schedules, our meals, our evenings on the couch — they are family before anything else.
Our goal is to produce healthy, sound, well-adjusted Dobermann puppies that are prepared for real life — mentally, emotionally, and physically. We focus on health, correct temperament, and stable nerves, and we raise our litters hands-on from birth with structure, exposure, handling, and love.
We are also beginning to put more emphasis on training and developing our older dogs, continuing their training and work so that what we produce reflects not just breeding, but lived temperament and ability.
What started small has grown into the work we now pour our hearts into — not because we planned it, but because we love this breed and believe in doing it the right way.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
The same person I am now — because I’ve never bowed to what the world thought I should be. I’ve never blended in, played small, or reshaped myself to make other people comfortable. I’ve always moved to the beat of my own drum, even when that rhythm didn’t match anyone else’s.
I was never made to fit in. I learned early that approval is one of the most expensive things a person can chase, and I refuse to pay with my soul, my peace, or my identity.
I don’t chase approval, I don’t beg for validation, and I don’t live by other people’s expectations. The world changes its standards every five minutes, but I stand on something unshakable: faith, honesty, and integrity. As long as I walk in truth and keep my trust in God, I already have all the approval I’ll ever need.
People can talk. They can criticize, misunderstand, or label me — and that’s fine. I’m not here to please the crowd; I’m here to live with purpose. I answer to a higher calling, and I will never trade my authenticity for applause.
I believe in living with integrity even when no one is watching. If my faith is rooted in God, then I already have the only approval that matters. I don’t need to convince people, impress them, or shrink myself to be palatable. The world will always have opinions and labels ready to assign — but I don’t belong to the world. I belong to the One who made me.
So who was I before the world spoke? The same person I am now — imperfect, human, stubbornly authentic, guided by conscience and faith, and unwilling to trade myself for acceptance.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering and failure have been far better teachers to me than comfort or achievement ever were. Success can reward you, but it rarely shapes you. The hard seasons — the losses, the setbacks, the moments where everything felt heavy — those are the places where perseverance is built, faith is tested, and hope becomes more than just a word.
Smooth seas don’t make strong sailors. Every hardship, every fight, every unexpected detour has equipped me with strength, endurance, humility, and wisdom that I could not have learned any other way. Pain has a way of stripping away illusions: it forces you to see what matters, who you are, and Who you’re relying on.
Suffering taught me to keep going when nothing is easy, to trust God when nothing is certain, and to believe that even the broken chapters still serve a purpose. Success might decorate your life, but hardship forges your character — and I would not trade the strength it produced in me.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
One of the biggest lies in the pet industry is the idea that all breeders are the problem — that we are responsible for overcrowded shelters, rescues full of dogs, and abandoned pets. Ethical, responsible breeders care deeply about the dogs we produce, and we take that responsibility seriously for life.
At our kennel, this is more than words — it’s written in every sales contract. Every puppy I place comes with a lifelong agreement: if for any reason a dog cannot remain in its home, it must come back to me. I’ve driven across the country, spent countless hours, and invested significant resources to bring my dogs home, vet them, and ensure they are safe until they can be placed in the right situation.
While the industry sometimes paints breeders as the problem, the truth is that ethical breeders are part of the solution — and we prove it by standing behind our dogs for life.
At our kennel, our dogs always come home, because family is forever.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
What I Understand Deeply That Most People Don’t
One thing I understand now with absolute clarity is this: the things people chase — money, status, possessions — do not deliver the fulfillment they are promised to. I once had the life that is supposed to equal happiness: the beautiful home in the, the brand-new luxury car, the designer handbags and shoes, the ability to buy what I wanted without hesitation. It was the picture of “having made it.”
That life had no peace — it looked perfect on the outside but felt like a prison on the inside. The quiet strain of emptiness was louder than any feeling of success.
That experience forced me to confront a truth most people don’t learn until they’re deep into a life they don’t actually want: money can buy comfort, but it cannot buy meaning. Things can impress other people, but they cannot make you feel alive. Status can make you visible, but it cannot make you whole.
We are not fulfilled when we have everything. We are fulfilled when we are living in alignment with why we are here — when our days are spent doing what we are meant to do, contributing in a way that matters, and enjoying the people we love instead of performing for people we barely know.
In the years since, my definition of wealth has changed completely. I measure my life now not by what I own, but by how aligned I feel — by whether I’m spending my days doing what I believe I was created to do and investing in the people I love. The peace that comes from living with purpose and being surrounded by family is deeper and more sustaining than any material achievement I ever had.
Because I have lived both sides, it honestly makes me sad to watch people exhaust themselves building material wealth while their relationships starve in the meantime — children growing up without presence, marriages running on autopilot, families living under the same roof but not actually living together. They pour everything into things that cannot love them back and still feel empty.
The world may continue to run after things that fade, but I have already lived that life and learned the lesson. Real success is meaning. Real wealth is relationships. And real fulfillment comes only when we stop performing for the world and start living for what actually matters.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.royaldynastydobermannkennel.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Royaldynastydobermannkennel
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/royaldynastydobermannkennel/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RoyalDynastyDobermannKennel
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@royaldynastydobermanns
Image Credits
Kait Wegner
Riley Yousef
Shan Pinegar
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