Southside Shelties

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Southside Shelties

At Southside Shelties, our shelties are performance dogs -- they perform as trick dogs and are start
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09/23/2024

We are *finally* back home & furballs settled. Hopefully pups pics tomorrow. Curious how we did? Check out the results on our chin page —> NWI Chinchillas & Critters

09/20/2024

Hey all… puppy pics for this week are going to be taken / posted *after* this weekend… we’re leaving to PA today for what I do year-round -- chinchillas!

09/18/2024

Sometimes there’s just such “aww” moments 🥰

This is Mae (snoozing on big sis Soona)

09/17/2024

And finally we have Soona -- this pretty little sable girl has already found her people!

09/17/2024

This cutie is Raka, a super sweet sable merle male who is still up for grabs!

09/16/2024

So, what's going on right now in the puppy's lives? Well, in Puppy Culture terms, the puppies are currently in what's called the "transitional phase" -- that is, they're transitioning from being little extensions of their mom into little individual puppies. During this phase, which lasts for about a week (from roughly 2-3 weeks of age for the puppies), the puppies' teeth will start emerging, and they will start making different sounds so that they can communicate with the world around them.

Why do the teeth matter? Well, as their teeth emerge, the pups start to show interest in eating something other than mom's milk (and chewing on their littermates). This sets us up for the beginning of week 3 of their lives, which is when we will introduce softened puppy chow (softened with warmed goat's milk) to their diet. Long term, this will eventually progress to them eating solid puppy chow, and will lead to them being completely weaned off mom by 8 weeks of age.

Why are the sounds important? Well, if you were to hear me video the puppies up until a couple days ago, it would all sound like simple little whining noises from all the pups. But at this transitional period in their lives, the pups start to bark and growl. The fact that they make these noises (which are aimed at other puppies or at people), PC says, suggests that they now understand that they are an individual... and are interacting with the other puppies / people... which are other individuals. Cool, right? Other forms of non-verbal communication, such as tail-wagging also begins at this time.

And overall, all of this is important *because* it gives the puppies more ways to interact with the world around them, and it sets the puppies up for the next stage of their life... which is the start of their critical socialization period.

(please excuse the poor video quality… the video shows Soona — in this clip, she starts out making the initial puppy vocalizations and then switches to the puppy version of barking, which she has only recently learned how to do in this transitional period)

09/16/2024

The princess herself, Nova! This little girl is still getting supplemented, and hanging in there! She is always so happy to see me (well... probably the bottle too, but we'll pretend she's thrilled to see me)... and she's still available as well!

09/15/2024

This is 2 week old Noa, in all his sexiness. This flashy sable merle male is surprisingly still looking for his new people!

09/15/2024

Here are the many faces of Mae! This beautiful girl is already reserved.

09/14/2024

First up for her glamour shots is Lake!

Lake is a bi-blue female who we have also stepped in to supplement (and is *loving* the extra attention)... and she is still available!

09/14/2024

We raise our puppies with Puppy Culture protocols and Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS). What is this? What does this mean? Well, from PC's website... "Puppy Culture is a socialization and training program specifically developed for puppies, from birth through the end of their critical socialization period. It includes age appropriate protocols and lessons laid out in an organized format." I know, that's a lot of fancy words that mean... what, exactly?

So... basically PC has come up with a DVD set (I'm sure now it's available to watch on demand, but I'm old school so I own the DVD set and re-watch it every litter) of videos that talk about activities breeders can do and protocols breeders can perform at specific times in a puppy's life that have been proven to impact the puppy long-term. This is all backed by studies and research.

So, for example. The puppies just started their second week of life this Thursday (day 14+). For the first 14 days of life, one part of the PC / ENS protocols is that the breeder handles and strokes the puppies (I know, I know, you're saying, well, yes, you'd do that anyway, didn't need PC / ENS to tell you that... and yes, I would definitely do this regardless), but here's the thing... it's suggested to do that intentionally *because* it has been proven that puppies that are handled and stroked more often actually have lower blood pressure! So there's actual *benefit* to doing it!

The other part of the PC / ENS for the first 14 days of life involves holding the puppy in certain positions for 5 seconds per position, as well as exposing them to a slightly wet, cold surface for a 5 seconds (all of this is done once daily). Why? Because it has been proven that all of this stimulates the puppy's neurological system.... and stimulating the neurological system of puppies in these specific ways can benefit the puppy for the rest of its life. In doing so, the puppy will have a greater tolerance of stress, a greater resistance to disease, their adrenaline system will respond faster, and they will have a stronger heart rate & a stronger heartbeat. Who doesn't want their puppy to have these benefits going forward, right?

