HOW WE RAISE

Raising your puppy

One of the most important parts of breeding is the raising of the puppies. We know the importance of being with the puppies all the time, we know the importance of social skills, and we do so much for our babies. We take raising babies very seriously, and we make sure by 8 weeks the puppies have had a lot of experiences. I often send photos or videos to my puppy owners, to have replies back that they are so happy they have chosen us as breeders.
I started breeding many years ago and had great mentors in the breed I started with which was Weimaraners. I was lucky also when I started breeding Vizsla and I had another mentor. Having someone experiences in a breed knowing the breed standard, and what you should look for in a puppy is so important. I feel lucky to of met such wonderful ladies who really gave me loads of knowledge. I have passed this onto my son who is now breeding dogs. He was raised with Weimaraners, and I have fond memories of him sitting in the whelping box. You can not read experience of breeding in a book, You learn from mistakes, and from other breeders. I’m often taking phone calls from friends with a question. I am happy to pass on my knowledge to anyone with a Silvestre dog.

My breeding plans start a long way before I breed a dog. In fact years in advance. I may of watched a male dog in the ring in the UK or Europe, and I watch movement. Movement to me is a huge important part of construction too. Planning to use a dog, bringing in a new blood line, or breeding to our own dogs which come from great pedigrees. Of course for me its temperament always as we are selling to pet homes. I want also a dog with a great temperament.

I’m hoping to update this page soon with new photos, and more information showing what we do.

Our puppies are loved, kissed and cuddled on a daily basis.

HEALTH TESTING
Each breed of dog requires health testing. The Kennel club set out the required health test. These usually start after 12 months as X-rays for hip scores will not be accepted before 12 months.
We however do many more tests than is required. When you visit us you are welcome to view all the health tests in a large folder I have.
During 2020 the BVA stopped working during Covid, yet dogs still needed to have the health tests. Specialist vets kept open for hip scoring. We have sent now scores to Australia and got results with in 3 days. We will continue to use Australia now over the UK BVA. Purely because of their efficient way they deal with X-rays and results.

Every breed I own requires different health tests. Go to each dogs page to see the health tests we have done.

When you collect your puppies you can see copies of any of my dogs health tests as they are in a large folder.

BREEDING DOGS
Lots of people are under some illusion that breeding dogs is easy peasy and we earn huge sums of money doing it. It is absolutely the opposite. If you give your dogs every welfare, great diet, veterinary care, time it costs several thousand per year.
Lots of people assume if you mate two dogs together you will get puppies. Wrong! A bitch may not ovulate at all, or may ovulate a different day to mating. She maybe infertile. The male may be infertile or low fertility.
The bitch may absorb her puppies and they all die and vanish. She may miscarry later into pregnancy which is then aborted pups. Quite often bacteria or herpes is present when things go wrong later in pregnancies.
We only breed from healthy mothers, at the age where they are maturer to cope with the rearing of puppies.
We are now restricting anyone coming to stud. Because females may carry bacteria/disease which can render your own dog infertile.

HOW SOON DO WE KNOW IF THEY ARE PREGNANT?
In maiden bitches( which is a term when they have never had a litter before) it is easier to see when they are pregnant. As changes to the body happen sooner. We see two weeks after mating slight changes such as the vulva stays more enlarged, the nipples remain larger. If the girl is not pregnant they all shrink back again. But bitches who have had a litter before it is not as easy as they may have saggy boobies from previous litters.
30 days after mating we can have a scan done on the girl. It is an ultra sound scan. Scans show pregnancy by foetus in a sack which can be seen. We can not tell sexes of the puppies until birth. But if we didn't scan the bitch, the following week is when the stomach appears to enlarge.
Pugs show very quickly, as do French bulldogs. But Hungarian Vizsla do not and I have had one bitch at 7 weeks pregnant and she had the tiniest tummy. We couldn't believe that 2 weeks later she birthed 10 puppies.
Scans are not reliable on numbers, but we get the indication of a small litter as we will see just 3. Or we can see a mass of foetus which indicates lots of puppies.

BIRTH
From 0-9 weeks we have birth. WOW! It still fascinates me that how can a life form in so many short weeks?. Its totally bonkers isn't it.
Birth does not always go to plan, and more often than not we are visiting the vet in the middle of the night for oxytocin injection to make a contraction to bring away a puppy. Ive spent many hours walking around the vets car park. Its not text book and things can go wrong so easily. Being experienced breeder however we instinctively know when we need the vets help. No expense or care is spared for our puppies.
When puppies are born they are still developing. They are vulnerable and blind and deaf. It is vital that no one disturbs the puppies and they thrive in a den like environment which is natural to the dogs. They are upstairs in our spare bedrooms. They can keep quiet, darker and no other dogs or cats will interfere with them. Every day I check over the puppies, handling them, picking them up. Weighing them, making sure they are thriving. Mum is given short walks away from her brood, she does not mix with the other dogs during this vital stage.
Did you know you have to handle carefully other wise any sudden movement the puppy can squeal thinking its a predator that has it. But gradual touching, stroking of the puppy helps for when the eyes are open.
Mothers can be quite protective in this first 1-3 weeks and only rightly so. Their job is to protect their offspring.

