Puppy details:
My puppies are raised with Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS), Early Scent Introduction (ESI), Puppy Culture, and my own brand of enrichment and training which I have been refining over the years. Pups are well-started on potty training, crate training, leash training, clicker training, resource guarding prevention, the concept of operant conditioning and will have an established training relationship with humans. They are socialized to many different people and animals. Puppies come with included private lessons up to 6 months old, a thorough health guarantee, are from health tested parents, and of course, lifetime breeder support and answers to any and all of your questions. • Puppies will be matched to homes at approximately 8 weeks old, after we do temperament testing. • Matches are made based on the temperament and background of the puppy and goals/needs of the applicant. • Matches are not made on a first-come first-served basis. • I don’t accept any deposits or payments until after puppies are assigned to homes. • Visits by approved applicants are welcomed. • Puppies are not shipped via cargo and must be picked up personally from our residence in Northern Nevada. Our nearest airport is Reno-Tahoe International. Plan for a good amount of time for pickup: to come to our home and visit a while, meet with the dogs, etc. • Wait times can vary greatly, I am in the process of streamlining my application review. If there’s a litter pending or on the ground that you are interested in, please feel free to reach out regarding updates on your application. • Puppy prices can be found on my website.
0 Comments
My health testing standards:
Full panel DNA OFA hips OFA elbows OFA shoulders OFA spine OFA heart OFA patella OFA eyes I’ve been increasing my health testing standards over the years and I’m at a place I’m very happy with. Going forward, all of my breeding prospects (no matter the breed) will be screened to the standard listed above. I pride myself on offering above and beyond health testing in my program and test extensively outside of breed requirements. All of my dog’s health results are publicly posted on their respective pages on my website. Friendly reminder that just because you don’t like a breeder or disagree with someone’s program, doesn’t necessarily make that breeder “bad.” The internet makes it easy for people to dehumanize others and forget there are real people on the other end. I have a lot of respect for those who choose to be kind despite differences in opinion.
Holding every breeder to your personal standard of excellence and demonizing them when they don’t fit it is unreasonable. It doesn’t make someone a bad breeder just because you don’t like them or their choices. Treating breeders as if they are not people with full lives outside of this space, with mental and physical health, with families, homes, careers, and personal limitations to what is accessible for them is unkind and unhelpful. Sharing your experiences with the goal of being informative is one thing but personal attacks, slander, name calling, etc. are uncalled for and it really speaks more volumes about the individuals partaking in the hatefulness than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, everyone is entitled to their opinion and conversations should be had. I am not for standing by and allowing true wrong doings, heinous acts, or abusive behavior to slip under the radar. This goes both ways… how you conduct yourself as a breeder AKA a professional in the industry leaves an impression and speaks volumes. As breeders, I feel like we should be constantly striving to better our programs and build our community, not tear it down. There are truly problematic people out there who are actually abusing or neglecting dogs/puppies, hoarding ungodly numbers of dogs (I’m talking 20, 30, even 50 plus dogs, numbers that no person can reasonably care for without staff onsite), who are completely unsupportive of their puppy owners, or are totally ill prepared to actually raise a litter. There are endless truly bad breeders who are perpetuating the poor outlook the general public has on breeding as a whole. I just can’t help but feel like if all this energy spent bashing breeders who are doing good by their dogs, puppies, and owners was put towards people who are actually problematic, maybe a positive difference could be made. I’ve had many people ask about this topic, so without further ado let’s talk about heat cycles! Hopefully this can be a good source of information if you’re new to owning intact females or even if you’re just curious how other people do it. A lot can vary between different breeds and even from dog to dog, so I’ll go over things as a general guide and if you have questions, feel free to ask.
There are 4 stages of a bitch’s hormone cycle: •Proestrus - the start of the heat cycle, coming in. 10-14 days. •Estrus - the fertile period, standing heat. 3-5 days. •Diestrus - the period after the heat cycle, going out. ~7 days. •Anestrus - the period between heat cycles, resting phase. Girls can have their first heat anywhere from 6 months to 2 years old (with some exceptions starting earlier or later). I have found that most of my dogs go into their first season between 10 and 18 months. The first heat may be a little different than the ones she will experience in the future, but typically it’s about the same. There can be physical and behavioral signs to look for when your girl is getting close. She may become more needy, whiny, and drives may change. She may experience appetite changes. She may become different socially with other dogs. Or, she may not show you any signs at all! They like to keep us on our toes sometimes. Physically, the vulva will swell and she will begin having discharge. You may be surprised just how much it will swell during her heat! It’s significant. Below are some of my general guidelines during heat cycles. Do: Continue moderate exercise Keep away from intact males Allow rest Don’t: Allow swimming or submerging in water Over feed Attend places with dogs you can’t trust It’s good to remember when your girl is in heat that she isn’t ill. It’s normal and it shouldn’t be hard on her. But there are precautions to take for her and yourself. For instance, no swimming, which increases the risk of pyometra as water may enter the vaginal canal. Pyometra is the biggest danger to having intact females (risks vary by breed but can be life threatening), but you can watch out for it as a responsible dog owner. If you notice any abnormalities, particularly lethargy, poor appetite, vomiting, abdominal swelling or foul discharge, see your vet immediately! Since pyo is a bacterial uterine infection, you can even monitor your bitch’s temperature during and after a heat cycle to detect any fevers early. The only method to ensure prevention is to remove the uterus, but unfortunately that is