About Blue Borders breeding.
Our breeding aims at producing physically healthy and mentally sound
Border Collies with a very good temper and a long lifetime. We want to breed
the kind of that the owner think of as "the best dog I have ever had".
To make very healthy dogs involves many different areas before and after the
puppies are born.
1) The mating :
Before the mating takes place, both the father and the mother of puppies are
checked for hip displasia (HD) and hereditary eye diseases. The rules for
breeding Border Collies in Denmark prohibit the breeding on dogs with any of
these conditions.
We have of coarse selected both parents carefully, and in addition to this,
we also use the computer program "Crystal Ball Genetics" to evaluate the
combination of dogs, so we can calculate the "Wright's Inbreeding Coefficient"
and do trait analysis on the combination.
2) The pregnancy :
During the pregnancy period and the first 3 weeks after birth, the
surroundings of the bitch should be calm and peaceful, so the puppies are being
stressed by things from the outside while they are small. That is why Blue
Borders are situated in a very calm place, without any close neighbours or
traffic.
When the bitch is due to whelp, then she moved into her own private section,
where there is no other dogs and extra peace and quiet. This way she will not
need to be on guard for threats against her puppies.
3) The whelping :
The whelping takes place in a specially designed whelping room, where it is
possible to have the optimal conditions for the puppies. The room is made after
the principles as the rooms in a veterinarians clinic. So the room can be made
very clean, and its possible to keep exactly the right temperature and humidity.
When the puppies are born, the temperature around the puppies are kept at 28
degrees, at that is gradually lowered by 1 degree a day during the puppies first
week.
The puppies bin is heated from below, and inside the puppy bin, the puppies
lie on VetBed, which are changed and washed every day. The puppies never get to
lie on newspapers. From 3 - 5 weeks old, when the puppies are old enough to
leave the bin, they get a small area in front of the bin with soft carpets on,
where they can walk around and play. After 5 weeks they learn to go outside and
do their business, so they usually are completely housetrained when they are
ready to go at 8 weeks.
4) Feeding :
We take extra care to give both the bitch and the puppies the absolute best
food to eat in this period. We use the danish produced food, Uniq, which is
based on fresh chicken and fish. It does not contain artificial preservatives,
colours and soy proteins, because some dogs may develop allergies if they get
this in their food.
5) Veterinary checks :
The bitch and the puppies gets a first health check as soon as possible after
the whelping. When the puppies are 4 and 6 weeks old they are treated with
wormers. At 7 weeks old the puppies get a very thorough health check at the vet
and have their eyes checked for CEA. They also get their first inoculation and
an identity microchip.
A mentally healthy dog is a dog that feels safe, has been well socialised as
puppy and is being treated well by its new owners.
We want all our puppies to have a very good temperament. In the first 3 weeks
the puppies are kept in very quit surrounding, and they are then gradually
acquainted with other dogs and humans.
In the period between 4 and 8 weeks it is important to start the
socialization of the puppies. They need to experience many different things and
get used to being together with people and other dogs. They also need to learn
not to be afraid of the many new things and machines they will meet in a normal
home.
The puppies learn to go outside and do their business from about 5-6 weeks
old. This way you can utilize the normal instinct for cleanliness all puppies
are born with, and if they get the opportunity to do this, then they will almost
completely housetrained when they move to their new home at 8 weeks old.
At 7 weeks old we do an extensive behavioural test on each puppy, so we can
learn exactly how its personality is and make sure it fits well together with
its new owner.
Finally all puppy buyers get a complete "manual" about their new Border
Collie pup. The 36 page booklet contains good advise on how to feed, raise, care
for and treat the new puppy, so you avoid problems.
Caring well for your dog is an important step to ensure that it will have a
long life. This also means that it is very important to feed you dog correctly.
Today you see many examples of dogs getting allergies and other problematic
diseases and it is my opinion that many of these problems comes from not feeding
the dog correctly.
Therefore it is import to give the dog high quality dog food, and follow the
right king of feeding schedule, so the dog develops properly.
Remember the old saying - "you become what you eat". This is also true for
dogs.
All puppies for export gets all the necessary it needs :
