Reign: based on first pairing

Week 7

• She may shred papers, blankets or bedding in an attempt at “nest building” in the last weeks.
• During the last 2 weeks, your pet may become irritable.
• You may be able to detect movement of the pups.
• Definite abdominal enlargement.
• Abdomen hair will start shedding.

Millie and Maze: based on first pairing

Week 6

• During the last several weeks, your dog’s nutritional needs nearly double. Feed small meals several times a day.
• Your girl could start to be less comfortable, and could vomit on occasion.
• There may be some clear fluid discharge from the vulva. This is normal.
• Increase water.
• Enlargement of mammary glands as nipples darken and enlarge.
• Pigment develops as the pups keep growing. Eyes and lids have formed and remain closed till 2 weeks after birth.

credit: https://www.dogbreedinfo.com/breedingdogs/whelpingdogpregnancycalendar.htm and http://www.maplesprings.com/pregnancy.html

Well, things are finally getting back to normal after the chaos of the past 4-5 months. We still miss our Muffin immensely, and we see her in Rhaenyra more and more. Our house is coming together after all the work we had done on it and it is finally feeling like home. So I guess it is perfect time to announce we have pups on the way. The girls cycles have synced up, which can be common but I’m not really a fan. Mother nature can be a real brat. Reign was very late, Millie and Maze were early and here we are with 3 litters on the way. We skipped Millie and Maze last cycle so they are very well rested. We are in the final stages of finishing our doggie suites and new puppy area. Of course it was suppose to be for one litter (possibly two), but thankfully we have plenty of space, and we decided that with Maze being a first time momma she will be in my bedroom with her pups.

We expect litters late March/Early April. That puts puppies going home end of May (ish). Reign typically has 3-4 pups and I expect the same. Millie has had one litter of 7 and one of 4, so we will just have to wait and see. Maze is 2 years old and this is her first litter. I will be holding females from Reigns litter back for evaluation with the possibility of keeping one. All info is on our Planned Pairings Page. If you are interested please copy/paste/email our puppy questionnaire (application)

I can’t believe it has been this long since I’ve posted. We’ve been busy the past 4 months. We hired electricians to completely rewire our entire home as well as install new lights, switches and outlets. Because of that we had to hire contractors to patch holes, replace bad sheetrock, frame out new walls, remove walls, tape, float, texture and paint. During this time we skipped Millie and Maze’s heat cycle and well, Winter decided she was not skipping. So we had a beautiful litter during this time. A little chaotic but we made it work.

We had to let the contractors go due to poor workmanship and lack of care for our property. So we are finishing up the last bit. We are glad things are getting back to normal and our house feels so much better.

Biosecurity is very important to us as it is for many reputable breeders and anyone who takes raising animals seriously. I have learned much over the years from my breeding mentors as well as my veterinarian.

So, first I want to talk about our husbandry practices. All puppies are born in clean welping areas in clean rooms, indoors. Puppies are raised in an indoor pen and are taken outside to an outdoor pen. These pens are disinfected regularly and the only dogs with access to these pens are their mothers or approved nannies (adult dogs who help us with socialization). At no time do any of our puppies have access to feces from any adult dog including thier mother’s as all our dogs are potty trained and even mom can come and go as she pleases which includes going outside to potty. Our puppies do not have access to puddles or standing water.

Puppies are started on potty pad training at about 2 weeks which we quickly transfer to a potty box by 4 weeks. By clearly defining a potty area early on means your puppy naturally keeps their pen clean and any mistakes are cleaned up on the spot.

We use Rescue (hydrogen peroxide based cleaner for animal environments often used in veterinarian clinics and dog training facilities ), in our puppy pen and kennel areas. We also use Odoban disinfectant and bleach solution as needed.

We limit activity in and out of puppy areas, making sure shoes come off and or are wiped down with Rescue wipes to disinfect.

Parasites internal and external are common in pets. Especially in puppies, but sadly they can be life threatening to those lil bodies if not taken seriously and prevented and or treated.

Our puppies are dewormed with pyrantel pamote (hookworms & roundworms) several times before 5 weeks. After 5 weeks we use Safeguard/Fenbendazole (Hookworms, Roundworms, Tapeworms & Whipworms) Safeguard is also known to help prevent and aid in treatment of Giardia. We use Toltrazuril for coccidia prevention and or treatment.

All of our litters see our vet any any indication of illness or injury and they must see our vet before they go home at 8 weeks. This visit includes a hands on check by the vet, core vaccinations as well as a combined fecal test. While we assume we will get a negative test due to all of our preventatives that is not always the case. If anything is found in the fecal ALL puppies will be treated before they go home. Which is exactly why we choose to run a fecal exam. We do all we can to ensure your puppy goes home healthy.

