{Our Home, Kennels, Exercise Area, Whelping and "Maternity Ward",
Indoor Grooming Area, Future Projects}
Whelping & "Maternity Ward"
Our Kennels
Indoor Grooming Area
Exercise Area
Our home was built by my Mother in the early 1970's.
We got the house in 1990 and just LOVE the area and the fact that we only have one neighbor (so far).
We live on 5 acres of land but only use the front 2 acres.
Our front yard is filled with "rustic" antiques that are
often used for the "photo shoots" that we have done
with our Shelties. The photographers that have come
out think that our yard is a GREAT place for a "shoot".
When we first moved here we only had
temporary kennels that I built. Within the year I had started on our first four permanent kennels (they are now kennels 7 through 10) and two years later started on another six kennels ( numbers 1 through 6) and a year after they were finished I built kennel #11 (the first one you see when you come to visit us and our Shelties).
All of our kennels have electricity to them and all are lighted with fluorescent lights.
When the days are short it is nice to be able to go out and clean the kennels without worrying about the daylight and in the winter we use the electric outlets for lights in the dog houses to keep the night chill off of our Shelties and also to power
the "heat tape" on the water pipes.
Each kennel also has water to it for clean drinking water. We use "lickers" in the kennels for the adults so they ALWAYS have a clean supply of water, and puppies have a "Mr Dew Drop" type waterier
in their kennels.
All of our kennels are covered both for shade in the summer and to keep rain and snow out in the months that we have "wet" weather.
We strive to always have clean kennels.
I have two "power washers" (one electric and one gas) that I try to use at least once a week to keep the kennels clean. Kennels 7, 8, 9 and 10 have drains built in and there are drains in the walkway between the kennels to take away the water from the washing as well as rain run off.
The floor of all the outside kennels are 1' square stepping stones. This allows urine and water used for washing to drain between the stepping stones and keep the kennels dry for our dogs.
The lower sides of all the kennels are corrugated PVC panels. We find these easy to clean and urine doesn't damage it like the corrugated metal that we originally had.
Just outside of kennels 1 through 10 is a
40 foot by 40 foot exercise area.
We normally exercise all the dogs at least once a day giving them the run of the area while their kennel is cleaned and then giving them some "one on one" attention.
We also have an area out here where we can give the dogs a bath when the weather is warm. In the winter of 2005 I completed our new indoor grooming and bathing area
in our garage.
The first year we were here I started working on converting an enclosed patio area that had been an art studio in to our whelping area. I finished it in 2009 and it has four separate areas for females to whelp there puppies. All four indoor yards have "doggie doors" to an outside fenced and covered area with "shade cloth" covering the upper portions for lots of shade in the summer. each yard has its own water supply and there are c.c. cameras that allow us to watch any female that we have in any of the indoor kennels
(Kennels A through D).
In December of 2005 I completed our "indoor grooming area"
(inside of our garage).
This area has a new 30 gallon hot water heater, two side by side sinks, a refrigerator (for vet supplies), a dishwasher (clean dog bowls are a MUST). as well as an 8 foot grooming area with lots of electric power and lots of storage (you CAN'T have too much storage area).
Now we have a wonderful area to bathe, groom, trim, and/or weigh our dogs no matter the weather outside
That's it for now - but I am sure to be adding on or improving something as long as I am here !
Our front yard at sunset
A summer morning
Our front driveway 11-04
A rainbow after an August storm
The front yard 11-04
Looking south at our home 11-04
These are shots of Kennel #7 (12' X12')
This "drop down feeder can hold 150# of dog food
Another photo of Kennel #7
These are our indoor kennels
(A,B,C & D)
Below is our bedroom where we can monitor any 4 cameras in the "Maternity Ward"
WE LOVE THE
C.C. CAMERA SYSTEM!
"Chaps" gets weighed
Monica gives "Honey" a bath
Looking in to the house at the grooming area before it was finished !
From inside the house looking at the "Dog" refrigerator, the
"Dog" dishwasher, and the bath and grooming areas
"Sedona"
""Chaps" & "Cota""
"Dakota"
"Sunny" and
"Shiloe"
"Sunny"
"Honey" & "Shane"
"Shiloe" and
his girlfriend
"Dakota"
"Shiloe" at 2 years old
"Chaps".
"Shane" on Dads lap
"Sonora" and "Sunny"
"Cheyenne"
"Cheyenne" & "Durango"
play in the snow
"Shane" giving a kiss to Dad
"Dakota"
Puppy Love Shetland Sheepdogs (Shelties)
NOTE! - THIS PAGE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION
^ Above we see "Miss Kitty" getting weighed during a pregnancy.
^ Above - Miss Kitty is getting her temperature taken with a rectal thermometer (she was 99.6 about a day away from going in to labor)
A female gets weighed in the grooming area
Temperatures are taken at least once a day and near the end twice a day using a rectal thermometer. When the females tempreture reaches 98 degrees she is in labor.
Here is the table set up in "A" for a birth in Kennel "B". Left to right back row you see a plastic box for trash, spray can of Lysol & roll of T.P., a plastic box with a heating pad to hold puppies while Mom is giving birth to others, the "Post Whelp" and under it the "Pre Whelp" boxes with supplies. In front, a plastic box with gauze, a digital scale, the "Whelping" box with scissors, hemostats, tweezers, and about anything else that might be needed.
