I had raised a few litters of pups off and on for over 25 years while holding down full time office jobs in factories, banks, etc..  I finally quit my job at the bank and have been raising Westies full time for over 11 years. Years back I wanted to get into showing so I bought a few papillons (easier to show).  Since then I quit raising papillons and we are currentlyonly showing one Westie.  Our breeding dogs consist of three shih tzus and 11 westies.  Our housepets are an 11 year old neutered rottweiler and Vanessa the shih tzu.  Our "nursery" is a large converted walk-in closet off the ground level master bedroom.

REGISTRATION: Our dogs are all AKC registered (except Beth) and all have champion pedigrees (except Beth).  Pedigrees emailed upon request. We specialize in smaller then average westies, 10-16 lb range.  Our shih tzus are in the 10 lb range.

WE DO NOT SELL TO PET SHOPS, DOG BROKERS, ETC.... OUR PUPS SELL MAINLY TO PET HOMES. 

GENETIC TESTING: Our dogs have patella's vet checked prior to breeding.  Our stud males are all DNA tested.  Any dog found to have any heriditary defect is immediately retired from our breeding program.********We're inspected by AKC on at least a bi-yearly basis, last inspection by John Thomas was 3/20/09, we have always been found in complete compliance in all areas.  If you need to check on us, I'm sure Mr Thomas would be glad to answer your questions about our dogs and facilities.  His email is jmt@akc.org, his number is 318-547-3154.

OUR GROWN DOGS ARE NOT KEPT IN CAGES (except sometimes on cold nights)!  I prefer to let dogs be dogs and run as much as possible on solid ground.  Most of the time they stay in large chain link pens on crushed driveway gravel, but they also often run loose in our yard to play (when not in heat).  ********ALL our puppies are born and raised in the house. All expectant dams are brought into the house 3 weeks prior to delivery and stay near me until the puppies are born (sleeping in their crate next to my bed, etc...).  When pups arrive, they're moved with their puppies into the nursery.  Because of this, when we retire one of our dogs, they tend to adjust very quickly to their new homes! ***********Most of our dogs are NOT kept in show coats, I groom them for function, not show.  The handler is the one that keeps our ocassional show dog in proper coat.  We don't do much showing, generally having only one dog showing at any given time.  We don't enjoy showing, the show breeders can be a vicious crowd and the show scene is often extremely political.  So we hire a professional handler and we usually stay home.  My nerves can't take the shows!  LOL!

SHOTS: We give our own shots (using only a vet recommended brand), at 6, 9, and 12 weeks.  If your puppy must have shots through a certified vet, you'll need to request that in advance and you'll need to pay for all expenses associated with that.   Any pup over 3 months of age will have their rabies through our vet before shipping.  If picking up pup in person, it depends upon the situation as to whether pup has had time to have a vet check and rabies before the sale, so be sure to ask!

FOOD & GROOMING:  We feed Diamond NATURALS dog food, the adults are on Small Breed Chicken and Rice, the pups on Small Breed Puppy, www.diamondpet.com.  For grooming, we use ISLE OF DOG products, WWW.IODOGS.COM They have formulas for any coat type and many top show breeders use their products on their show dogs.  Breeders can join their breeder program to get free shampoo packs for their puppy buyers and earn coupons for money off their next purchase.