Day 27 A.M. & P.M.

Mary-Ann Sontag June 22, 2020

All is well here at Puppy Central.

My post yesterday prompted a couple of people to share additional horror stories about board-and-train situations.

Serious Yikes.

Just to be clear — board-and-train is when a person takes the puppy or dog that has been trusted to their care and leaves it with someone else.

The puppy is boarded — not bonding and learning with her family. Boarded. In a kennel. Isolated for much of the day.

Clara can tell which puppy this is — can you?

These type of places frequently involve use of a shock collar, which the so-called trainers minimize with sale pitches about how it doesn’t hurt, is like a static shock, blah blah BS. Dogs eventually learn what to do to avoid the pain — they call that training.

HUH?

In fact, a lot of dog trainers have this approach — their techniques to train a behavior are all about teaching the dog how to avoid an unpleasant consequence. For example, they teach heeling by jerking the dog when she is out of position.

I wonder what it means when people have a preference for noticing and punishing undesired behavior. It seems like a sad way to live in the world — always noticing what is wrong, and ignoring what is wonderful and amazing and great.

And what the heck — how can people seem to enjoy themselves while hurting, shocking, and/or scaring a puppy? It was one of Marti’s daughters who — with the wisdom of a child — observed that it was “creepy” when people at the dog show were smiling while doing unpleasant things to dogs.

Creepy indeed.

Training a dog is a great opportunity to shift our focus from wrong to right, and that mental shift can make a big difference in both Life with Dogs — and just Life.

I offer some additional resources as Food for Thought about training.

First, click HERE for the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior’s Position Statement on The Use of Punishment for Behavior Modification in Animals.

Second, I am a big fan of Dr. Ian Dunbar, who helped revolutionize dog training; the following is just some of his work:

Before and After Getting Your Puppy: The Positive Approach to Raising a Happy, Healthy, and Well-Behaved Dog by Dr. Ian Dunbar.

Click HERE for SIRIUS Puppy Training Classic

Click HERE for Dog Training For Children with Dr. Ian Dunbar.

Third, this is another good resource: The Puppy Primer by Dr. Patricia McConnell and Brenda Scidmore.

Video HERE — and have a happy, positive day!

EVENING: Photos from the Day

If you watched the video you will note the puppies are starting to trot —and they also scamper! SO cute.

Our first outside adventure was a success. The space worked well and will allow for socially distant puppy visitors.

I love nursing photos — can you tell?

The next two photos are a sequence.

And then Clarkia decided to play the Tail Game as well!

Good Night, Friends!

Day 26 A.M. & P.M.

Mary-Ann Sontag June 21, 2020

Let’s talk contract, which is really just a way to spell out expectations so that everyone is on the same page.

A breeder’s contract reflects what they value but also has to include terms required by the stud dog contract, and a good contract reflects commitment to previous generations of agreements.

A big one for any responsible breeder or stud dog owner is limiting reproductive rights on a puppy.

Why?

A lot of reasons.

Breeding well is hard and requires so much knowledge. We have a breed with health issues — knowledge matters, and it takes time and mentors to get it.

Even more — no puppy deserves to be created, raised, and sold by someone without knowledge or scruples. When dollars are the driver, puppies do not have lives like the Wildflowers.

The Wildflowers — like every other Kaibab puppy — will be required to have hips and elbows x-rayed for OFA evaluation at age two; we also ask that eyes and heart be screened as well. All results — good or bad — are to be shared in both the OFA database and BernerGarde.

I ask owners to follow our vaccination schedule and choose from a list of high quality foods; I am also fine if people want to feed raw and/or cooked homemade food (although I highly recommend using Balance It for homemade food).

Training methods are a dealbreaker for me — I require positive methods. No prong collars. No shock collars. No trainers who advocate those things. No sending away puppies for someone else to “train” — and make no mistake, those board-and-train places are typically Bad News for dogs.

We talk about death from the beginning — we require that cause of death be established and shared.

And under the Category of Circumstances Alter Cases — I want new families to agree that I may request and receive copies of veterinary records. I need to ensure I do not find myself in a situation of wondering what the actual heck just happened — and be stonewalled by a puppy owner. That is not cool.

Our puppies may not be placed or parked with another person. If something happens and they cannot stay with their family, the puppy/dog comes back to us and we will refund 100% of the purchase price. If a puppy/dog needs to be parked for a month or two due to a hard life circumstance — we are the place or we can help owners find a suitable option.

