AKC/CKC Miniature American Shepherds
Our Mission
UPCOMING LITTERS: ** No planned litters until Spring 2025**
1. Addy x Kayce Born July 11, 2024 -8 blue merles, 1 black tri- medium to large size minis 30-40lbs. All Spoken for
2. Beth X Kayce Due Born July 17th, 2024 - 5 Black tri & 3 red trim small sized (14-15" tall and 25lbs) All spoken for
My top priorities are to breed for health and disposition first and foremost. Proper conformation is the second most important in my program which goes hand in hand with health and longevity. Each one of my dogs have unique strengths which have been selected to better the breed. Although this is a herding breed, our dogs are not purposely bred for herding ability, I tend to choose dogs on the slightly lower intensity level, which make better house pets and all around companions rather than for herding ability.
Our dogs live with us on a 40 acre fully fenced farm where they can roam freely during the day. The dogs live with us in the house during the evenings/overnight.
All of our dogs are health tested, undergo X-rays for OFA hips and elbows. They also visit a veterinary ophthalmologist ANNUALLY for OFA Eye Certification.
MAS Puppies:
$200 deposit required for the waitlist
Send us an email to get on the contact list! Contact list is just for interested families.
Puppy Info
If interested in a puppy please email us: cowvalleyranch@gmail.com
Life on the farm week by week
Week 1
Puppies live in their whelping pen in a quiet area of the house with their mom during this week.
When puppies are 3-10 days old, we start the Early Neurological Stimulation Exercises. This entails once daily stimulation using the following exercises for 3-5 seconds each:
1. Tactile Stimulation (touch between toes with Q- tip or fingertip)
2. Head held erect - puppy is held perpendicular to the ground with head straight up
3. Head pointed down -Puppy held with had facing down
4. Supine position - Puppy lays on its back in palm of hands
5. Thermal stimulation - Exposed puppy to cool damp towel
Five benefits of ENS:
1. Improved cardiovascular performance (heart rate)
2. Stronger heart beats
3. Stronger adrenal glands
4. More tolerance to stress
5. Greater resistance to disease
Week 2
We move the whelping pen into the living room so they are exposed to lower volume sounds like the TV and quiet music. Puppies will begin to open their eyes around week two 12-20 days old. At this time they still remain in the whelping pen and receive their first deworming of Strongid at 2 weeks old.
Week 3
Puppies are moved from their whelping pen into a small pen in the kitchen. Our kitchen has the most amount of action each day. They are exposed to the most variety of sounds/smells in this location. This is one of the biggest benefits to buying a puppy "raised in the home" opposed to in a separate building kennel situation.
Puppies are introduced to at least one new toy, object, or experience each day during this week.
They have access to a litter area as the start of potty training, reinforcing the need to toilet outside of where they sleep.
Week 4
Puppies are moved into a larger pen. We begin weaning them onto solid food buy slowing introducing puppy soft gruel. We start practicing nail trimming, and grooming.
De-worming with Strongid again at 4 weeks. Puppies are encouraged to sleep and take naps in the crate with the door open. At 4 weeks we begin practicing table work so they learn how to be comfortable up off the ground and to stand still when being examined.
Week 5
We allow visitors so the puppies are exposed to novel people, we start letting the cats and bigger dogs around so they are exposed to different types of animals. We continue practicing nail trims, table handling, and restraint with positive reinforcement, We introduce the tunnel and Slide at 5 weeks!
Week 6
Puppies are allowed to go outside at 6 weeks in their play pen for short periods of time. They get used to grass and different surfaces. Car-training begins, short trips in the vehicle.
- De-worming flea/tick with Revolution
Week 7
Puppies continue to go in/out of the house, they have their "vet visit" where they are taken to our vet office on site and given a full physical exam. We take them back into the house where they are most comfortable to administer their first round of vaccinations and are microchipped at 7.5 weeks old.
At 7 weeks we also perform conformation and temperament evaluations. We bring in a stranger to help guide temperament evaluations using the Volhard Puppy Testing.
After evaluations, we invite deposit holder families to visit the puppies in our farm store!
Week 8
After puppies are fully weaned they are ready to go to their new homes where they can get more one on one attention from their families.
Photo Gallery
Commitment to Preventative Health
All our dogs are fed Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets dog food. I chose this food because it has undergone AAFCO-protocol feeding trials using the food as the sole source of nutrition and has been proven to provide complete and balanced nutrients required for growth and maintenance.
Vaccination: We recommend DHPP vaccines at 8, 12, 16 weeks and Rabies by 6 months.
Deworming: Our dogs free roam on a 40 acre farm and are maintained on monthly dewormer:
1)Interceptor Plus for prevention of roundworm, hookworm, and TAPEWORMS)
2)Revolution and or Bravectofor prevention of fleas, heartworm, mange, tick, ear mites
WHy do we screen for hip/elbow dysplasia?