GROWING UP
The first two weeks require a different type of care. Than the following weeks. As a mother dog does it all. The only time you step in is if she is not caring for them. The Hungarian Vizsla is generally a good mother. French bulldogs not so good. But you have to assess and act if need be.
The eye when opening are a blue colour, a cloudy blue and they still can not see all that well. This changes over the coming weeks as they can see better. They already recognise our smell from being handled from birth. They do not crave human attention at 3 weeks of age, they can be still quite indignant to humans as the mother is the only one they need.
By 4 weeks however things are changing and they are being weaned and now see their humans as food providers, and suddenly you have wonderful friendly little puppies.
The Vizsla grows rapidly and needs now a lot of experiences, being introduced gently to loud noises.
Weaning is fun! Messy yes. Constantly changing bedding when they start to wean as they will get in the bowl and get covered.
By 6 weeks a Vizsla puppy should be onto 3-4 meals a day of meat, bone. By 7 weeks I would expect mum to be totally off the puppies, but just interacting with them and teaching them.
At 6 weeks we are giving our puppies a range of treats to chew on, from turkey, duck necks, chicken feet, pizzles.
A wide range of toys can be introduced, from different sounds, to different textures.

HOME REARED
I can not imagine any other way of rearing puppies. All our puppies are home reared. They have a large selection of toys to play with, with different textures, snuffle mats with treats, lick mats, toys which release treats.
I put large blankets down for puppies to play on.
They are introduced to younger children, as well as the elderly.
We are lucky to live in a large property with many gardens and paddocks, and I have a pram which I put the pups in, and take up the gardens and let the babies play.
Puppies need constant contact and looking after, and they need to listen to noises associated with day to day living. They are used to the vacuum cleaner, loud music, various music styles, washing machine, dishwasher etc.

None of my puppies are every left home alone, not even for a minute.

NOISES
Yes a lot of breeders do not think this beneficial, but ive got to say the more you can do, the more you can introduce your puppy too, the better they are.
Our puppies are played Loud rock music, soft classical music, disco, film.
They are also played firework cd which has many sounds on from babies crying to trains coming into the stations.
This exposure of noise early on gives your puppy the experience of what it could meet when leaving our home.
Hearing different accents of humans is also to be encouraged.

VISITING
Oh how things have changed, and I can not see them changing for the foreseeable future.
Years ago we would see someone before the bitch has whelped. Then when the puppy is 5 weeks of age, then when they are ready to leave. But Covid put paid to this.

We have had time to evaluate now how we used to do things and how we are supposed to do them now and we have decided that if we do get back to normality we will only see people for a visit at 5 weeks for HPR and 6 weeks for small breeds. Then pick up. We will no longer meet people before the bitch has whelped.

I suppose learning more about how virus's transmits, and the dangers with animals too, its made us realise the less traffic we have the better. Mothers can absorb puppies for example.
We will talk to you at length before hand, and keep you updated with puppy photos. Videos too.

We have been given no updates for Covid, and at the moment you can only collect puppy by appointment, and in and out, or employ a courier to pick your puppy up.

COVID 19
With the pandemic lots of things happened in dog breeding, but we were given relatively little information. During lockdown you are supposed to employ a courier to collect your puppy. During tier system people could pick up. Only 6 people allowed to be in the bubble.

We have hand sanitiser, and we ask you to wear masks, hand over will be outside. We have a grooming parlour but we are in the process of sorting out a large summer house. Which I hope will be in place by summer 2021. This will give us shelter from poor weather.

We can no longer let you into our home to do visits or pick up. This will not change.

WE CHOOSE YOUR VIZSLA PUPPY
We reserve the right as always to keep the right puppy for us, as we breed to continue our breeding plans and show prospects. We have the pick of the litter if their is such a thing.

When you contact me I am asking key questions to give me the idea on what you are looking for in your puppy. We get people asking for show dog, working dog, agility, scent dog, search and rescue, pet. We do not do runt, sickly puppies. So do not worry that your puppy will be something wrong with it. It takes years of experience to produce higher quality dogs. Plus the sort of breeder we are is if their was one we were not happy with, we wouldn't sell it. We would run it on to make sure it reaches the potential we want for sale.

