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We breed from one to three carefully planned litters each year -- just enough puppies to keep us in the show ring as older dogs finish their championships. Our goal is to breed Shelties that are sound of mind and body and that conform as closely as possible to the AKC standard for the breed. You can learn more about our breeding program -- where we've been and where we hope to go -- in Dogs & Puppies. Our litters
are whelped in a bedroom in the house. At four weeks, they move to a puppy
pen in the kitchen, where they can observe, participate in, and Companion puppies leave to go live with their new owners between nine and ten weeks of age -- after two sets of shots, "well-puppy visits" to the vet, and an examination by a veterinary ophthalmologist. Show prospects we are growing out live in the house through most of their puppyhood. They enjoy playing on the "playground equipment" in our puppy yard (above right) and, when they are a bit older, joining the adult dogs for romps in one of our four large play yards (see photo below in "kennel tour"). Puppies may begin spending some of their daytime hours at the kennel when they are between four and six months old.
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Foxglove
is a small hobby kennel located on nearly five and a half acres in 
comment on household activities. Selected visitors, including
the young children of friends, join the puppies for play dates, getting
them used to interacting with and being handled by a variety of large and
small humans. 
Adult
dogs divide their time between the house and the large, heated kennel with
spacious, individual, indoor-outdoor covered runs. And those covered runs
sure come in handy on days like the one pictured here -- an April Fools
Day snowstorm in 1997 that had us waking up to more than three feet of snow
just when we thought spring had finally arrived. All our adult dogs take
turns being "house dogs," with all the couch and bed privileges
included therewith.
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On rainy days, the dogs enjoy covered 20-foot-long outdoor runs. |
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Individual indoor runs measure 4 X 6 feet. Guillotine doors, open during the day and closed at night, provide access to covered outdoor runs. |
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Emma the cat, shown enjoying her dinner in the kennel's kitchen area, makes sure that the building stays a "mouse-free zone." Wish we could say the same for our garage! |
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The raised tub may be our favorite part of the whole kennel. This opinion is NOT shared by the dogs. |
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Eight-year-old "Kia" doesn't look too happy about the prospect of being groomed. But, hey, it's better than a bath! |
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In nice weather, our dogs spend a large part of each day in one of our four fenced play yards. |
