FACILITIES
Proper facilities are vital to caring for both adult dogs as well as whelping and weaning puppies responsibly. We can't say enough about having the right facilities to manage waste water, maintain cleanliness, parasite control, etc. Our breeding Facilities are divided into three separate areas. These areas are the kennel, whelping, and weaning.
KENNEL
The kennel is where our adult dogs spend most of their time. This is a covered barn with concrete floors and walk ways, automatic waters, excellent ventilation, floor drains, and all connected to a large dog run. The dogs are let out in the mornings and put up at night. They have access to their kennels, food, dog houses, and water throughout the day and They are allowed to socialize with all the other dogs.
WHELPING
The whelping barn is a climate controlled and ventilated building used to whelp the puppies until they are four weeks old. The mom goes into this building a few weeks before her scheduled birth date to get acclimated and be more closely observed. The building allows us to maintain proper heat as the puppies can't maintain proper body temperature during The first few weeks of life. It also allows for us to have good observation of both mom and puppies during this time as each mom has their own kennel, whelping space, whelping box, food, water, and heat lamp. Further the building has Running hot water, storage for supplies, etc. Comfort is important to both puppies and mom.
WEANING
The weaning phase is the messy phase. It's also the phase when the puppies begin to come off their moms immune system and start to develop their own. During this phase the puppies can be vulnerable to various diseases. The weaning barn plays a big role in protecting them. It's an enclosed building designed to manage waste, proper ventilation, and ultimately optimized for cleaning and puppy weaning. We move the puppies and mom to the weaning barn around four weeks of age. Mom will be with the puppies for at least another two weeks in the weaning barn. It's during this time that we begin the process of introducing dry and soft dog food to the puppies and at six weeks we wean the puppies from mom. They have an additional two weeks to be observed for any problems and we also verify they are eating on Their own and are ready to be rehomed. It's also during this time that they give their shots and are microchipped. We feel this step is important as it gives us time to address any problems we might have with particular puppies. Not that we have many. Further, this building allows us to put in place access controls and various cleaning protocols including daily sanitation with chlorination to eliminate the chance of health problems (parasites, bacteria, parvo, etc.)