No-one can simply come in and decide with in an hour what puppy is right for them. Puppies are sleeping at 5 weeks, or eating or having a poop. Little play or interaction with you. They have hardly any characteristics. It is not until puppies reach 6 weeks plus that you see characteristics. Who is dominant and who is coward.

In 2019 we lost a puppy from eating a collar, which got wrapped around its intestines. So we do not like putting collars on puppies. I do understand that you like to see the colours so you can work out which one is yours from photos. But sometimes collars will not go on until the puppies are 5-6 weeks of age, if at all. It really worries me as puppies can eat them.

The last few weeks with us.
HPR breeds will leave at 8 weeks of age.
French bulldog or Pug will leave at 9 weeks of age.

The last 3 weeks with us is more intensive as we are with the puppies all the time. Their characters develop. They are now fed outside on the patio to encourage house training.
Loud music is played and soft to continue with sounds. Garden exploration is daily. They are allowed to meet an elderly person, young people (When we didnt have covid).
We have a summer house outside which we can put the pups in whilst Im having a major clean up of the dog room.
We have sun shades for summer and paddling pools. We have outside toys which are different to inside toys.
They are given every surface to stand on. Carpet, Laminate, Oak, Tiles, Concrete, porcelain, grass, shingle.
They are allowed to stay outside and have a large raised bed to play on. Airs my house and the puppies are allowed meaty bones on the patio. They are also given treats of every kind, and they are not allowed to be outside if it is windy, cold or rains. Only warm days or sunshine.

MICRO CHIPPED
By law all puppies should be microchipped at 8 weeks before sale. We use the data base Animal tracker as this is the only data base I could find that did a free transfer of ownership. By giving you the transfer code on pick up you can register an account and put in the code, and the dog is legally yours. It is also a database which is easy to navigate around. I have a few dogs with other data bases from other breeders and their websites are awful to work out. I like something easy peasy.
I will scan your puppy in front of you before you take the puppy home so that you can see where the micro chip is.
By law a puppy should be registered first to the breeder, then to the new owner. If a breeder has not done this correctly then they do not understand the laws of the UK. I am fully qualified to microchip not just my dogs but other peoples too. Having trained with a veterinary surgeon to complete my training on microchipping. I had to do two dogs and a cat in front of the vet before they would sign me off as competent.

VETS VISIT
One of the most important things a breeder can do is take a litter to the vets for a health check. If you are parting with x amount of £'s don't you want to know the dogs healthy ? I sure would. But it also works both ways as we know then that the pups are healthy when leaving, so you can not return the dog for ill health.
Our vet writes us a health letter for each puppy, and on it he includes the micro chip number. So you know that letter is for that puppy. Its a win win situation for all. Our vet is totally awesome and we have total trust in his judgement.

NAILS, BATHING
I am a trained professional groomer, trained to spot skin conditions. My training I had to do about all parasites to do with skin and internal, diet, some behaviour, health and safety with animals, oh the list goes on and on. But because of my training, I am a fuss pot on sending out a clean smelling and healthy puppy. Therefore your puppy will have its nails trimmed just before he/she leaves, bathed with professional grooming products, ears cleaned properly, and a thorough check over before they leave inspecting micro chip is in still working order. I see so many poor little puppies handed over online, that look disgusting, and sickly, sad eyes, weeping, and skin dull from internal parasites. Oh how my heart bleeds that these breeders can do this. Anyway no Silvestre puppy will leave the door unless Im 100 percent happy with it.

DIET
Please do not worry about diet for your puppy. We will hand you a sheet relevant to your puppy. We either hand it to you if you can visit, if covid rules relax. Or we can send by email if Covid rules haven't relaxed. I will send this along side your first reciept so you have it ready. Then you can ask questions. Also you are given the password to our website which has files on diet. Im always updating it as ive learnt something new again.
When collecting the puppy you will be given 7 days worth of food for your puppy. For Pugs and Frenchies it is Cotswold raw. By far the best food on the Market.
We like foods which are 80 muscle meat 10 bone and 10 offal as it really suits the stomach well. We also provide you with a dried alternative if you collect the puppy yourself. Their is only so much we can expect a courier to do if we are in a lockdown. We will of spoken to you so much that you will feel armed with the right info. Plus Im hear afterwards to chat and tell you what to do. So do not worry about diet please. We help as much as we can do.
For Vizsla we find a lot of owners find Cotswold too expensive, as they eat a lot of food. Many times Ive seen faces twist with I don't want to spend that amount thanks. So I do find a good alternative at a better price. Vizsla as a breed can eat anything where as any brachycephalic breeds cant tolerate fatty foods. They get a burpy belly with foods with too much fat in.

