Q) Are the tails docked or left intact?
A) Docked, breed standard in the US calls for docked tails. If you want a tail, you may request a long tail with a deposit before the litter is born. You must pick your puppy within 3 days of birth, tails get docked at 3-4 days old. Occasionally, we will leave a long tail on a puppy for those who are looking.
Q) Are dewclaws removed?
A) No, we do not remove front functional dewclaws. If puppy has nonfunctional back dewclaws, those will be removed. Here is a info link on dewclaws. The Function of Dewclaws 101
Q) Female vs male for temperament?
A) Gender doesn't determine temperament.
Q) Do you do any sort of crate training?
A) Yes, puppies are introduced to a crate before 8 weeks old. 12-15 weeks we begin training & all our adult dogs are trained
Q) Are they potty box/pad trained?
A) Yes, litter box. We use Feline Pine Original Cat Litter & the litter box we use is So Phresh High-Back Corner Litter Box
Q) Do they come with a puppy pack of any kind?
A) Yes, they come with a goodies bag full of fun stuff, their toy, food, some essentials, treats & their paperwork
Q) Are the pups cared for in the house or outside?
A) In the house! with loads of outside fun time (weather permitting & age appropriate)
Q) How do you socialize the puppies?
A) They are socialized with other animals & dogs, lots of toys, go outside for adventures, go for car rides, my son plays with them everyday & people who come over to visit them.
Q) Do any of them have any titles, like show or working?
A) Grand parents/parents of the puppies do have champion titles
Q) Do you have a specific brand of food you like to give them once they're weaned?
Q) Do they come with health records?
A) Yes, all recent health/medical records will be in your Puppy Packet
Q) How big will our puppy get?
A) All our dogs/puppies have an estimated size/weight in their description. You may use this puppy weight chart to help you determine their adult size but adult size is never guaranteed.
Q) Why do the puppies vary in size?
A) Miniature American Shepherds are a relatively new breed. Before AKC, the breed was known as “Miniature Australian Shepherd” & “Toy Australian Shepherd”, their registry was with ASDR & unlike AKC, that registry accepted a wide range in sizes, from tiny 10” toys to large 18” minis! Today, AKC has set a size standard of 14-18” for males & 13-17” for females. With a history of such a wide range of sizes within the breed, don’t be alarmed if you see tiny toys or lager minis even within the same litter! This breed is still developing & consistency in size takes time.
Q) Male vs Female which is better?
A) Both are fantastic & I couldn't tell you which sex is better for you personally. From my experience, males tend to be more affectionate on average & will also have a nicer hair coat then females. Females tend to be more independent then males & have a tendency to be motherly as they age. If you already have a dog & want to get another, I always suggest getting one of the opposite sex because they tend to get along better then same sex pairs.
And for the record, “all males mark” is a misconception. Stud dogs tend to mark, neutered males do not. Neuter your pets as stated in our contract & you won’t have a problem with marking.
Q) What is a Miniature American Shepherd like?
Read all about the Miniature American Shepherd breed traits & characteristics HERE
Q) Why do the puppies vary in prices?
A) The puppies vary in prices for many reasons, here are just a few
#1 Who’s the daddy? If we had to pay for expensive stud services to an exquisite, titled male, that will reflect in the price & quality of the puppies.
#2 Cool Colors! Lets face it, our breed has some pretty cool colors that are very desirable to just about everyone! With that being said, we try to make the puppies who so happen to have been born with a less desirable coat color more desirable with a lower price point. Although I always try to encourage everyone to base their choices off temperament rather than color, because in the end, you won’t care what color they were, only that they were your best friend.
#3 Battle of the sexes. Most people prefer females over males for some reason. For that reason, we typically try to help the boys out by making them more desirable with a lower price point.
#4 The economy, inflation & overpopulation due to backyard breeders. People who care deeply about their breed are going to keep pushing onward even when times are hard. People who think they can get into it for money will be sorely mistaken & fade away. There is no money to be made in good dog breeding practices. The money made from puppies go right back into your dogs. When the economy is bad or there is an overabundance of dogs on the market, we have to lower our prices & when we have to lower our prices, money from our 9-5 jobs go into our dogs. Yes we still work full-time regular jobs on top of all the work we do here. Some people believe we live in luxury breeding dogs as a career, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth, we lead very modest lives working hard, all day, every day, so believe me when I say this is a labor of love! We work hard & sacrifice a lot to bring these dogs into this world & it isn’t easy at times. It can be very emotionally, physically & fanatically draining, but we wouldn’t trade it for the world, because we love this breed & want to preserve it for generations to come.
#5 Companion/pet vs Show/breeding dog. You are going to pay twice, sometime four times more for a breeding dog vs a pet. Usually there is no difference between the two, just because your pup was marked “pet only” doesn’t mean that pup was lower quality, it usually means I simply do not want to give anyone rights to breed that dog period & if I do allow a pup to go with breeding rights, you will pay extra for the right to use MY dogs in your breeding program.
Q) What colors do Miniature American Shepherds come in?
This breed comes in 2 colors, red & black, but these 2 colors come in many shades, patterns & pattern combos. Red dogs can vary from dark chocolate to vibrant foxy orange. Tan points also very in shade & white markings can range from full white collars & tall white socks to very little or no white at all. These dogs have many different eye colors as well! Golden amber, dark brown, rich brown, sky blue, watch-eye (Complete heterochromia) & marbled (Sectoral heterochromia). Although our breed has many beautiful colors, remember this, color dosen’t make the dog & when your best friend is laying at your feet at night, you’ll quickly realize it never mattered what color they were.
