Our Story

Hi, my name is Citlali Gonzalez. It is an Aztec name that means "little star". In English, most people pronounce it as Sit-lolly. My nickname since childhood has been Cali, hence the name for our program. I grew up in the Bay Area of California and speak fluent Spanish and English. I am a twin and come from loving parents that immigrated here from Mexico. I went to college at the University of California, Santa Cruz and graduated in 2015 with a Bachelors degree in Sociology. I got married to my husband, Juan, during my 3rd year at college and had our first son during my last semester. I ended up having to take that last semester off and finish my degree during the Summer but I finished and became a first generation college student. My husband is a tree climber/trimmer and was able to provide for us while I became a stay at home mom. I always wanted to go back to school and go into nursing but since we moved out to the mountains, I didn't see that option as feasible since childcare is so far away and our internet and power are not very stable. I had a very content life here on our little ranch with my boys but needed something else to keep me busy. And this new journey that we have ventured on of breeding Aussies has definitely kept me busy! But boy it is a very fulfilling life. I am very blessed to call this my life and I hope I can help you add that member to your family that you have been dreaming of!

My husband and I decided to start breeding Australian Shepherds for a couple of reasons. The summer of 2019, I rescued a mama Husky and her 10 puppies. Very long story but the mom and puppies were in horrible conditions and we decided it would be best to get them out of there and raise them in our home. I knew nothing about raising a litter of puppies and it was a little intimidating to be working with a mother dog who I did not know before and could easily bite me when trying to help her with her babies. The mama soon realized that we were there to help her and she seemed so beyond grateful and relaxed after that. You can imagine what a crazy and wonderful journey this was for me, to raise 10 newborn puppies with no previous experience of raising puppies. It is an experience I will never forget and one that immensely impacted my life. I was able to find homes for all of the puppies and ended keeping one.

When we bought our little farm, we dreamed of the animals we could raise here. We stared off with chickens and some barn cats. Cazador, the pup we kept, was an excellent guard dog and helped keep the predators in these mountains away from snacking on the livestock. We knew we wanted a companion for him and hopefully have a dog pack here soon as well. We started looking into adopting a puppy, but when you have young kids, it is unfortunately very difficult for your application to be accepted by animal shelters and rescues. We have 2 young boys and were denied so many times. We looked and applied for months, to no avail, which became extremely frustrating. So we began to look into buying one instead. I have loved Australian Shepherds for as long as I can remember and after doing research on multiple breeds, we agreed that an Australian Shepherd would be the best fit for our family and lifestyle. 

Once we started looking into breeders, we realized there weren’t very many close to the Bay Area. In the search for our puppy, we realized how poorly bred or poorly cared for many of them are. I had just finished watching a video series (just for fun) on Instagram about an Aussie breeder that documented her experience and whole process of breeding Australian Shepherds from start to finish. In the back of my head, I had a little voice telling me to look into what it takes to become a responsible breeder. I talked over my initial thoughts with my husband and he was so encouraging. I started doing a crazy amount of research of what was required to produce healthy puppies. In the middle of the process, I knew this was something we could do! Since I have raised puppies before, it made me very excited about the thought of having our own Aussie pack and being able to provide amazing quality puppies to people and families who deserve them. 

On another note, I completely support adopting animals from animal shelters and rescues. If you can do it, please do it! Those babies need help from people who are willing and able to do it. But adopting is not for everyone. Especially when you have young kids and can be very difficult for animal shelters to approve your dog adoption application. That can be very frustrating when you want to raise your kids with a family dog and you are willing to give that dog the best forever home possible. When you buy a puppy from a reputable breeder, you know exactly what you are getting. You are buying a dog free from genetic diseases and a dog that will fit your family’s lifestyle based on temperament, drive, and overall size. 

I require my buyers to sign a contract that states if under any reason the new owner cannot or does not want to keep the dog, the dog must be returned to me. It cannot be sold or transferred to any one or taken to a shelter. We are not contributing to more dogs in the shelter system. We also have our puppies on spay/neuter contracts in order to prevent our puppies to fall into the hands of non-reputable backyard breeders who do not have the health of the dogs as a priority.