The Perfect Place to Rear and Train Livestock Guardian Dogs - Our Puppy Parlor Gets Some Upgrades, Plus a Little Back Story on Why and How we Built it.

In the Beginning

When we first started breeding Maremmas we raised our puppies in our dairy goat barn , so that the puppies could be socialized with the goats and other animals from birth. We had one litter a year and this worked very well for a while, even though it was a lot of work to continually set up and then take down the whelping equipment when we needed the space for goats. But when we became Maremma Sheepdog Club of America Code of Ethics Breeders and began having more litters and bigger kid crops, all this moving back and forth and sharing space became harder and harder. Then beginning in 2020 we experienced some challenges due to extremes of weather (too hot or too cold) and extremely bad smoke from nearby forest fires. We realized that raising puppies in the barn was no longer ideal since we have no control over nature, nor over when our dogs were ready to breed. (Goats come in heat roughly every 3 weeks so it's not hard to time kidding for when it's convenient or when the weather will be nice. Dogs are much trickier with less options other than breed now or don't breed at all this year.)

​But yet we were committed to ensuring that our puppies were whelped and raised in close proximity to livestock so that they wouldn't miss out on that very important early socialization period. Whelping in our house was not an option for this reason. That might be an acceptable choice for breeders who don't feel that raising their puppies with livestock from an early age is important, but for us it we were not willing to sacrifice proper socialization for health (both are important), or for our own comfort and convenience. We wanted it all, and we were determined to have it!

Back when puppies were raised in the barn we had to be creative in order to keep them healthy, using heat lamps and calf hutches in winter and ice packs and fans in summer. But nothing could keep the smoke from surrounding forest fires out of the barn.

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An Idea is Born

We decided that the best plan was to build a dedicated, climate controlled combination whelping facility and dairy goat milking parlor within one of our goat pastures, where the puppies would be able to be kept at the right temperature and where they would be clean, healthy and safe, but where they would still be continually surrounded by livestock and the sights and sounds of barn life. So the idea of our Puppy Parlor was born! (Puppy whelping room + milking parlor = Puppy Parlor!)

Little did we know how long the project would take. We started it in January 2021, when we ordered a 14 x 30' "garden shed" from a California based company. (I won't mention their name because they were awful to work with and very unethical. We should have gone with Tuff Shed.) But we soon found that the builder had lied to us about what would be required to get the building permitted. We had one delay after another, and more and more hoops to jump through and more added expenses. I'm not exaggerating when I say that many tears were shed over this building! Nor am I exaggerating when I say that the project ended up costing MUCH more than we ever expected. But it was worth every hard earned penny in the end.

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Under Construction

We hired a contractor to put in the concrete pad, a fence guy to build the fence and gates and a builder to build the shed. A plumber installed the Flying Pig professional dog grooming tub, deep sink, hot water heater, plus three hot and cold faucets (two outside and one inside, for cleaning floors) and one cold only faucet. An electrician wired it and installed all kinds of lights inside and out, as well as Ring security cameras on all sides. My son-in-law did pretty much everything else: epoxyed the floor, insulated it, put up the Duramax PVC wall panels and finished the ceiling, installed the two Gun Dog dog doors, two AC/Heat units and installed the K9 Kennel Store indoor/outdoor kennels.

We're Operational!

Finally by late October the building was ready and operational! The first litter to move into the Puppy Parlor was Marcella's October 2021 litter. The first litter to be whelped in the Puppy Parlor was Gianna's December 2021 litter. Being able to whelp and raise puppies in this building was truly a game changer for our program. It was also a game changer for me since I always spend at least the first night with my dogs when they whelp. Being able to sleep in a nice, warm (or cool) building instead of in the barn was great!

Marcella & her pups moved in a few weeks after they were born. Gianna's pups were the first to be born in the Puppy Parlor. And it was a good thing, too, because she had THIRTEEN puppies! And thanks to this new environment all thirteen survived, even though it was December and cold! The pups stayed toasty warm and Gianna was happy and comfortable, able to go outside with the goats whenever she wanted while her puppies were safe and snug inside.

Despite the saggy air mattress the Puppy Parlor is a much more comfortable place to sleep than the barn! Sleeping with your dogs and their puppies as roommates is very special, too.

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How we Paid for Our Puppy Parlor

I am not a fan of debt. Personally we have some and I hate it. But when I started my business I committed to not relying on credit or debt. Even though I make good money breeding dogs and goats I truly do it for the love of my animals and what I do. (Owning a farm was my lifelong dream. A dream I didn't achieve until I was much older than I expected to be, due to my husband's 40 year Navy career.) My family doesn't rely on my income from my business. I put every penny I make back into my animals and my farm. I don't want to take out any debt that my family or I might get stuck with if I one day closed my business, nor do I want the added pressure of having to earn a certain amount to cover debt. My first priority is to earn enough to buy hay and dog food and pay my vet when she's needed. The rest of what I spend depends on how much I make. I do not have a business credit card and have never taken out a business loan. Instead I save up money from my goat and puppy sales and cash flow the things I need for the business, be that hay, dog food, vet bills, health testing, breeding stock, equipment or whatever. The Puppy Parlor was no different. The Puppy Parlor is 100% paid for already. My dogs now have a safe, comfortable place to raise their pups and my goats have a much better place to be milked than they've had for the last several years. An if I never bred another litter I would have no debt for the building and it would still be useful for all kinds of things. My husband thinks I'm going to move into it. I just might. 😉

All in Good Time

Going debt free in this project means that some projects needed to wait until I had the money. I knew right off the bat that I wanted nice cabinets for my supplies and a counter for working, but I made do for almost a year with a variety of shelving units, carts and tables until I could afford cabinets. I also quickly decided that the doors the building came with weren't ideal because they let in too much dust and flies, blocked the light and let out the AC and heat. House style doors would be better and look nicer. Patience Precious....

The old doors were ok but not very airtight.

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More Building Projects

We went through Lowes for both the cabinets and the doors and I will just say, if you're thinking of contracting with Lowes for a project, DON'T!! They screwed up everything they possibly could. They are awful! More tears. We ended up hiring a private handyman to install the cabinets a few weeks ago. The doors were supposed to have been installed last week but Lowes screwed that up AGAIN, so we just got one set of doors put in today. The set for the front door will be put in next week. Just in time for our next litter of Maremma puppies, due in a week or so!

Stock cabinets installed by our handyman in a few hours. They did what Lowes professional installation couldn't do in four months!

Jessie’s doeling, Pearl, inspecting the finished cabinets. There’s room for all my puppy and milking supplies and a nice countertop for working. I love it!

Inner doors with built in shades between the glass so we can let in or block light, as needed. Outer heavy duty screen doors that should withstand dog claws. 

What's Next?

Right now things are pretty set the way we like them, but I'm sure there will be something I need to update or add down the line. Luckily I have fall Nigerian Dwarf kids coming, lol....