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Kythe Kennels' Breeding Practices

Our Breeding Practices

Our Bernese Mountain Dogs are bred for temperament, soundness, longevity and type. We breed to improve the breed. In doing so, it is our goal to produce puppies of superior quality and type. No Berner in our breeding program will be used unless we believe that particular Berner and the resulting puppies can make a contribution to someone's life with the goal in mind that the breeding is for the purpose of improving the Bernese Mountain Dog breed and specifically our puppies and our dogs.

Maintaining Health in Our Berners

Berners should be bred only when in good health. Our Berners are maintained at the highest health standing using what we believe to be cutting edge standards. We maintain current vaccinations on all of our dogs. We take our dogs to be vetted at any time that they appear to be ill or have a problem which we cannot understand or correct. Our dogs do not have fleas, ticks, or ear mites as we maintain the highest standards in keeping those pests off of our dogs without using harsh vaccinations and medications to do so. However, we do believe that medications are meant to help our animals, and we will use them if necessary.

The Type of Dogs We Breed

If a dog is unreliable with a family or with children, we believe that dog makes an adequate pet for the right home, but we do not believe that Berner should be bred. We understand that Berners were bred to be aloof with stangers, and we accept that quality as part of the breed although we do breed for Berners who readily accept strangers when we tell them it is okay. If you are wondering if our dogs are good with kids, see Geo with Nathan.

We also have strict guidelines for dogs which we use in our breeding program. They must be healthy, they must show no signs of ill health, and we strive to breed to only dogs who have good longevity of ancestors and do not have parents or grandparents who have died of histiocytosis (a genetic cancer in the breed). We do not breed dogs with hip dysplasia, and we require that all our breeding dogs are elbows clearances or only slight imperfections in their elbows but never a dog who limps or appears in pain. Four of our breeding females are OFA and/or GDC Excellent with sound elbows. The other one is GDC Good.

We believe that a Berner who is healthy in mind and body, and who has a good home and is loved, will be the best animal companion a person can have. Some people ask, "Do Berners really smile?" If you are one of those that wonder, see Imp Smile!
Because we feel that there are increasing numbers of Berners with eye problems Progressive Retinal Atrophy, ("PRA") and cataracts, we screen all of our breeding dogs for genetic eye diseases and get them certified by CERF. UL>

Longevity

Longevity is another issue we work hard to get and maintain. Two of our foundation dams are either nearing eight or are over eight and still healthy and alive. See Lucy... and Christy! Geo has an ancestor who lived to be 14, and others who lived to be 12. Our hope is to improve the longevity of our Berners so that we can benefit the breed.

Breeding and Care of Puppies

It is our policy to breed only females that do not require ceserean sections. If a female requires a section, we spay her after her section unless we know it is not a genetic problem. Although we believe that each breeder should determine what they expect of their breeding females and we do not denigrate them for their choices, we believe it is wrong to ask a female to be cut open, without her consent, to bear puppies for our pleasure or benefit. Because others do not, however, we do not wish to criticize their practices as some do believe it is easier on the mother to have a c section rather than to deliver puppies naturally.

Care of Puppies

Puppy care is an important issue to us. If we are to send sound, healthy puppies to our buyers, we must not only produce sound, healthy puppies, but we must keep them that way as they grow. We attempt to do most of our breeding in the spring and summer so that puppies can spend adequate time outside. Being outdoors exposes puppies to sights, sounds and smells that they will not experience in a house.

We also do puppy exercises with our puppies so that they are exposed to stress at a younger age. This helps them to have more solid temperaments and be more steady in stressful situations. Although no puppy can stand up under a great deal of stress, these tests are believed to be highly helpful for our dogs as adults. In addition, as an example, my three year old son and I spent a pproximately 2-3 hours each day outside playing and working with our last litter of puppies. This pays off in great dividends for the people to buy a puppy from us as the puppies are absolutely crazy about people and want to be with them.

It is our goal to raise the most sound puppies in body, mind and spirit. We do not wish to do this to best anyone else, but we love the Berner breed so much that we aspire to reach these high standards. The benefit to our puppy buyers is obvious. See Our Puppy Owners!

Read Kythe's Philosophy | Meet Kythe's Berner Family | Learn About Kythe's Breeding Practices | Kythe's Main Page | See Pictures of Kythe's Newest Puppies | See Kythe Dogs' Most Recent Wins | Kythe's Berners' in Their New Homes | Meet Kythe's Founding Fathers and Mothers | See Our Dogs Working | Kythe Puppies: How Much Are They Socialized? | Feeding Kythe Dogs | Kythe Puppies | BMDCA Standard | BMDCA Code Of Ethics | Other Dog Sites: Not Berners | Berner Friendly Sites

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