Caring for Your Puppy
All HeatherBee Scottish Terriers, Standard Poodles and Golden Retrievers are CKC Registered
HEALTH TESTING WITH EMBARK – Where it all starts – All HeatherBee dogs are DNA tested for almost 200 possible disease markers. Our breeding program is focused on producing health puppies, while making a contribution to the breed by doing all we can to prevent the transmission of genetic diseases.
For your information, feel free to download the attached EMBARK health report completed on Lewis, the sire of out Spring 2021 Scottish Terrier litters.
HEALTH RECORDS – All HeatherBee puppies are examined by our veterinary team at the Animal Clinic of Regina or at the Regent Park Animal Hospital in Regina. Puppies are micro-chipped, vaccinated and dewormed according to a schedule that is age-appropriate.
PUPPY CULTURE – All HeatherBee puppies are raised according to the recommendations and protocols provided with Puppy Culture. As breeders, we highly recommend new owners consider purchasing the “puppy culture for owners” video bundle.
HeatherBee constantly evaulates our feeding program to provide puppies and our mature dogs with optimal nutrition. Overall, we can recommend Nutrience SubZero Prairie Red Dog Food, however we often opt to feed our puppies Purina Puppy Lamb and Rice Formulas. Either Purina Pro Plan or Purina One Lamb and Rice are preferred. We do not select foods where the primary protein is chicken.
Puppies will be used to being fed 2-3 times a day. How much? I gauge by whether they eat every morsel of leave a little in the dish. I prefer that they learn they can walk away because they are full and have no anxiety about food.. I believe dogs, like people, are quite capable of self regulating. If they aren’t eating out of boredom, or anxiety because they don’t know when the next meal is coming, they do well on having food available. You don’t have to worry about excessive eating or overweight unless there are other issues going on. Pet obesity has become a real problem and must be addressed when this happens. Keeping your dog active, and avoiding food with low nutritional value are two ways to avoide obesity in the future.
SOCIALIZING – Obviously socializing is important, but the most important aspect of socializing is the relationship and trust your puppy builds with you. Positive approaches to training mean looking for an abundance of reasons to say Yes! Don’t be afraid to use treats when you start training, even using some of their regular kibble, along with abundant praise. Clicker training has also become popular as part of a positive training approach. When puppies are well motivated by high value treats the training process is fast and rewarding, and you can wean away from treats eventually. Just be sure to say Yes! or Good Dog! every time you treat. Eventually Yes! will mean something important to them.
TOYS – I do not give my puppies ‘stuffies’ unless I am watching like a hawk. Scotties especially will make short order of anything they can shake and tear. I recommend BECO dog toys. KONG toys hold up fairly well too. Please do not give your puppy any rawhide bones or chews at any age.
CRATE OR PEN TRAINING – I like pens that create a sense of boundary without a sense of isolation. I also like puppies having room to move around a bit. However, there are times when a crate better serves and for that, unless you are traveling by air, I suggest the soft-sided kennels you can easily find on Amazon or at a local pet store. I also utilize very large wire kennels which have the advantage of letting the puppy move around comfortably, and see what’s going on around them. Like the pens, they are not as isolating.
PEE PADS AND HOUSEBREAKING – I prefer not to use disposable pee pads. Mostly, they slide around and puppies inevitably chew them. I don’t like risking a puppy ingesting the contents, so I use old towels which serve as reusable puppy pads. Nothing beats the old fashioned – get them outside before they go approach. It’s a lot of work for the first few weeks but its worth it.
PET INSURANCE – Each new owner and puppy is registered for Trupanion pet insurance coverage, at no cost to you. This package covers your puppy from the day it leaves my home, on its way to your home. You’ll be receiving a copy of the insurance voucher in your new puppy package as well. HeatherBee Kennels, in partnership with Trupanion, gives your puppy 4 weeks of Accident and Illness coverage with no limit to the claim. With this coverage you will also have the option of maintaining it once your complimentary period is over. There is no pressure to maintain the insurance, but at least we both have the comfort of knowing that during the transition period from my home to yours, your puppy is covered.
SHIPPING INFORMATION – HeatherBee puppies are hand delivered whenever possible and I have personally delivered puppies to as far away as Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Ottawa. Family ties also make it possible to deliver puppies to PEI and Nova Scotia from time to time. However, there are times when air travel is unavoidable. Please see the information below about travel arrangements by air.
AIR TRAVEL DOCUMENTATION – CKC REGISTRATION AND HEALTH RECORD – HeatherBee Kennels ships via WestJet Live Animal Cargo or Air Canada Live Animal Cargo for the most conscientious care and service available. When your puppy safely arrives, you will find taped to the top of your puppy’s kennel a packet that has his health record, including his microchip number. Otherwise you will receive this package in person when you pick up your puppy. You will also find the CKC Non-breeding contract necessary to complete the registration of your puppy in your name. You’ll see at the top that her name is not on the form but all other identifying information is. This form is an original document and gets submitted when I send the individual puppy registration to the Canadian Kennel Club, so it MUST be sent directly back to me. Do NOT send it to the Kennel Club. This is an original document and it is important so please complete the buyer information at the bottom of the form and return to me as soon as you are able.