Our Kennel

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PorterHorseSales@aol.com
580-695-7711 Cell
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    Dennis and I are both self employed. I have been raising Mini/Toy Australian Shepherds since 2002. I have been self employed since I was 16. First giving riding lessons, breaking and training horses and then to buying and selling family horses. One day I traded a horse for a couple of Mini Aussie females. That was one of the best things I ever did. I knew nothing about aussies or breeding at all. I'd never even heard of a mini aussie. You could say I took a crash course. I talked to anyone who would talk to me and I found any website I could find with information about aussies or breeding. I made some mistakes and I learned from them. Fortunately I found a few people along the way that helped me out and taught me a lot. The rest is history!
    Dennis is a retired Marine. He is self employed and is a contractor doing handy-man work. One job usually leads to about 10 more. Everyone wants to keep him around once they find out how handy he really is. I got lucky enough to keep him forever! He's been spending more time working with me at the kennel lately than anything else, but I like it that way. So much more gets done when he's around and we never run out of stuff to do out there. Time flies when you're doing something you love with someone you love. He's a wonderful man and is a true animal lover. We enjoy working together all day, every day.

Would you like to know a little more about us? My facebook is not private and anyone is welcome to look it. I understand how scary it can be to buy a dog off of the internet not knowing who you're dealing with and wondering if someone is really who they say they are. I've heard my share of horror stories.   Heck, I have my own share of horror stories! I'm very open and willing to chat and answer any questions you might have or want to know to feel comfortable. I've had people tell me they feel like they know me and that is one of the reasons they want to buy a puppy from me. Well, if you are one of those people, feel free to check it out. It is not my professional facebook but my personal facebook. Not to be rude, but I only add people I know personally. Still want to know more? I have a channel on YouTube. Lindsey682 or type in http://www.youtube.com/user/Lindsey682. I have well over 100 videos added. A lot are puppy or business related videos, but some are personal and are posted to share with friends. You'll see a lot of my dogs and kennels in these videos.

    Well, first thing in the morning I go in and check on all of the puppies. Nothing starts a day off better than puppy love. I go through the whelping house and give all of the mama's a pupperoni treat and make sure everything is like it's supposed to be. Then all of the dogs get fresh clean water. (a few of them would rather play in it than anything) We go through all of the pens, check feeders and give out kisses and get our daily slobbers and licks. We have automatic feeders so the dogs have free access to food all of the time. Feeders get checked quite often but generally only need filled 2 times a week.
    There are ALWAYS chores to do. If we're not adding something new or working on the kennels, we have plenty of dogs that could use grooming or yards that need mowed. Fence that needs checking or dogs that need training for the upcoming shows. One of the things that takes up a lot of my time is taking puppy pictures and videos. Most people don't realize that I spend anywhere from 8-10 hours or more a week just taking pictures and videos for my website. This doesn't even start to include editing, sorting and putting them on my website!
    I have 2 girls who work for me and help keep kennels clean and puppies socialized. Between the two girls, Dennis and me we usually spend about 16-20 hours a day at the kennel doing dog work.    I've had the question asked, 'How can you take care of so many dogs?' Well, that pretty much answers a lot of that question. The rest of "how we do it" is explained in the what are your kennels like section.
    The day (at the kennel) usually ends around dark and the rest of the day is spent on my website and writing emails. A normal night on the website/emails is generally from 5-11 or midnight in the winter time and closer to 8-11 or midnight in the summer. My website has so many pages that there are literally pages that I have not seen in years. I have hundreds of pages on this site. If you think you've seen it all, click around a little more and you'll find something new. My website is updated daily with new puppy pictures, new information and a lot of times, even videos. I take a couple of nights a week off to get me out from under the computer. Hey, I've got to have some reason to dress up every once in a while! In the summer, I spend a lot of weekends at the lake. Summer is usually slower with the dogs anyway and it gives me a much needed break.