not without its own negative side effects. If I were to spay a non-breeding female, I would wait until well after 2 years old and after a minimum of 2 heat cycles. Girls can definitely gain physical and mental maturity with their first few heat cycles. Bitch britches/diapers/panties are wonderful for keeping your home free of mess, but don’t wear them constantly. Having a warm moist environment is perfect for bacterial growth so I give my girls far more time without panties than with, even if this means additional crate time during heat. Pants will NOT prevent a tie from happening! They are not a chastity belt. Dogs can and will breed through extreme measures so it’s important to have a foolproof plan for preventing unplanned pregnancies. To expand on the behavioral and social differences with females in heat, especially with other dogs, is challenging because it varies so widely between individuals. There really is no foolproof guideline and you must learn from your own dog, but I have experienced a large sum of girls in heat between my own and client dogs so I will give some examples that I have observed. Some girls become very flirtatious and playful, soliciting attention and play from other dogs. They act almost puppy like in their behaviors and silliness. They seem to be in a perpetually good mood and may allow passes with other dogs they normally wouldn’t. These are the types of girls that are usually big flaggers. Flagging is when a female in heat dramatically holds her tail to the side, her back tensing and almost arching, very clearly displaying her vulva which as she gets closer to standing heat will also tense and rise up and outwards some. This is the position they take to be bred / tied with. The flirty girls will sometimes do a less dramatic display of flagging towards other dogs before they are in standing heat. You will also sometimes see it when you touch near her rear, for examination or putting on her britches. Some girls are the total opposite when in heat and even leading up to being in heat. They have a hairpin trigger, they may accept less interaction from other dogs, becoming snappy and downright aggressive. You may see an increase in possession or resource guarding. They will have a different demeanor about them and it’s usually pretty clear if you know how to perceive social tension in dogs. They may get into fights with dogs they are otherwise totally fine with and it’s very important not to let them practice that too much as it could sour a relationship on a lasting level. These girls are likely to not accept the advances of a male until they are actively in standing heat and not a moment after. Other dogs may also perceive your bitch in heat differently. Even neutered males are likely to be affected, as well as many females intact or spayed. Neutered males can even tie with a bitch in heat. Females may be “aroused” by her and try to mount or hump her. Lots of females will mark over her urine and spend additional time smelling her and where she has been. So ultimately, within dog to dog interactions it pays to know your girl and any other dogs she will be interacting with so you can set everyone up for success. Sometimes everything is playful and flirty, sometimes it can be simply dangerous depending on the dogs and it can be anywhere in between, as those examples listed above are kind of the extremes of each side. How I handle each of my girls in heat is mostly the same as usual, with a few caveats. I recommend keeping track of your girls cycles so you have the information to look back on. It does get easier as you gain experience with it! Don’t let heat cycles deter you from keeping intact girls, it really isn’t a big scary thing if you are responsible and diligent. I’ve been asked several times to talk about the differences between drive and arousal so I wanted to do a quick post! I’ll likely expand on this topic later too.
Arousal is an emotional response to something a dog finds stimulating but doesn’t know why or what it should do with those emotions. Drive is an innate predisposed will to interact directed towards something specific which varies by breed, individual and even what’s been taught. High drive looks like a dog who is willing to work under any conditions or circumstances. A dog that puts the “job” before other things. That can focus on it’s task despite outside stimuli. Even work through discomfort, high pressure, or pain - think police dogs who are being attacked by a human, even stabbed or shot but they still do their job, cattle dogs who get their jaw kicked out of socket and still finish loading that truck, hog dogs who get caught by a tusk and they still don’t let go. Those are a few examples of extremely high drive. Drive also falls into different categories. Prey drive, food drive, toy drive, social drive. Those drives can all vary within an individual as well. A dog with high drive is a dog who keeps coming back to the task at hand with just as much gusto each time even if it didn’t “go well” previously, especially if a reward history is strong. Arousal looks like a dog who is very stimulated by outside influences, easily aroused by things, a hairpin trigger so to speak. Often they are loud/vocal especially in Border Collies, they often have their hackles raised at a moments notice, they have a frantic vibe about them when stimulated rather than a collected intensity. Prone to reactivity of either a friendly or aggressive nature, sensitivity, things like shadow/light chasing, they are often over threshold before much of anything even really happens, which can lead to volatility in some circumstances especially when poorly handled. Arousal can be fun too, it’s a dog who is really interested in what you’re doing and presenting, often a dog who is quite engaged when in drive, it can be funny and cute and playful. A dog can be both high arousal and high drive but that’s not always the case; you can have dogs who are high arousal and easily stimulated by the environment but aren’t particularly driven for any certain thing, and you can have very stable dogs who aren’t easily aroused but are high drive and carry a strong will to do or interact with particular things. Most dogs are a combination of both these things with differing levels and intensities. I’ve gained this knowledge through experience over many years with intimately learning the behavior of hundreds of dogs, and it can be difficult for those with less experience to identify subtle differences, particularly if you don’t have other references to compare to. You could ask 50 different people and get 50 different answers but this is my opinion and experience. But if you’re wondering where your dog falls into this spectrum and would like help evaluating, I am more than happy to assist! Happy to expand more if you have any questions, leave them in the comments! |
AuthorThe human behind the dogs. Archives
May 2024
Categories |