Spring is finally in the air!  And I am LONG overdue for a blog and as usual, there are many updates.
Mild Winter

It was actually a very mild winter, with very little snow.  I like a mild winter, but there are 2 reasons why a cold, snowy winter is acceptable.  One that we all know is that the dogs really do love running and playing in the snow.  We haven’t had much to speak of in the last few winters, and I think they have forgotten what it’s like.  Two, It seems that the harsher the winter, the less we have to battle insects the following summer.  Specifically fleas.  I have no scientific evidence to support this, but we have noticed that the last two bad years for fleas have been after very mild winters.  (2012 and 2016)  We are really hoping this year’s mild winter doesn’t reflect on this.  If it does, we are ready for it.  (More on this later)

The Latest on Heat Cycles

In the last blog, I mentioned that we had 12 heat cycles all at once.  This was last November/December, and to say the least it was challenging.  Of the 12, 5 had litters of pups, 6 were skipped, and one (Lula) unfortunately contracted a uterine infection and had to be fixed.  We are about to repeat this heat cycle endeavor in another month or so.  This time around, it will be Josie, Aleu, Ice, Luna, Willow, and River that will be scheduled to have litters, and Mylah, Rose, Nadia, Phoenix, and Iris get to skip.  Following the summer pups, Ziva and Ellie will have their first (likely in the mid-fall) with Gypsy and Quinn next winter.  

Pups go Home

As mentioned, we had 5 litters over the last few months.  Mylah started us off with 3, followed by Rose with 7, Phoenix and Iris with 6 each, and lastly Nadia also had 6.  All of the pups from this round are in their new homes!  We want to thank all of the new owners, and we hope you enjoy your pup! 

Zach's Huskies

Here is an update on “Zach’s Huskies”, which is Zach’s FFA Supervised Agricultural Experience project.

We introduced the website for “Zach’s Huskies” in our last blog.  (http://zachshuskies.yolasite.com)

His project for this year hit a bump in the road when Lula contracted a uterine infection and had to be fixed.  In the upcoming litters, both Luna and River are his and are scheduled to be his sophomore year litters, even though they are not likely to have their pups until after school lets out for the summer.  Hopefully his last two years of school and beyond go better!

Projects

As with any springtime, the list of projects are abundant.  I am always raring to go after a winter of inactivity.  In our continued efforts to become state certified, we were hoping to have the concrete floor in the center of the barn along with a floor drain completed this spring.  Unfortunately, it is looking like it will be pushed back to later this summer.  The new stalls are in the process of being built.  The corner temporary stall has been removed and our final dirt floor stall is also gone!  The picture below shows one of our new stalls with Kallen, our favorite test subject.  Others have been in the stall, but Kallen or Xander are our best test subjects now since they are the most…um…active.  So far so good!  We have two stalls completed, with a third almost finished.  We should have 5 in place before too long, and all 7 along the East wall by mid summer.  We do still need to figure out the best water and food buckets. 


The Old Stalls

The older stalls on the west wall meanwhile, are undergoing a temporary facelift.  With the upcoming summer litters, we need to keep at least 4 of them in place.  But they need to be pulled back until the support posts are completely out of the dirt in the center.  This way they are not in the way for the concrete pour.  Once the summer pups are in their new homes, and the concrete in the center is poured and ready, we will tear down the old stalls and duplicate the new ones that are on the East wall.  In the end, we hope to have 13-15 new design stalls. 

Outside the Barn

At some point, either during the stall overhaul or immediately after, we will be putting in doggie doors in each stall to the outside.  Every stall will have its own attached outside area.  These outside areas will then be connected to the play areas, but gated for when we need to contain them in their stalls.  We are really looking forward to having this all completed!

Microchipping

One of the Regulations for the state is dog identification.  Not for our purposes, but for the state in the event of something happening to us.  There are several different methods of doing this, but the best is simply a microchip.  We were planning to do this soon anyway, so it was the logical choice.  We now have all of our own dogs microchipped except Willow, and that is only because of the injectors malfunctioned and we have to order another.  In the near future, our intent is to then begin microchipping all of the puppies we sell as well.  Although not a requirement, it comes highly recommended and it seems the best thing to do.  Again, this was in our plans anyway.

8 weeks

For many litters, we’ve set the “go home” date for new puppies at 7 weeks of age.  As I typically explain, we arrived at 7 weeks based on feedback that 6 weeks was a little too young, and 8 weeks made them a little more stubborn on the training end.  This seemed to be a good formula, with a lot of positive feedback.  However, a state law that has been on the books since the mid 70’s says 8 weeks is a must.  While I feel this is a very generic law that assumes breeders don’t have a clue and never get feedback, we must abide by these laws to be considered for licensing.

Garlic and Brewer’s Yeast

We decided to put our dogs on a regimen of Garlic and brewer’s yeast tablets.  There are many benefits, but the biggest is most biting insects can’t stand it.  Fleas, Ticks, Mosquitos, Flies, Mites, etc. will stay away.  Or so that is the theory.  We will see how this works.  The problem is that the tablets we ordered are small, and the dosage is one per 10 lbs. of body weight.  So basically we must give 4-6 tablets per dog, per day!  That’s about 125 tablets per day!  Luckily, they love them.  It is a big time treat for them!  We are looking for larger tablets for larger dogs that would make life a little easier. 

Sentinel

I mention combating insects, especially fleas.  The other thing we are doing this year is instead of several medications to cover all heart worms, intestinal worms, and fleas & ticks, we are going to try Sentinel.  One chewable dose by mouth per month is supposed to cover all.  We will see!  It’s expensive, but it would make life easier to say the least.

Rehoming

Many different issues with the state regulations make it very difficult to own too many dogs, especially if they are no longer used as breeding stock.  Since day one, we hoped to let every dog live out their lives on the farm.  Unfortunately, due to the many restrictions, this has proven to be very difficult.  For this reason, we have come to the decision to rehome some of our retired when we are ready.  I created a new page here on our website to list any and all available.  The link to it is on the front page just above the Eagle, called “Rehomes”.  Please note that not all retirees will be available.  Example:  Holly.  Holly was our first, and will never be rehomed.  Any other we decide to keep will simply not be listed on this web page.

A very long blog this time, but there is a lot going on!  I hope to blog more often throughout the summer as projects continue and more puppies arrive!