    Our kennels are something that we have worked VERY hard on for the last 2 years. We are very proud of our set up and are proud to show you around here on the website.
    Our kennels are set up to use. What I mean by that is, we went the extra mile. Spent the extra money and time to build our kennels to work for us. Everything is set up to be easy and as simple as possible. For example, the whelping house is all cement. Inside and out. Everything slopes towards a drain that goes to a huge septic system we put in just for the dogs. The cement is sealed so it does not hold germs or smell. All we have to do is bring out the pressure washer and spray everything down the drain. This makes the whelping house so easy to clean and actually does not have a smell at all. The cement is cleaned so well that it looks like brand new cement. There are no 'doggy' stains at all on the floor of the runs. (The building is old and could've used a paint job, but hey, we've had other priorities) All of the pens in the whelping house are inside/outside pens. The doggy doors are strategically placed high enough that the adult dogs can get in and out, but puppies that aren't old enough to be outside yet can not get out on accident. Each individual pen is divided by 4ft tall solid concrete walls (custom built by Dennis) so that the dogs have plenty of privacy inside. They all have 5lb feeders and automatic lixit waters in their pens. The building is of course heated, cooled and ventilated. Each whelping room has cameras that are hooked up to the internet so we can check on the puppies anytime from anywhere. This is especially nice when expecting puppies. Yes, we took the time to run internet cable out there after we ran the electric, water and everything else. It was a huge pain and a lot of work but very worth it. Saving just one puppy because of the cameras was worth it. And how interesting to watch the dogs doing their thing without disturbing them.
    Okay, for the outside kennels...I hate scooping dog poop just as much as everyone else, I'm not gonna lie. And I didn't want my dogs to be in cages or pens their whole life. So, I found a place that was private enough and where I had enough room. Each dog pen is 75x100 feet or 70x70 along the back. My dogs have it made better than a lot of pets out there. These yards are so large that I NEVER have to scoop dog poop. No really. Most people don't believe it until they see it. Ok, I'll admit, the wonderful dog food that I feed has a lot to do with it. But seriously, in that much room the dogs do not poop enough for it to start piling up or smelling. When you walk out into my kennels you will not see or smell any 'dog smells'. People who have been to my kennel are still surprised when I tell them how often I have to clean those outside yards. But if you imagine you have a huge yard with 3 or 4 small dogs in it. If you're feeding good dog food, you wouldn't have to pick up your yard either. These pens are basically like living in someone's huge back yard.
    Each yard has a shed (built by Dennis just for the dogs) and inside each shed are dog houses with a shelf that makes each one two stories. It gives them more room and something to play on. In the winter time we put hay in the houses and we can completely shut them up. In the summer time the backs of some of the sheds slide down and out. This helps in the yards that don't have as much 'natural' shade from trees. When the back portion of the shed slides out it actually pulls air through like a fan; even when it isn't windy. It also gives them more shaded area. Still other dog houses are lifted off of the ground so dogs can get under them as well as in them. As soon as we pick the dog houses up, that is their favorite place and that is where you'll find them every time. Even before it gets hot, they love it under there! They dig holes under the houses and have nice cool places to lie. Remember, these are cow dogs. They aren't foo-foo house dogs and are most happy outside anyway. Each pen has a 55 gallon barrel cut in half that is used for a water trough. They always have plenty of water and a big place to jump in and cool off. All of the yards even have swimming pools.
    Other than that, my property is completely fenced in with 2 x 4 inch horse fence. The 'back yard' is what I call the huge hard in the middle of all of the individual pens. It goes around the whelping house and into all of the individual yards. For example, if a gate is left open the dogs would just be loose in the back yard. The back yard opens up to the rest of the property where the house, pool and barns are. The dogs have several acres to run on and explore. Usually you'll see them under a tree watching a squirrel or chasing each other around the house. Most of them are very good about coming back into the 'back yard' when I call them so its easy to just let them run while we're there watching.

I almost forgot to mention the bathtub, set at just my height so I can give dogs warm baths without killing my back. Dennis set it up where it works perfectly. Warm water, the tub at just the right height with enough slope that the dogs aren't standing in water. I also have a nice area to groom dogs and if necessary doctor dogs. My dryers make everything complete and easy to use. This has gotten so many hours of use you wouldn't even believe it!

I am lucky to have good help that allows me to spend more time playing with puppies. If I didn't have them I probably wouldn't get to spend as much time with them as I would like to. I spend an average of 6-8 hours in the kennel each day anyway but everyone has puppy duty. Every puppy is picked up every day by everyone who is working out there. This is the most fun and most important thing we do. People ask if my puppies are socialized with kids. No. I don't have kids. BUT I do have a monkey, Mali, who absolutely adores the puppies. You might be thinking, well, that isn't a kid. Ok, this is true. But she does a lot of the things that kids do to puppies. She pokes on their noses, pulls on their feet and looks in their mouths. The hugs and kisses and even tries to carry around the little ones. So they are used to all of the silly little things that a kid might do to them. They all love people, have been around horses and cats. They will be happy and friendly when they get to their new home with you!