In addition to PC / ENS, we do have our own schedule that we follow as far as raising the puppies. For example, every two weeks, the puppies get de-wormed and get their nails trimmed (so they just got de-wormed yesterday for their two week de-worming). What else? Well, you’ll just have to follow along to find out!

Pictured - (from left to right) Lake, Nova, and Raka all snoozing comfortably after an exhausting PC session

09/13/2024

Puppy cuddle puddle @ 2 weeks old (as of the 12th). Though they’re all sleeping here, they all now have their eyes open and are getting more mobile now!

Individual 2 week photos coming soon!

09/12/2024

I was talking to someone the other day about supplementing Nova, and they said how lucky I was to have the goats to get goats milk from.

Convenient… yes. Lucky… not quite.

See, I think a lot of people think a lot of things happen randomly…. But these goats were planned.

Now, if you knew me from back before we had the farm, then you know I had my chinchillas and dogs since forever. The chinchillas since 2003, the dogs (or at least Kailey) since 2008. So, when I started talking about wanting a farm, and when it became an option at an earlier-than-retirement-age… I knew I was going to get goats. Not just any goats, but specifically dairy goats.

Now, that’s been a bit messy on its own, as our main herd is Nigerian dwarfs, but then we also have two La Manchas that we milk as they’re more practical to milk. But I digress.

The point is…yes, I wanted goats because they’re cute and funny and all that… but it also was a strategic thing because… wait for it… I have dogs and chinchillas, and for both species, if babies need fed, the babies drink…. Goats milk.

So… 95% of the time, the goats are highly impractical and don’t serve a purpose (as far as the chins and dogs are concerned), but for that 5% of the time when I need them (like that 2-3 weeks back in Oct 2023 when I had to bottle feed 4 pups…and much more often for chinchillas), I have “the goods” on tap.

Meet Mari, our current milking La Mancha (correct, she has no ears…yes, she’s supposed look like that… no, it’s not a cosmetic alteration, they’re born that way).

…back to the regularly scheduled dog / puppy postings tomorrow!

09/11/2024

So, what happens if we have a puppy falling behind? We step in and supplement! How much will we help?… to an extent.

See, my first ever litter of pups, we had this teeny tiny runt born. I asked my vet, should I get up and feed him every two hours? Should I get no sleep to ensure he thrives for the next 8 weeks? And the vets answer kind of surprised me at the time, but now I understand. What they basically said was this - “don’t you be the only reason it lives. You need it to have its own will to live. Supplement it if you want to help, but it needs to want to fight on its own. If it’s not even fighting, you shouldn’t be the *only* thing keeping it alive or there’s probably something else wrong with it anyway, and it will only pass later, once you stop helping.” Honestly, I live by that to this day, and even times when we have tried to keep animals alive and been the only reason they lived early on… they’ve died later (not necessarily pups, remember, we live on a farm @ Kailey Acres Farm).

So. I will supplement, I will bottle feed…but I will not tube feed. The pup (or goat, or whatever) has to at least want to suckle (have that will to live) or I can’t help. I will not get up all hours of the night. I will give the bottle at hours when I am awake and convenient (which, granted, is as early as 9 am and as late as 2-3 am… so there’s not a lot of downtime… but I won’t k*ll myself is the thing). The animal has to have that will to live and fight during the time I can’t be there. And you know what? This has produced amazingly strong animals (not that we’ve had a ton that we’ve had to hand feed, but you get the idea). The entire 10/31/23 litter was bottle fed for the first 2-3 weeks of their lives. Yes, we lost two that just refused to suckle, but the remaining four are amazingly strong dogs, and our keeper Macy is amazingly smart, stable, and attached at the hip to me.

But for *today’s post,* it’s worth noting that one of our pups was not gaining at nearly the speed the rest of the pups were… but she sure was trying! And that’s the key here - she was gaining slowly, so I know she was making an effort, and when I’d handle her to do her daily ENS / puppy culture protocols, she would try to nurse on me. So I went and got a bottle of goats milk… which she took right to. Yesterday her eyes opened, I supplemented, and yesterday was also the first day she had a weight gain (surely due to supplementing, but hey, I’ll take it). Send some good thoughts to this way for Nova!

09/10/2024

And last, but surely not least, Soona! Soona is a chunky little sable & white female… reserved for a family in Tennessee!