We do not use any pesticides on our puppies and rely on our puppy parents to research, consult with their vet and choose the right treatment for their puppy. We control fleas by bathing our puppies regularly, controlling fleas on mom and in their environment. Flea treatment is the responsibility of the new puppy family.

Heartworm prevention is also the responsibility of the new puppy family.

We do all we can to make sure your puppy is parasite free but please note parasites are not covered under our contract as they are common and treatment needs to continue after going home.

If you have any questions, on our biosecurity protocols please feel free to contact me.

For more info on internal parasites VCA Internal Parasites or AKC Worms in Dogs

I’m am choosing to post this without naming names. Because while this pertains to a one person in particular it could be anyone and it is happening all around us. It did not start with this person nor will it stop with her. It is a warning more so than a tattle post. If you want to know more it should not be hard to figure it out.

For years I have warned of how the internet allows us all to play with smoke n mirrors. To be who we want to be, make up personas and easily lie about anything. But here is the thing, the internet does not forget. What you post one day and try to counter months later is always there, even if you go back and delete your post someone read it and someone remembers. I have seen first hand and been the victim of a person who was good dressing up her crap and calling it gourmet. Maybe that is why I am so watchful now. But this is not about her…. this is about a far worse person.

2+ years ago when this person burst on the scene she rubbed me the wrong way. She was demeaning in her replies to people. For a “newbie” she came off as a know it all and had no issues hurting people with her comments. She was a mutual friend to a few people I trusted so I thought maybe I was being judgy… I gave her a chance and sure enough I was right. (tooting my own horn here) I visited her website and low and behold I saw MY blog post on her website. I had posted a blog post about why Puppy Culture and completing my Puppy Start Right for instructors course was so import to me. She had it as a page on her site. It was a personal blog post so it was written in first person. So here she was claiming to have taken the course and got her certification…. I mean it was effing crazy to see this. When I texted her, she simply claimed she had no idea I wrote it and that she found it on the internet! WTF? So that makes it ok? Even if that was true (and I don’t buy it) she still had no issue taking someone’s blog post and using it on her page “Because it sounded good!”. She removed it only to, get this….. copy and paste someone else’s info on Puppy Culture. So here is what that told me.

• She is a thief
• She has no regard for other people
• She was obviously lying about using Puppy Culture using it as a selling point
• And if she is a thief and a liar she was not to be trusted

I unfriended her and refused to deal with her. Sadly this meant my friendship with mutual friends took a back seat. While I loved them, I could not “fake” being friendly to this lil flower on any level. I even thought a few times I was over reacting, but still could not being myself to associate with her. A short time later someone on a husky group posted that this person was charged with animal abuse in 2018 when she was working as an animal rescue in Florida. It was shocking to see the video of the news report but it did confirmed my intuition. I watched her continue to acquire dogs and go on as if she was a breeding, showing, training expert. She was transporting dogs which raised another red flag because she was acquiring dogs from other breeders and “transporting them”. I suspected at this point she was using her transport business to flip dogs. I also noticed she was using images of other dogs to represent her dogs on her website. I brought this up to a fellow breeder and she agreed and even found where the original photos came from. I also suspect she was getting into a possible hoarding issue with the amount of dogs she was acquiring.

She along with her husband was recently changed with I think 82 counts of animal cruelty. She also faces felony charges for forging medical documents. I was briefly in a group for people who got puppies from her and their stories were heartbreaking. She was flipping dogs, lying about where they came from, forging health certificates, pups went home sick, pups died in her care, she lied to other breeders she was working with conning them, she told buyers to use corrections on puppies, and she had over 50 dogs in a tiny area with no access to food or water.

I’m posting this because her victims all said, “she answered questions”, “she said the right things”, “she had a website”, “she seemed legit”. But it was smoke n mirrors. A horrible façade. This person is why breeders are looked down upon. This is why I say be careful. I’m not perfect, we all make mistakes, it’s how we learn. But it’s up to us to change course, make things right, to educate ourselves, improve and grow. Please ask questions. If they don’t allow you to their house (which is completely understandable in this day and age) ask to see photos, video, live chat. I have almost daily video documentation of my litters as they grow. All breeders do things differently and you have choices on where to go.. but it is honesty in how we raise our puppies, as well as dogs and puppies in safe, sanitary, healthy and loving environments, along with education and experience is what is important. Be careful out there guys!