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Skyfire Australian Cattle Dog

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Raising Puppies - The Untold Stories

If you are weak at heart, please use your back browser and proceed to the cute puppy pictures.  This page is filled with the honest truth, the issues, experiences and disappointments I have experienced as a breeder.   They are things you don't typically read in "The Complete Australian Cattle Dog" type books.  Breeders don't scare you with the gory details of what they had to go through to raise you that beautiful 8 week old puppy you picked up from them, all clean, fluffy, and health tested.  I am a financial supporter of the AKC Canine Health Foundation and had I had time to have a second career, canine genetics might be my calling.

Deafness:

ACDs have a high rate of genetic deafness in the breed.  There has yet to be a determination on the mode of inheritance for deafness.  Puppies can be unilaterally deaf (not that big of a deal) or bi-laterally deaf (big deal).  In the case of a bi-laterally deaf dog, the most responsible thing a breeder can do is put the puppy to sleep.  Did I also mention this would be the most DIFFICULT thing a breeder would ever do.  The puppies ears do not open until they are a few weeks old.  Observant breeders watch their puppies like hawks during this time trying to see how they react to sound.  Of course, they also react to light and movement, so it is sometimes hard to distinguish what they are reacting to.  The only for sure way to tell, is to have the puppy BAER tested.  This test is not performed until the puppy is 6-8 weeks of age.  Have you ever seen an 6-8 week old puppy??  That is about the cutest time of their life. They are fluffy, friendly, want to lick and play.  I have been very fortunate to not have had a deaf puppy yet, although I was a co-breeder on a litter that we had a deaf puppy, fortunately the loving, determined co-breeder (Brenda Adams) found a very suitable, experienced home for the puppy..  I say yet, because every breeder, if they breed long enough, have them.  I have known breeders that have had over half the litter born deaf.  There are limited numbers of homes that have the experience and time to raise a deaf dog, especially a deaf, highly driven, stock dog.  

Deformities:

Although Cleft Palettes is not listed as a common disorder in the ACD, almost every breeder I have spoken with has had a cleft palette or cleft lip.  I personally have co-bred six puppies born with cleft lips.  Four were euthanaized because of the sever facial deformities, one died within the first day, and one (a very minor cleft) was bottle fed from birth and later surgically repaired.  

Kink tails are a deformity of the vertabra that I do not fully understand.  I have seen several dogs with kink tails that lead normal lives.  I have had one puppy born with more than a kink in it's tail.  Several kinks existed, to the point of rolling the puppies tail into a small cinnamon roll.  The puppy's tail was kinked so tightly, it could barely be moved to allow it to eliminate.  The extent of other issues the puppy had will never be known.  It was also born with a cleft lip and died within the first day (discussed above).  

Mark and Tracy Johnson, Las Vegas, NV

Skyfire@gocougs.wsu.edu

702-395-2080