Hip Dysplasia is an irregular hip joint conformation. It can affect any size of dog, although it is more common in large breeds. It is considered a hereditary condition, nutrition, inappropriate exercise, obesity, and environmental factors also contribute. The only effective way to screen is by taking x-ray images of the hip joints.
Dogs with hip dysplasia are painful and have a greatly reduced quality of life due to osteoarthritis and limping. They will require pain medications and often surgery which is costly.
More Info - the MDR1 Gene
MDR1 stands for "Multi-Drug Resistance 1" The MDR1 mutation is very common in Australian Shepherd and Collie breeds (over 50% of this breed carries the mutation). This gene codes for P-glycoprotein, which is responsible for transporting some drugs out of the brain. If this gene is mutated, it will create a defective protein, and consequently, drugs will remain or able to build up in the brain to toxic levels.
A common misconception is dogs with either one copy or two copies of MDR1 cannot be given any flea/tick treatments or use many other drugs. This is not true, they just have a lower tolerance for a select number of drugs. As long as medications are given at LABEL dosages most drugs are safe for use in MDR1 dogs. Since this is a common mutation, your veterinarian knows which drugs are safe to use.
If we were to completely remove dogs with this mutation out of the breeding population it would drastically reduce the genetic diversity and gene pool within the breed, which would further result in inbreeding leading to creation of more recessive diseases.
Learn More
Helpful Hints
1. Crate Training 101:
Highly recommended to start your puppy on crate training from day 1. The most
important thing to keep in mind is the crate should be their safe happy place. Feed all
meals in the crate, have high reward treat and toys. It should never be used as a time
out.
Introduce the crate slowly, start by feeding them meals in the crate with the door
open. I like to start with the crate attached to a X-pen with the door open. Once they get
used to going in and out of the crate, make sure they have gone potty and are tired and
ready for a nap, give them a chew toy in the crate, then start closing the door and
leaving them in there for 10 mins at a time. Make sure you are within eyesight of them
for the first few sessions so they do not associate going into the crate with you leaving.
Slowly increase the amount of time they are locked in for. Always wait for them to be
quiet and settled or sleeping when you go to open the crate door. This may take
anywhere from 4-21 days for them to become adjusted to the crate. For the first week it
may be helpful to have them sleep in the bedroom in an Xpen at night. They will need to
go out for a potty break at least 1-2 times overnight. Pull water after 7pm at night to
prevent extra potty breaks overnight.
2. Potty Training 101:
Always watch them when inside the house, puppies should never be left
unattended outside of their X-pen. When they start sniffing around or pivoting get them
outside! They will often need to pee/poop immediately after meals, immediately after a
nap, after a play session, and after coming out of the crate. Puppies 8-12 weeks old
may only be able to hold their bladder for 1-2hours maximum. Do not punish them if
they have an accident in the house, pick them up place them in the correct potty
location. Clean up the area with an enzymatic cleaner. Whenever they potty in the
correct location (ie anywhere outside or in a designated area) give praise immediately
after they have finished and reward with a treat. They will become more motivated to
potty on command and in this location. Potty training takes time and patience and
consistency, do not give up! I do not trust a puppy fully unattended in the house until at
least 8 months old.
"Submissive Peeing"
This is more common in female puppies, it is a natural instinct for puppies to pee to let dominant animals know they are not a threat to them. Most often this happens when new people arrive in the house, or when you first come home/pet them. This behaviour is often one they will grow out of, however, to speed the process up it is important to completely ignore them when you first come home, do not look them in the eye and throw treats away from you to distract them. New comers should also ignore the puppy for the first 5 minutes until they become more relaxed.
3. Pet Food
There are so many different brands of pet foods it can be very difficult to choose
one. I always recommend using a brand that has a nutritional adequacy statement on
the label:
". is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the
AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient profiles.."
OR
"..Animal feeding tests using Association of American Feed Control
Officials (AAFCO) procedures substantiate the Brand ____ Dog food
provides complete and balanced nutrition for maintenance of adult
dogs"
The second requirement for a good quality food is one that has undergone extensive real life feeding trials. The following brands have strict quality control regulations, independent studies and feeding trials:
My top Brands:
1. Purina Pro Plan
2. Hills Healthy Advantage
3. Royal Canine
Regardless of brand, you want to make sure you are feeding PUPPY food
for a minimum of the first 6 months of life and DO NOT feed grain free. Longterm feeding a grain free diet has been linked to the development of dilated cardiomyopathy (heart disease) in dogs.
Age Appropriate Exercise
Mental stimulation with interactive toys is more important than exercise for the first year of
life. Puppies should not be taken on runs until they are 1 year old because they have not
finished growing completely and can increase risk of cruciate/hip diseases. Take your
puppy's age in months and then multiply it by five to work out approximately how
many minutes your puppy can walk per day. Ie. At 16 weeks (4x5mins =20 min
walk MAX). Self-directed free playtime and running around in the back yard is okay.