Those are a lot of “you shall” — I know. And my Perfect Sister is an attorney — my contract will have teeth.

But what I offer — in addition to a carefully-bred and raised puppy — is myself as a lifetime resource, and entrance into a wonderful, supportive community from both sides of the puppies’ pedigree.

When hard decisions need to be made, I can help you think things through — that is one of my professional specialties. Training questions? We have that covered. Need something researched? No problem. Need a referral? We have relationships and connections all over.

I spend a lot of time getting to know people up front because I want to make sure that we are on the same page, and that typically means the contract terms are just not a big deal and minor tweaks are easily managed.

I want to mention price.

I have a visceral reaction to people asking about the price of a puppy as one of their initial questions. I think that is because people should know/expect that Berner puppies are spendy, and price just should not be a primary driver of the conversation; if it is, we are done.

Most conscientious breeders I know are charging between $2500 — $3500 for a puppy. That is a lot — but it costs so much to breed these dogs well. I have always charged a little less than others — on principle — and I am doing the same with this litter.

I have debated about whether to change up the content of this post but I decided that my goal in blogging about this litter is to be transparent, and contract terms and expectations are part of the story.

The puppies are not merchandise to me — I love every one of them. And yet I cannot keep all nine. That reality — that I must send most away — weighs so heavily on my heart and mind,. and easily brings me to tears.

And because of all that — and because each of the Wildflowers matters so much — there is a contract.

Life with Dogs — it’s complicated.

EVENING: Photos from the Day

The puppies are getting to be Zoom experts — they had two sessions today and made an appearance during Zoom family cards.

The puppies had their nails dremeled again today — no issues with that. I have decided to do one paw each day and just rotate through their four feet — I will try to get a video of this tomorrow.

We have a new Heavyweight Champion!

Clover is crushing it — she weighed in at 4.7 pounds today!!!

This is Lupine — note the different rate at which nose pigmentation is coming in.

Good Night, Friends.

Day 25 A.M. & P.M.

Mary-Ann Sontag June 20, 2020

I start taking photos when I get up, and so these early photos are from before dawn and therefore, are not as crisp — but they help tell the story.

This is pre-dawn Clover. Sorry folks — the puppies will be early risers!

This photo is from Shift #1 in the Nursing Alcove — look at Larkspur! It is definitely getting crowded.

The father of the Wildflowers is Major — his sister, Jannu, sent her nieces and nephews some very, very cool toys. Mallow demonstrates one of them — it is a small ball that when bumped in the slightest…

…starts flashing and makes one of about a zillion different sounds — like a doorbell, barking, or a short song.

I love it! It introduces a constant stream of novel sounds — plus the flashing light. I will do a video later so you can see how the puppies are interested but not concerned — it is an excellent test of where they are right now with “novel” and it will continue to expose them to new sounds.

THANK YOU, Aunt Jannu!!!!!

But there is more.

Aunt Jannu also sent a set of age-appropriate toys for the Wildflowers. Here is a look at Puppy Central before the puppies joined — with the toys distributed.

SO CUTE — thank you!

Note the new potty zone. It is special puppy-safe turf over a used piddle pad so that it smell like the outhouse — Clover figured it out quickly.

I am also going to test a litter box set-up when the puppies move to the bigger space — we will see what they prefer.

The various toys are adorable but I notice an immediate preference for the chocolate donut. This is Mariposa.

Sage stretched out to also check out the chocolate one.

Of course, what is not to like about chocolate?!

This is Mariposa on her Toy Tour.

She was heading to the Puppy Pile to start winding down and sacking out.

But the red ramp was enticing, even for sleepy puppies. This is Lupine and Clarkia.

Mallow decided to give it a try. Note the towel on the one side — that is because there is a metal foot for the gate and puppies tumble a lot. We don’t want experimentation to hurt!

I bet you can see where this is going…

It was a well-padded landing and he was undeterred — back to the ramp he went but he decided to just fall asleep instead of climbing it again.

This is Sleepy Sage.

All nine!

They are resting up for the Big Adventures of today!

Video HERE — make sure to watch with sound.

EVENING: Photos from the Day

The original plan for the day was to introduce the puppies to their new outdoor play area/social distancing visiting area (aka the deck) but the weather was a bit sketchy and so we will try again tomorrow.