The benefits of this program are:
1: Improved cardiovascular performance
2: Stronger heart beats
3: Stronger adrenal glands
4: More tolerance to stress and
5: Greater resistance to disease
Your puppy is born in house and is socialized with normal household sounds so that he is a well-adjusted companion. He will be vet checked, first puppy vaccine given, dewormed, stool checked for parasites and microchipped! He will have been handled and loved daily from birth. Puppies are closely monitor throughout their development and mark each puppy with a colored collar from birth so that they can be tracked individually. When they are old enough, depending upon the weather, they are started on housebreaking and taken outside to play. Visitors can play and handle the puppies after they are 3 weeks old. We encourage you to come and visit the puppies...this will also help us assist you in choosing the best puppy for your lifestyle.
A LITTLE ABOUT OUR BREEDINGS HERE:
We genuinely care about the puppies we raise.
All our breeding stock is:
1.) Titled
2.) AKC and/or UKC registered
3.) OFA certified
4.) And participates in breed research for the health of the breed!!!
Our coowners go above and beyond normal health testing. Please check out the OFA links on each dogs page for examples of what you should be looking for when buying a puppy from a breeder. A shepherd is more than just hips and elbows and a basenji is more than eye and fanconi certifications!!! Our dogs can and do win and have accomplishments in the show ring and in performance sports...however, our kennel "emphasis" is on temperment and health...all health certifications that can be registerable with OFA are registered so that you can see and compare to other breeders. We also do NOT breed our females based on an OFA prelim...we get official certifications at 2 years of age as OFA prelims can and do change as the dog matures. Please educate yourself on the breed of dog you are choosing and the health problems within that breed and ask your breeder questions.
All new puppy owners receive a copy of each parents health certifications and titles earned...we back up what titles and health certifications we advertise on our dogs! Any breeder should have documentation for any accomplishment that their dog has accomplished and any health certifications performed! Our breeding stock has "multiple" health certifications as well as titles/temperment tests appropriate to its breed. We do not just breed to have puppies as each breeding is carefully planned to produce the best puppies!
If a breeder is breeding a dog that has "no" or "minimal" health certifications (this includes breeding dogs based only on preliminary xrays) and has no "real" titles on their dog but relies on accomplishements within the pedigree - - please question that breeders intentions!!! Breeding is not regulated (per-say)...anyone can put two dogs together and have puppies and be called a breeder....a true breeder cares about the breed and its future!!
Nutrition: Our dogs and puppies eat a variety of premium foods that is high quality and contains no corn, wheat, soy etc. In the past, we have used: Solid Gold, Innova EVO, Taste of the Wild, Wellness Core, Merrick, Avo Active Care, Orijen among others. For Shepherds, we only use puppy formulas till 4 to 6 months of age. Shepherds are a large breed and slow to mature. We recommend a proper "all life stage" diet after 4 to 6 months of age and will provide you with guidelines on what to look for in a puppy food and adult food. (Along with many other things to help prepare you for your new companion)
German Shepherd Hips and Elbows: Our hobby kennel only has eleven shepherd litters currently that are two years or older (when official OFA xrays are done on hips and elbows). The first litter (A) had seven puppies of which TWO were xray'd for OFA and BOTH are OFA Hip Good. The second litter (B) had five puppies of which THREE were xray'd for OFA and TWO are OFA Hip Good and ONE is OFA Hip Excellent. The third litter (C) had eight puppies of which FIVE were xray'd for OFA and ONE is OFA Hip Good and FOUR are OFA Hip Excellent. The fourth litter (D) had nine puppies of which ONE was xray'd for OFA and is OFA Hip Good . The fifth litter (E) had 8 puppies of which ONE was xray'd for OFA and is OFA Hip Good. The sixth litter (F) had 7 puppies of which NONE are currently xray'd. The seventh litter (G) had 6 puppies of which TWO are currently xray'd for OFA and ONE is OFA Excellent and ONE is OFA Fair. The eighth litter (H) had four puppies of which TWO are currently xray's for OFA and BOTH are OFA Fair. The ninth litter (I) had ten puppies of which NONE are currently xrayd. The tenth litter (J) had nine puppies of which ONE is currently xrayd for OFA and is Mildly Dysplastic. The eleventh litter (K) had 7 puppies of which ONE is currently xray'd for OFA and is OFA Hip Good. That's a total of 80 puppies produced, and 17 out of 18 puppies that were xray'd for OFA on hips passed. SIX were OFA Hip Excellent and EIGHT were OFA Hip Good and THREE were OFA Hip fair and ONE is Mildly dysplastic.
According to the OFA statistics, about 20% of shepherds xray's submitted are OFA Hip dysplastic and less than 4% of shepherds xray's submitted have OFA Excellent Hips.
Our GSD/WS kennel rate of 6 OFA Hip Excellents out of 18 puppies xray'd that are over 2 years of age thus far is: 33.3% OFA Excellent Hips of xray'd progeny
Our GSD/WS kennel rate of 18 OFA submitted xrays and 17 OFA certified Hips is: 94.4% OFA passing Hips in our breedings thus far
data as of Dec 29, 2013 - the stats above can be verified at the OFA website - please run the search on WORRYWORT for all the dogs we have produced and have OFA results.
Let our experience, dedication and love for the breed help you with your next companion.