PICK UP
You will be given the date of pick up when puppies are born. You can come from 9.30am to 1pm on a Thursday morning, Friday morning, Saturday morning. Unless they are born on a Monday or Tuesday, then you will have to pick up those days. Vizsla puppies must leave at 8 weeks as its detrimental to their social life to remain in the breeders home longer. It is a vital stage of development. Vizsla puppies traditionally lefts at 7 weeks of age because they develop quicker. But now the law on dogs changed they are not allowed to leave until 8 weeks of age.
Bring with you a towel, paper towel, plastic bag for waste. If summer time and hot and you have no air con and a long journey then water and a bowl. If cool you wont need to offer water. You do not need to bring food. If you fed a puppy on travel it would be sick.
You need to bring with you a cool bag for 7 days of free frozen dog meat. The puppy must remain on raw dog food for at least 2 weeks after it has left, so you should purchase some raw food also from www.cotswoldraw.com Their puppy range to continue feeding after our 7 days supply has run out.
You will be given a folder, and inside the folder will be a purple wallet which is the assured breeder scheme wallet. A contract of sale copy is inside which you will of signed at your 5 weeks visit.
The Kennel club registration certificate will be inside the folder, as well as the pedigree. Microchip information will also be inside.
Your puppy will be registered to animal tracker data base, and a transfer code will be given to you on the morning you pick up. You have 14 days to transfer the puppy. By law all puppies should be micro chipped and belong to breeder first. To create a trail of where the dog has come from.
Your puppy will be weighed on scales in front of you, if covid rules still apply we will weigh and write weight on front of folder.

Outside spaces

Do not worry about picking up your puppy and social distancing, our home is set amongst beautiful gardens with large open areas, plus we have a grooming parlour at the front of our property where we will do puppy visits for the foreseeable future.

However....when we are in a national lockdown the guidelines are no puppy visits are allowed. If we have puppies we will talk to you about the up to date current information.
I’m getting emails even in lockdown that people want to come and view our dogs. You simply can not do this. The government guidelines means no travelling. It is absolutely ridiculous that anyone could think they could visit the adult dogs in a lockdown.

Even when we come out of lockdown we will not be doing visits for the foreseeable future as we have a very vulnerable family member living at our home. Covid is going to be about for years sadly, even if their are talks of vaccines coming.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Check out HERE
New page started for references during Covid times. I cant thank owners enough. They are gradually coming in and I will put them on the page.

This is very kind and we appreciate it. These references show you what people think
first hand. It is now difficult to put you in direct contact with people, as under data protection we can no longer do this. Things have changed drastically with the law on animals. But if you go to Instagram you will find plenty of happy dog owners on there, who comment on our posts.

Photo to right is Vicky, she brought one Vizsla 5 years ago and loved her so much she came and brought another. What better reference could we give when people come back for another.
With her permission I posted this photo.
I have asked a few people who will give references through social media if you want them. But we have to do it in a way where I dont break data protection, so I shall just link you up on instagram.

I WANT TO BUY TWO DOGS TOGETHER
I get asked all the time if people can buy two puppies together. With the breeds we own, my answer is different for each.
I would never sell two Vizsla puppies together, because it will be your worst nightmare. I did it myself with two sisters, and even I wanted to pull my hair out. The problems you will encounter is they bond together and ignore you. They can run and egg each other on until miles away, you can not train them together. House training becomes impossible as you never know whose done it, plus you can get sibling syndrome. They are difficult enough just having one puppy with out having two. So we highly advise against two.

If you wish to buy two Pugs or two French bulldogs I will consider it.
But it would have to be a special case, someone with plenty of hands on, so bigger families.

ADVICE AFTER
Pictured right Hod and Mortimer.
I always ask people if they have any questions and the usual answer is no. Its quite over whelming seeing the puppy that all questions are forgotten. Their was only one person who came armed with a list of questions, and she ended up at 6 months returning the puppy. Fat lot of good that was. Usually if you over think things it wont work. Not with an animal.
So after advice is always offered as we know afterwards you will think, ooo I wished I had asked this or that.

Remember text me first or what’s app me on 07584279384.
I generally do not give advice on social media. The Hungarian Vizsla is a difficult breed to own and a lot of people need some advice in the early weeks, and we know the questions you will ask before you’ve even asked it. So dont be afraid as we all go through the same thing, even us as experienced breeders. Just reach out and I will help.

Do not forget
We have hidden pages for our puppy owners on this website, go to this first in case I have answered a question in the files, as this can save a phone call. If it doesnt answer it, then text me.