Bear Creek Ranch

We have put a lot of time, effort, and money into our dogs.  Our dogs were not bought as junkyard/backyard dogs and we do not sell our dogs for that purpose.  Our dogs were bought first as a member of our family.  When the dog matures to around 2 years of age, they are evaluated and we look at their overall conformation, health, temperament, and pedigree.  If the dog is not up to par, then he or she is spayed/neutered and becomes a couch potato.  Very rarely do we retire a dog and then rehome them.  The reason for this is that we are very emotionally attached to our dogs.  They are our pets.  Just because they have been altered so they can not produce puppies is no reason to put them in an unfamiliar home who has not invested the time, energy, money, and emotion into the dog like we have.

All of our dogs are kept up to date on shots, wormings, heartworm, and vitamins.  We follow a 3 year vaccination protocol.  Our parish is close to recommending a 3 year vaccination for rabies and when they do, we will follow that as well.  We do not believe in over vaccinating our dogs.  A tither can be done to check and see if your dog still has immunity to a specific illness.

First and foremost, we breed for ourselves.  We enjoy the breeds that we raise.  We do not raise puppies for money.  There is no money to be made in dog breeding if you are doing it right.  I have paid more money into my dogs per year than I do on health costs for my family(which we have been fairly healthy, but whether you are healthy or not...costs add up).  We breed to replenish our breeding stock.   Sometimes we do not see what we are looking for in the litter, and we will place the entire litter.  Sometimes we see several nice puppies in the litter, so we will either keep them or place on a co-ownership. 

We try not to have too many litters at one time.  Sometimes we will have 2 litters at one time, usually several weeks apart.  I don't like to do this too often as it taxes me with taking care of all puppies/mommas, in addition to our other dogs, my human children, and work as well.  All of our puppies are raised indoors.  I do not believe in raising puppies outside.  The weather is not good for puppies, and they can easily catch a chill and die.  Puppies do not start going outside until 4-5weeks of age, and that is for an hour at a time.  Once they reach around 8 weeks, I do let them go outside during the day in a fenced in area.  This is so they have exposure to the outside world.  Puppies are crated inside at night.

Our puppies are usually crate trained and partially, if not fully housetrained when they leave for their new home.  All you will need to do is take them out every 2-3hours and after each feeding and they will be housetrained.  We do recommend obedience classes for the puppies we breed.  We raise Pitbulls, Boxers, and Bullmastiffs, all of which are working dogs first.  They must be properly trained and you must know how to handle them gently to avoid any situations.