{Our Home, Kennels, Exercise Area, Whelping and "Maternity Ward",
Indoor Grooming Area, New Indoor/Outdoor Kennels & Future Projects}
Original Whelping & "Maternity Ward"
(now replaced by new Maternity Ward and Indoor/Outdoor Kennels)
Our Original 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" 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.
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.
First we bleach the floor !
Then we wash and wash
and wash !!!!
Indoor Kennel "A"
Indoor Kennel "B"
Indoor Kennel "C"
Indoor Kennel "D"
2011 - New "Maternity Ward" and Indoor/Outdoor Kennels
Although San Bernardino County found us to be in full compliance when we applied for a "Kennel License" and stated that we had "The best breeding kennel in the county" - we still wanted to improve our home for our Shelties.
In May of 2011 we started the largest project yet for "Puppy Love Shelties", a new "Maternity Ward" area and an attached Indoor/Outdoor Kennel. These rooms are heated and air conditioned and the indoor kennel has its own septic system (WOW!).
We started by dismantling the old "Maternity Ward" as we needed to make some changes to the walls and roof - and then, the new construction:
May 2011 - installing the drains for the indoor kennels inside of the "stem wall" foundation for the new kennels.
The "Crew" L to R
Mike Beason (a friend in construction), our Son Mike and myself.
late May 2011 - The "pea gravel" is in place for the indoor and outdoor part of the kennels ( the "pea gravel" is 1 foot deep)
The "framing" starts
The "stepping stones" will be the floor for the kennels
Below - putting up the "trusses" for the roof
Below -windows and doors in, new roof on and exterior walls "sheathed"
Below - These are the doors to the outdoor part of the kennel
Below - This is the new front of the "Maternity Ward & kennel
Below - This is drywall going up in the new kennel
Below - This is drywall going up in the new Maternity Ward
Below - This is the new kennel - almost done
Below - This is the new "Maternity Ward" - almost done
Below - Starting on the outdoor part of the kennel
Below - The front of our home at that same time
Below - The "Maternity ward" on August 3, 2011
Below - Installing the main support beam for the corrugated roof over the "Outdoor Kennel"
Below - The Shelties ("Sienna" pictured) get to try out the new room (at this point the cameras still need to be installed)
Below - The corrugated roof is in place
Below - Nearing completion
Here you can see me "pulling" cable for all of the new cameras.
The cables are going in to our bedroom where we can watch any of our Shelties in any yard at any time!
above - leveling the new exercise yard between the new and old kennels.
above -The new switchers and monitors/recorders in our bedroom.
We put in 25 new cameras with the new kennel installation!.
Here are photos of the new indoor >
kennels.
In this photo you can see two females
that also have access to the "maternity ward" ("Sienna" at the top and
"Sonora" at the bottom.
At the far end you can see the vent for the large "swamp cooler". We find that this can keep the kennel cooled to about 80 degrees regardless of the outside temperature. If needed we also have an air conditioner mounted in the wall behind us.
You can also see the wall mounted "shop vac", a storage cabinet and a radio so the Shelties always have music.
The three doors to the right lead to the "maternity ward" while the six doors to the left lead to the new outdoor kennels.
There is a thin layer of sand on the floor. We find that this makes any needed cleanup much easier. The sand gets replaced every two weeks with new sand.
Each indoor kennel has a dog house (can be heated for the winter if needed) a bed, a feeder and an automatic waterier.
In this photo you can see the built in> air conditioner in the east wall.
Just to the left of the AC unit is the door to our patio and a new small yard we use to give the Shelties attention and do some grooming in.
In this photo you can also see some> of the 25 cameras we added when we built this new kennel (6 wide angle for the "maternity ward", 6 close up for the "Maternity ward", 6 wide angle for the "indoor kennels", 6 wide angle for the outdoor kennels, and 1 remote security camera for the outside)
Just on the other side of the far wall with the window is the new "exercise area".
These two photos show the fronts of the new kennels
< This is a view of the new outdoor kennels looking from "yard 6" east to the new exercise yard.
These 6 yards are VERY well ventilated and with the custom made heavy "shade cloth" covering all openings they also stay cool in the summer!
The yards are well lighted and you can just make out the radio for the dogs on the shelf (left side).
These photos show the new > exercise yard. Just to the right of the new kennel you can see the small covered yard that we use for the Shelties.
The tractor in front was used to cover the septic system for the new kennels.
< Looking east, you can see the original kennels and storage container used for dog supplies. The original kennels are now used as "Day Kennels" for the Shelties.
We did a lot of work to level the > new yard for the Shelties. Here you can also see the heavy shade cloth on the outside of the new kennels.
^ These two photos show the little > yard that we use to give the Shelties attention and do a daily brushing of them in.
Although kennels 7-10 are still usable, we no longer
keep dogs in them as we just use them for storage!
"Day Kennels" 1 through 6