It Started With a Dog. It Never Stopped. Brittani's Story.

 

 

Hello, friend.

If you've made it this far, you're either as crazy as I am, or you accidentally clicked the wrong button and decided to stay. Either way, welcome.

 

Before Dogs

From childhood until I got married, I was completely obsessed with dogs. At twelve years old, I wrote a school report on Shetland Sheepdogs and somehow turned it into a deep dive into their history, purpose, and everything else I could learn. That report opened a door that never really closed.

I spent years watching dog shows, studying breeds, memorizing breed purposed, and challenging myself to identify every dog I saw. While other people were watching movies, I was watching Westminster.

Dogs were simply part of who I was.

  

Then Everything Changed

When I became a mother, something shifted.

For the first time, I stopped looking at dogs through the eyes of an enthusiast and started looking at them through the eyes of a parent. Suddenly, I realized that even a good dog is still an animal, and that realization made me cautious. Then I went on to have six more of those child things, and life became wonderfully busy. As our family grew, dogs took a back seat.

 

The Year Everything Fell Apart

In 2022, I was diagnosed with a cyclical neurological condition that affected my ability to manage stress.

What followed was one of the hardest seasons of my life.

Anxiety attacks. Depression. Sensitivity to light, sound, and smells. Joint pain. Hot flashes. Cold flashes. A growing fear of leaving the house. I spent nearly a year trying to fix everything naturally through nutrition, exercise, body work, supplements, and self-help books. Guess where I ended up?

In bed.

For nearly a month. The blinds were closed. The room was dark. I was afraid to leave it. Meanwhile, my husband was carrying the weight of raising our children while I struggled just to make it through the day.

And then a doodle showed up.

 

The Doodle That Changed Everything

 

A friend called and asked if we could watch her doodle for three weeks. I asked Viktor. He said yes. She assured me he was easy.

"He sleeps in."

"He just needs to avoid human food because of his allergies."

Nope. Not with us...

This dog was everything I wouldn't have picked in a dog.

He humped the kids.

He nipped.

He stole socks.

He stole stuffed animals.

He had absolutely no leash manners.

He was up at 7:00am every single morning.

Every.

Single.

Morning.

For three weeks, I had to get out of bed to care for him. Since he was bouncing off the walls inside the house, we had to get out and exercise him every day. And something unexpected happened. I started researching dog behavior. Then dog training. Then canine psychology. Then breed history. Then more dog training.

I applied what I learned to the doodle.

I may or may not have applied some of it to my children too.

The doodle improved.

The kids learned.

And for the first time in a long time, I had something that pulled me out of myself.

By the end of those three weeks, he had leash manners, stopped humping the kids, stopped nipping, and was about ninety percent cured of his sock obsession. Then we gave him back.

The next morning I walked past the dog bowl we had bought for him.

It was empty.

And my heart broke.

That's when Viktor said:

"I think we're dog people."

 

 

Looking for the Right Dog

That weekend, we went to our first dog show.

At the time, I was constantly researching breeds through the AKC website. Based on their breed matching tools, Afghan Hounds seemed like a good fit. Viktor liked them a lot but wasn't convinced.

The coat seemed like too much work.

(A statement that became increasingly funny after we got involved with Black Russian Terriers.)

Then came Salukis. We started talking with breeders and learning everything we could. At the same time, I knew I wanted something else. I wanted a dog that could make me feel safe. Maybe even a future service dog.

 The problem?

Viktor rejected nearly every breed I suggested.

Rottweiler.

No.

Doberman.

No.

Cane Corso.

No.

Akita.

Also no.

Then he casually dropped a requirement I wasn't prepared for.

"I want a fluffy protection dog that doesn't shed."

"What?! That doesn't exist!"

Apparently it did.

I just hadn't found it yet.

 

 

The Dog I Didn't Want

Eventually, after countless hours of research, I landed on the Spanish Water Dog.

I spent hours talking with a breeder. We found promising puppies. Viktor approved. Everything should have been settled. But something kept nagging at me.

It wasn't our breed.

Not quite.

So I went back to the AKC website and started over. Breed by breed. One at a time. And then I found the Black Russian Terrier.

My first thoughts?

"Ew."

"I don't like this dog."

"Look at that blocky head."

"I can't even see its eyes."

But I kept reading.

Low shedding.

Highly intelligent.

Natural guardian.

Confident.

Stable.

Trainable.

Protective without being reckless.

Every quality we wanted was there.

The more I read, the more one phrase kept appearing:

A strong sense of justice.

That caught my attention.

And before long, I was pretty sure I had found our breed.

 

 

Then Came Zhanna

I found a breeder with available puppies and called him.

Within fifteen minutes of that conversation, I knew.

This was our breed.

The stories he shared about the breed's temperament and protective instincts were exactly what I needed to hear. We placed a deposit that same day. Less than a week after the doodle went home, Viktor brought home our first Black Russian Terrier.

Zhanna.

Her name is Russian and means "God is gracious."

She changed my life.

Not dramatically overnight.

Slowly.

Steadily.

She gave me confidence to leave the house again. She became my service dog. She learned to create space around me in public. She learned to alert when my anxiety was escalating. She learned deep pressure therapy. She learned to help me navigate a world that had suddenly become overwhelming.

For the first time in a long time, I felt capable again.

 

 

One Dog Was Never Going to Be Enough

After Zhanna, we quickly discovered something important.

One Black Russian Terrier was not enough.

Eight months later, Zahkar joined our family.

Then came years of learning. Showing. Training. Studying pedigrees. Researching health. Learning structure. Learning history. Learning what makes this breed so remarkable.

Not a week goes by that I don't find myself exploring pedigrees, studying producing lines, or learning something new about the Black Russian Terrier.

Then came Zariah.

Then Trigger.

And somewhere along the way, what started as one dog became something much bigger.

 

 Why Color Splash Exists

Color Splash Kennel wasn't created because I wanted to breed dogs.

It was created because dogs changed my life.

The Black Russian Terrier gave me confidence when I had lost it. Purpose when I needed it. Community when I felt isolated. And a future I never saw coming.

Today, our goal is simple.

To preserve this remarkable breed, continue learning from those who came before us, and help other families experience the same joy, companionship, and life-changing impact that these dogs have brought into ours.

After all, it started with a dog. It just never stopped.