Our Puppies
At Winterfell, we typically only have one or two litters a year. That way we can thoroughly research the breeding, and devote as much time as possible to each individual puppy. All of our puppies are born and raised in our home with someone here all day. They are vet checked, de-wormed, and up-to-date on all vaccines prior to leaving.
Starting at an early age, we expose each puppy to different surfaces, play equipment, noises, and people. Puppies are also brought up with my infant son and our other adult shelties in the home. All of this exposure is very important in order for them to gain confidence and helps create a wonderful well-rounded personality. Temperaments are very important to us, and we will not keep or breed dogs that are unstable or questionable. We loosely follow the Puppy Culture guidelines for creating healthier, more outgoing dogs and have been thrilled with the results. All of our puppies are litter box trained from around 5 weeks of age using pine pellet litter and fake grass pads. This gives our puppies a great start at potty training before you even take them home. If you will be getting one of our puppies we will send you a document with all of our recommended puppy items as well as the type of food and heartworm preventatives we use.
We pride ourselves on selecting the very best homes for our puppies and also matching the right puppy to the right home. Interested in joining the Winterfell family and getting one of our puppies? Visit our contact page and fill out our Puppy Inquiry Form!
Our puppies are raised in our home and socialized with young children!
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Some of the beautiful puppies we have produced
Producing Healthy Puppies
We believe in breeding responsibly, which means testing the parents (and whenever possible, grandparents) of each litter to make sure they are negative or normal for specific health conditions. We also try to stress that while we cannot produce the perfect puppy, we do all that we can to make sure our dogs are as healthy as they can be. When you pick up your puppy they are sent home with copies of the parent's health testing so you can feel confident that it has been done.
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HIPS and ELBOWS: X-rays are performed and evaluated by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals to make sure there are no abnormalities or hip/elbow dysplasia present.
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EYES: Eyes are examined and certified normal by an ophthalmologist through the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals or the Canine Eye Registry Foundation.
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VwD: An inherited disorder where the blood cannot clot, causing abnormal and severe bleeding. We test all of our shelties to make sure they do not get this disease.
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CEA: Collie eye anomaly is a disease that leads to vision loss and blindness in herding breeds. All of our shelties are clear/normal for this mutation.
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MDR1: Multiple drug sensitivity. This is a disorder in which herding breeds have an adverse reaction to a myriad of drugs. All of our shelties are Normal/Normal and do not carry this mutation.
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DMS: Dermatomyositis is an autoimmune disease affecting the skin and muscles, and occurs in humans as well. It is most often found in Collies and Shelties with symptoms of skin lesions, hair and muscle loss.
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DM: Degenerative Myelopathy
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PRA: Progressive Retinal Atrophy (There are DNA tests for at least 2 forms of PRA in Shelties - CNGA1 and BBS2). All of our shelties are clear for these genetic forms of PRA.
Additionally, we do routine bloodwork and ultrasound our shelties to check their kidneys and gallbladders. Kidney Disease is becoming increasingly common in this breed and we do everything we can to ensure we are breeding healthy shelties.