09/09/2024

This cutie patootie is Raka, a sable merle male. Compared to Noa, his colors / markings are much more dilute

09/08/2024

This gal that can't stay out of the poo-piles is Nova -- a CHW (color headed white) bi-blue female

09/07/2024

This handsome chap is Noa, a sable merle male. I love his flashy markings!

09/06/2024

Here we have Mae, a sable & white female. I love that little white dot on her back 🥰

(anyone figured the theme yet?)

Mae is already on hold w/ deposit for a family in Tennessee!

09/05/2024

Time to start intro-ing the pups! This litter has a theme... how many pups will it take you to guess what it is?

This is Lake -- a bi-blue female

09/04/2024

Individual pics to come soon… but I just have to share with you all… *drumroll*… Sera’s first litter! Four girls and two boys born on 8/29 🥰

Did you know that the ambient room temperature around a puppy for the first few weeks should be a whopping 90°?* It sure isn’t that warm in the room, and especially not without mom laying on them… so in this pic, pups are enjoying both belly heat (laying on a heating pad) *and* overhead heat from a heat lamp while mom is out on a potty break.

*this temperature requirement gradually tapers off to about 70° by the time the pups are about 4 weeks old… but they need to stay super toasty those first four weeks!

09/03/2024

I know, I know… I need to post on here more, cause even when we don’t have puppies, we still have our dogs.

Anyway…update time! Aiden went to his new home last week - yay! He went to his new home with a great couple up in Chicagoland! They might even keep his name!

08/15/2024

This is Aiden — this gorgeous boy is still waiting for his family to come along! Raised with Puppy Culture and ENS. Working on potty training & crate training. Very smart and sweet (velcro) pup.

08/06/2024

Sometimes I think we moved to the farm and got dairy goats & chickens just so our dogs can have their bougie farm fresh eggs and goats milk with their kibble without me spending a fortune on it. Oh wait… 🤣

Roxy’s food dish (with her hip / joint supplement and allergy meds added as well)

06/28/2024

Our dogs are tolerant. VERY tolerant. Liv has dubbed this one “Rapper Roxy” and she now has a rap to go along with her new name 😆

06/05/2024

Have you been waiting for a litter? Wait no longer! We will have a tricolor male ready for his new home mid-July!

03/13/2024

Big brother Jasper (front) / little sister Macy (back). Love them! 😍🥰

02/03/2024

Mako went home with his new family to Kentucky today!

01/21/2024

We are freezing our toes off, yet this little snowbunny (Roxy) is just loving the snow! ❄️

01/13/2024

Those faces!! ❤️

Address

4294 N 900 W
Wolcott, IN
47995

Telephone

+12197890026

Website

http://www.southsideshelties.com/

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Videos

So, what's going on right now in the puppy's lives? Well, in Puppy Culture terms, the puppies are currently in what's called the "transitional phase" -- that is, they're transitioning from being little extensions of their mom into little individual puppies. During this phase, which lasts for about a week (from roughly 2-3 weeks of age for the puppies), the puppies' teeth will start emerging, and they will start making different sounds so that they can communicate with the world around them. Why do the teeth matter? Well, as their teeth emerge, the pups start to show interest in eating something other than mom's milk (and chewing on their littermates). This sets us up for the beginning of week 3 of their lives, which is when we will introduce softened puppy chow (softened with warmed goat's milk) to their diet. Long term, this will eventually progress to them eating solid puppy chow, and will lead to them being completely weaned off mom by 8 weeks of age. Why are the sounds important? Well, if you were to hear me video the puppies up until a couple days ago, it would all sound like simple little whining noises from all the pups. But at this transitional period in their lives, the pups start to bark and growl. The fact that they make these noises (which are aimed at other puppies or at people), PC says, suggests that they now understand that they are an individual... and are interacting with the other puppies / people... which are other individuals. Cool, right? Other forms of non-verbal communication, such as tail-wagging also begins at this time. And overall, all of this is important *because* it gives the puppies more ways to interact with the world around them, and it sets the puppies up for the next stage of their life... which is the start of their critical socialization period. (please excuse the poor video quality… the video shows Soona — in this clip, she starts out making the initial puppy vocalizations and then switches to the puppy ve

Mid-blow-drying puppy lovings!

Puppy playtime!

Today we introduced the pups to an object that moves based on their interaction with it. They loved it! …another video in the comments after about a half hour of them “getting used to it”

One by one, the pups are exploring a bit in the grass today. Yay for enrichment! new surface! new texture! warmth of the sun! sounds of the chickens! This is under the watchful eye of Sky (mom) and myself (human mom) This is Oreo, a color headed white (CHW) sable & white male, who is still available!