Almost 30 years experience have shown us that there is never too much care and prevention when you are talking about breeding dogs. We've developed a system that we follow with every single litter.

To ensure both the emotional and physical well being of our dogs and puppies we follow a strict procedure before, during and after each breeding.

At all times:

Health and nutrition is the base for a well balance reproductive system.

• Nutrition: We feed our dogs and puppies with Purina Pro Plan Dry and can food. Each dog has its own diet based on age, activity, reproductive stage, preferences, etc. We insist in giving the dogs a premium quality food. Feeding Pro Plan I've got nothing more than big and healthy litters for more than 15 years. The moms have never ran out of milk and the puppies are weaned at a top weight.
• Health: We keep strict control on vaccinations, de-worms, heart worm prevention and any other health control our dogs may need to keep them fit and happy.
• All our breeding stock have been checked and cleared for inherited deceases through OFA and CERF. We check  Hips, Elbows, Cardiac, Eyes and Patellas.

Before mating:

We make sure all our bitches are up to date with vaccines, de-worms, and that they are in perfect health condition.

We choose the best stud available to ensure the improvement of breed. It is a requirement that all stud used by us are health checked and certified to be free of any transmissible and hereditary disease. We base our breeding in the study of both, the father and the mother's, pedigrees.

The pregnancy:

We give our bitches the best environment possible, so they can have a nice and calm pregnancy.

We observe the diet very closely.

Pregnancy diagnosis is based in palpation after day 25th of pregnancy.

X-rays may be taken after day 50 to find out how many puppies we are expecting.

Before Whelping:

Our future mom is placed in a comfortable pen with her whelping box 10 days before she is due.

We maintain close contact with the bitch starting 1 week before whelping.

The big day:

Once the mom shows signs that she is close to delivery we stay with her every minute to give her support and make sure everything is going right.

Towels, scissors, clamps, gloves, thermometers, puppy milk Esbilac®, Frozen bitch colostrum, feeding tubes, heating pads,  are some of the things that we keep in our delivery aid box.

After the first puppy is here, we may help the mother in the cleaning, cutting off the umbilical cord and guiding the puppy towards the nipples of his/her dam.

After each puppy is born we identify, mark and weigh each of them.

We make sure all puppies drink enough colostrum. This is the very first milk the mother produces; this milk has essential passive immunity that will protect the puppy against diseases. We have a good supply of colostrum in the fridge in case things don't go as planed.

After all the babies are here, we clean the bitch and litter box, and make sure the temperature is comfortable for the puppies.

The bitch is checked to make sure she has an adequate quantity of colostrum. The days following the delivery the dam is checked every day for any signs of infection, and to make sure she has enough quantity of milk for the number of puppies she has.

In the event that mom's milk is not of good quality, we might feed the puppies a milk replacement formula especially formulated for puppies. I like Esbilac®, I've used it throughout the years, and the puppies keep a good growth rate.

The puppies:

We practice socialization and brain stimulation immediately after the first day.

Dewclaws are removed when the puppies are 3 days old. (Shar Pei only)

De-worm at 2 weeks old. Then, every 2 weeks.

The puppies are started on Purina® puppy food at 4 weeks.

At this point the puppies begin their bond to children, who play with them every day if possible. First day outside the whelping box and introduction to nature and other dogs happens around week 5. Puppies are handled daily by different people on a continuing basis. Each pup is evaluated for shyness and handled more often as necessary.

The puppies are completely weaned at 5 weeks.

Outside potty training begins.

First puppy combo Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvovirus, Parainfluenza, coronavirus and Bordetella at 6 weeks of age.

Temperament testing takes place at this time through week 8.

The puppies will receive buster vaccines every 15 days until they go to their new families.

By the time the puppies are ready to go, they are well advanced in potty training. After the puppies are already walking, we use cedar woodchips in the whelping box. This get them used to go either on the ground every time they go out or wood chips when they are inside. It works wonderfully and makes the potty training at the new home a piece of cake.

At 5 weeks of age you got to:

Get ready for your puppy!!!

The puppies are ready to go by 7 weeks!!!