What we offer to our community is a healthy well balanced puppy. We pride ourselves in the care we give and eliminate any risk to our puppies to the best of our abilities. We use dewormer on our puppies starting at 4 weeks of age, and from then every two weeks until they go home. (4,6,8 etc..). At 6 weeks old we give them their first puppy shots at home. The reason we do it our self is to eliminate exposure to diseases like parvo, and many more contagious illness that is common at a veterinary office. When our puppies have built a better immunity which is around 7-8 weeks we take them to the vet and have them checked so they can go to their new homes.
(A pump handle tail that naturally reaches the hock is preferred, screwed short or a docked tails are acceptable. The pump handle tail should be carried low and not over the back of the dog.) Since our dogs are registered with IOBEA we follow the breed standards and rules and we normally dock our puppies tails. Docked tails takes place around 3-4 days old and the process is painless and easy. We band our tails so the process is what it sounds like. We take a tool call elastrator and we place a small rubber band around it and it stretches the band open. Once the band it open the puppy tail is in placed the elastrator is released and the band stays in place on the tail.
Before our puppies are born we set up a Whelping box. This is a nest type box that our females can be comfortable and get things the way she wants them before preparing herself for birth. We provide her with soft blankets and towels to lay on and they are easy for clean up when the birthing takes place. We are still trying to find the best whelping box for us. We have build one in 2017, that was nice and easy to do clean up in, this year we are trying a new set up, its a play pen. Whelping boxes come in all sizes and shapes, with different material finding out what works for your litter. In 2017 we didn't use a litter box, this year we plan on teaching our puppies to use one part ( the litter pan) for going potty. So we are thrilled to try some different things this go around.
