My first Border Collie....
How puppies are raised here at G Force Border Collies.
**You will notice there will be times I put "I" and times I put "we" when typing. The Border Collie "hobby" is mine but because I have a family they also help me out with the dogs. My husband has had dog duty and some of the time my children help out too. I have 4 boys and they love playing with the puppies so if you ever get to stop by my house for a visit you will see my boys and they are always playing with the dogs.
Here are a few things done to help puppies with socialization and development. This is not all we do because to be honest I add and change things often as new methods are learned. I believe no matter how many years you have been breeding and raising dogs you should always be open to learning new things and always stay on top of research. Within the last few years DNA has been added to a breeders tools to insure healthy puppies born without certain diseases that can plague our breed. With the help of DNA ALL breeders should be able to produce puppies who are free of certain diseases and I feel it is important that breeders use all tools available to produce healthy puppies.
I do NOT refer people to breeders who do not test breeding dogs. There is a new "gimmick" that some breeders do which is guarantee puppies free of diseases but they don't test the parents and that is something I would avoid if I were looking for a puppy. It is my opinion that no matter how many years you have been breeding Border Collies for 30 plus years or 6 months, if you are not willing to test your dogs you are not putting the puppies welfare first.
This is just what I do with my dogs and all breeders are different.
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It takes more than a male and a female to breed good Border Collies. A breeder should go over pedigrees, temperaments, drive, structure, and over all health before a breeder decides to breed a pair. My goal is to combine the two dogs that will produce the overall best litter possible.
Once my female is close to her due date I watch her like a hawk for signs of labor. I personally disagree with the whole let nature happen and the mom will "figure" it out on her own. I believe that you take the whole natural part out of it when you choose to breed two particular dogs. It is the breeders job to make sure the mom okay and that the puppies are all okay as well. Some of the dogs like somebody right there while they are in labor and some want to just do it all themselves. Once the pups start coming I write down notes as far who is born first, position, how fast to start nursing, markings, gender and anything else I think I need to write down. I also make sure the mom doesn't need anything like fresh water, a little help drying off the puppies. I also like to give the new mom a little cottage cheese after the pups for the extra calcium.
After the delivery is over I make sure everything is cleaned up and the mom has what she needs. IE: Fresh water, food etc and then I leave her alone to let them bond.
For the first two weeks or so the puppies don't do much but I am monitoring their growth and getting them use to the smell of people and being handled by people too. Once the puppies start moving around they get real fun. Because the pups are raised as inside dogs my puppies are started out on newspaper which I slowly take away until they are only going to the bathroom on newspaper which I put in plastic storage bins for easy clean up. It looks kind of like a "litter box" for puppies.
I try to expose the puppies to as many sights, sounds and experiences as possible. As for getting the puppies to tolerate noise, they live in my house! I have four very loud young kids and they have friends who add to the kid noises. The puppies get use to the sounds of the kids, the noises in the house like the vacuum, the noises in the kitchen, the TV, my boys with their very loud toys, we also shoot clay's in the yard, we live near an army base and there are many sounds with tanks, guns and other things on the training base. My boys also like to play marching band with the puppies which is basically the kids walking around with pots and pans and banging them while dropping hot dogs for the puppies. The puppies are super happy to hear the noise as long as there are treats involved. I don't want the puppies to be spooked by moving objects so I hang tarps outside so they get use to the movement and noise while they are outside playing. I let the puppies play on variable surfaces like carpet, tile, concrete, grass as well as toys that they can climb on too. When the pups are a few weeks old they have a crate to lay in and play inside of but there is no door on the crate it is just something they can go in and out as they please. Later at about 4-5 weeks the pups start to go in the crate with the door closed for a few minutes and I work up to the puppies napping in the crate in pairs and then later alone.
I want the puppies to be familiar with being bathed, hair dried, and nails clipped. It makes thing easier in the long run. I also start the puppies out on paper and eventually have them paper trained before they leave here to make it easier for me to keep the puppies clean. I start manner work and we only praise and pet a puppy who is sitting down nicely. I start the puppies on a loose leash but just to get the walking around on it and not fighting a leash. I take the puppies for short car rides and long car rides when we go see our vet who is about 40 minutes from my house. Our pups are exposed to well manner dogs here at our home as well as our cats too.
At 7 weeks old the pups are temperament tested to just to confirm temperaments and give me a base for future training and work.
The pups are vaccinated and wormed prior to leaving here.
For more information give me a call!
337-353-5238
Below is a photo of a puppy pen with the "potty box" inside it. Once the puppies are about 5 weeks old they are very reliable with their potty boxes and can have a large amount of space to play in and I am still able to keep the puppies and their play room clean.
Sleepy ..