If you have any questions please feel free to ask! We'd love to hear from you! I've always got time to talk dogs! :)

Our newest building, we started working on it January 2011 and had it mostly done by May. This building is working out very well for us. It is very well insulated and is easy to keep clean and cool. (or warm of course!) It's approximately 55 ft long It has 8 pens on one side, with large whelping boxes on the inside and 12 on the other side that is used for bitches in heat. This makes it easier for me to know exactly when the dog is bred and it also prevents unnecessary fights in the yards. I'm sure you can imagine how these girls are when they're in season. :)
Dennis installed lixit waters in every pen so everyone has cool, clean, fresh water all of the time. No knocking over water buckets! This building also connects to the septic system so there is no smell. It, like the other building, is cleaned every day with a pressure washer. To keep the air circulating, along with a couple of large fans, a ventilation system has also been installed. You might be surprised though at how cool this building stays even with just the doors open at both ends.
There are always a few pens left open and gates left ajar so my loose dogs can go in and nap if they please. However, I find even if they have the opportunity to go take a nap in a 70 degree building, they'll opt for the shade tree. Another nice feature is that when we built the divider panels, we made them removable. So if we're only using a few pens on one side, with just a couple of screws removed, the pen size is doubled. Works great for weaning age litters in the heat of the summer.

With the roof done!

Before the roof was done all of the way around.

The old dairy barn that we have cleaned up and turned into our dog kennel/whelping house. It has two rooms, a big room and a smaller one. The smaller room I use to whelp dogs in. Its smaller it is easier to keep even warmer. It stays at about 70-75 at the lowest. (The top picture shows the pens coming out of the whelping room.) The bigger room has bigger pens, about 4x4 inside. We keep rubber mats down in the winter time to keep them of the cool floors. There are propane heaters in both rooms and a heat lamp here and there for a brand new litter.
In the summer time this solid cement building is a perfect place to keep cool. I have a huge fan that ventilates, 2 ventilation fans in the ceiling and they pull quite a bit of air in. Of course there are air conditioners in both rooms for the days that get really hot. The outside pens are going to be covered all of the way around. When the windows are open and the fans blow, it will pull the cool air in from the shaded areas. The dogs get sunlight in their pens in the morning and evening, but not during the hottest part of the day.
Another one of my favorite things about my kennel (and one of our bigger projects) is that it all washes into a huge septic system. Yes, EVERYTHING washes into the septic. Inside and out! No more scooping poop! Pressure washer is all we use. This keeps everything cleaner and it is much easier to sanitize.
We have 9 internet cameras in our kennels so we can watch everything that is going on at anytime. There are cameras in the puppy house, both the whelping houses and 3 cameras that show all of the outside pens. Yes, of course they have night vision. :) That is when we use them most. They're not used much during the day since we're out there usually 8 hours a day.
For those of you just a little curious...here are a few quick pictures of this 50 year old dairy barn before we started working on it just over a year and a half ago...

*Please remember, we converted a 60 year old dairy barn into a kennel. There were doors we had to turn into walls and walls we had to turn into doors! It doesn't look as pretty on the outside as it would've if we would've started from scratch. But it isn't the outside we're worried about, its the inside, where the dogs stay. It was painted the worst color of green you've ever seen. I suppose I could repaint it...but there are a million more projects that are ahead so for now, squint and pretend that the green is....tan, or something a little easier on the eyes! lol

The bigger room.

Outside pens, where the dogs spend most of their time.


A view in the summer.	A colder view on one of our few snowy days.

A few pictures of my dog pens....

A different view of the latest yards.
June 2010 July 2010

The two pictures below are taken from the same spot 15 months apart. We hauled off a huge junk pile the last owners left, cleaned everything up and tore down all of the old, hanging fences. We put up no climb horse fence. Works great for the dogs.

The outside pens are 50x100, 75 x 100 or 70x70

The outside pens all have their own sheds. They're similar to a loafing shed. The dogs LOVE the upside down dog houses. Don't ask me why, but you'll always find more dogs inside and on top of it than the other dog house. They dig a 'fox hole' under it and have their own den. They also love the shelf in the back of the shed. It gives them more space to lay and makes for good entertainment when they're playing tag. I think they use it as base! The shed is taken apart in the summer time to give shade, but pull the wind through. I also have a few A frame houses. I need to get pictures of them on here.

Would you like a virtual tour of my kennel? Since I don't let anyone come out to my kennels...for several reasons....(see my FAQ page for info) I wanted to take a quick video for you to see even more of my kennel set up.

	At the vet getting a puppies health cert. before its flight!
	Carmen is shaving a giant schnauzer in this picture. Sat back to take a break and got a kiss from Brandy! Carmen comes every day and helps mostly with the inside kennels and plays with all of the puppies. She keeps everything up to date on shots, worming, etc. She always does more than she's expected to do. She's wonderful!
	Marie, like Carmen is very experienced with animals. They have worked for years at the local vet clinic. They work side by side with the vet and have tons of knowledge about dogs. They're all great to have around. Marie helps with everything from cleaning to shots and bathing. She's nice to have around!