Now that the cold weather is coming I have been winterizing the kennels here. Our kennels are 10x10 with a cement floor and a roof, that I custom build, to keep the rain/snow out. Our dog houses are also custom built by my father in law Mike. They have two rooms so our dogs can get out of the wind. Mike insulates the floor, walls, and ceiling very well and seals all the wood seams. These dog houses are the best built houses I have ever seen! We also add some straw to each house for added insulation and comfort for the dogs. Next we enclose three sides of the kennel to limit the wind and snow that actually gets in the kennel. Our kennels face south so the cold northern winds do not blow into them. Each kennel has a heated water bucket so our dogs have access to fresh water all the time. The last thing we do is increase our dogs diets. During the winter a dog will burn more calories to stay warm. We do everything we can to make sure our dogs are as comfortable as possible during the winter months!

We still have three female Dutch Shepherd Puppies available! Also if anyone is interested in a custom built dog house let me know! These houses are insulated very well to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

I recently came across a good article on house training a puppy. The first point it made was consistency. Dogs do the best in all training aspects with consistency. Always schedule a consistent routine for taking your puppy outside to go to the bathroom. Use one area in the yard to take your pup to each time so it learns what is expected of him or her. Once the pup goes to the bathroom, reward him or her and give a lot of praise. Puppies will need to go out first thing in the morning, shortly after a meal, before bed, as well as numerous other times through out the day. A good rule of thumb that I learned is the pup can hold it one hour for every month of age, so a three month old pup could hold it for three hours.
 
The next point is to confine or supervise the pup while training them. While indoors, either crate the pup or keep the pup on a leash so you are monitoring what he or she is doing. If you do not do either one of these, accidents will definitely happen. Crate training seems to be the best method. Never use the crate as a punishment.

The last point is to keep your cool. If you catch the pup in the act of going to the bathroom inside, immediately interrupt him or her with a loud voice or clap and immediately take the pup outside to the established bathroom area. Never punish the pup for an accident because accidents are going to happen. Punishing them will not help the house training process. If you find a puddle or pile and did not catch the pup in the act, it is to late to correct him or her. This means you have not be monitoring your pup as needed. All that can be done at this point is to thoroughly clean the accident to prevent revisits.

House training takes time but if you are consistent with the training the pup will learn what is expected of him or her!

Today we give special thanks to all that have served and all that are currently serving! A special thanks goes to my late grandpa, Louis Orlandi, who served in WWII and was a POW before eventually making it home safely to me grandma. Another thanks goes out to Colette's late grandpa, Edward Bruckner, for also serving in WWII. Our last family thanks goes to my dad, Edward Kennedy, for serving in Vietnam. We also want to thank all the serve dogs that were and are beside their military handlers. We greatly appreciate all who have fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms!

We often get asked: When do the puppies ears go up and stay up? One of the distinguishing features of the Dutch Shepherd and German Shepherd are the erect ears. Ears can go up as early as 3-4 weeks old but they tend to go back down. It is completely normal for the ears to go up and down before they finally stay up. One day both ears will be up and the next day both or one can be down and vise versa. As the pup grows and develops, the cartilage strengthens and the ears stay erect. There is no need to be concerned until the pup is 6-7 months old and the ears are not staying up. There are things that can be done to encourage the ears to go up and stay up. The ears tend to go down while the pup is teething so chew toys relieve teething pain, strengthens jaw muscles, strengthens neck muscles, and strengthens head muscles. Introducing new sounds encourages the ears to go up and helps strengthen the cartilage. There are some theories of providing the pup with supplements to help the ears go up and stay up. We do not use supplements and feel you should consult your vet before any supplement is given to the pup. If the ears are still not up by 7 months old, consult your vet as there are some things that can be attempted to get those ears to stay up. So be patient with those ears and they will eventually stay up for you!

I spoke to a woman earlier today that bought a pup from a well known breeder, that I will not name, that unfortunately ended with her re homing the pup. This experience left the woman disheartened about the breed and breeders. We research our bloodlines extensively here before any breeding is done. We look at temperaments to get an idea of what to expect with the pups. We also look at previous litters the dog has sired or whelped to see what those pups are doing. Obviously breeding is an art and not a science but we do everything we can to get an idea of what to expect with the pups we are producing. If you are looking for a breeder, make sure you ask questions to make sure this research has been done before the breeding. It is also the breeders responsibility to help the customer choose which pup is most likely going to meet their needs and wants. Impact K9 USA takes pride and stands behind all of our dogs and puppies!

We still have 3 female Dutch Shepherd Puppies available! We have been receiving great feedback from the owners of the pups that have gone to their new homes from this litter! All are training well and love to work!