Meet Julie and Jon Hamm | French Bulldog Breeder, Toxicologist & Candle Maker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Julie and Jon Hamm and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Julie and Jon, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
We’d have to say how hard we work along with our customer service. My husband, Jon, and I work extremely hard to make sure our dogs have the best life they can. Since we breed dogs our schedules can be kin of hectic and we do have to skip a lot of events because of how we take care of our dogs. For example, when we have puppies on the ground, the first 2 weeks we have eyes on the puppies 24/7. This means we take two hour shifts of being awake or asleep. We make sure mom is gettin what she needs in the way of food, supplements, bathroom breaks, water, etc. Not all litters are the same which means not all care is the same. Each time we have a litter we cater to what mom and puppies needs are. Sometimes that means bottle feeding puppies, hand feeding mom, syringe feeding mom water, helping puppies find the teats, or helping mom find a comfortable position to feed her puppies. This leads in to our customer service. We want clients and prospective clients to feel how much we love our dogs. They are family first and business second. We spend an enormous amount of time answering questions about our pups and are transparent through the entire process. The fact is, we are working with live animals and things do not always go to plan. We make sure to let our clients know when things come up with the pups medically and their big moments. We text frequently with our clients to give them updates on their future puppy and send pictures and videos throughout the entire process. We make a point to post on our Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and TickTok accounts regularly along with keeping our website up to date. Ultimately our goal is to breed healthy, structurally sounds French Bulldogs and to give them the best life they deserve. This is a labor of love above all.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
How we got in to dog breeding and candle making is an interesting story. I, Julie, have a BA in International Politics with a Minor in Equestrian Business Management as well as a MA in International Development. I have spent most of my career teaching English overseas and working with Non-Profits in various capacities. My husband, Jon, has a BS in Biological Sciences and a PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology. He has spent most of his career as a Toxicologist working to evaluate non animal test methods for regulatory purposes. So how did we get into breeding and candle making? Well, we purchased our first Frenchie in 2019 with the intent to breed her to see what we thought. We both love animals and thought it would be an amazing experience to be a part of the process from start to finish! Talula had her first litter in 2021 and we absolutely fell in love with the entire process. It is not an easy job and is not for everyone. We are incredibly thankful that Talula was such a good mom. That really makes all the difference! As for the candles, we were going to work with a small candle company to make French Bulldog candles for our puppy packs. However, that ended up not working out so we decided to take on the challenge ourselves! We have loved learning how to make candles and we are now selling them along with French Bulldog head wax melts!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
That is such a hard question since there are so many places to go! We would definitely suggest going to NCMA, it is an amazing art museum that has a lot of outdoor spaces with all kinds of different events! I would suggest doing a food tour in Durham as well! Durham has so many great food and drink spots and taking the tour lets you try so many things. If you have time we’d also suggest going to the mountains. NC has such beautiful mountains and so many places to explore. As for where to go in Raleigh we would suggest checking out the downtown bar scene. There are so many neat bars downtown that make craft cocktails!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Oh man. That is such a tough questions to answer since there have been so many people who have helped us along the way. There would be no way we would be where we are today if it was not for the support and knowledge we have received from other breeders! Like in any business not everyone wants to share their secrets. We have thankfully met so many breeders along the way who want other breeders to succeed. We make sure we do the same! It would be too hard to give specific names regarding who has helped us. So, we would like to dedicate this shoutout to all the breeders, you know who you are, that have been there for us along the way!

Website: https://www.jandjfrenchiesllc.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jandjfrenchies/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JandJFrenchies