Puppy Rearing

At Glacial Lake we take all aspects of canine health and wellbeing seriously. Our Puppies and Dogs are raised with only the highest levels of rearing and evaluation program’s including the latest research with canine development, behavior, nutrition and veterinary medicine.

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We honor & focus on the Siberian huskies ancestral heritage as a Northern working sled dog breed & the breeds standard to produce quality tested and DNA %100 breed verified Siberian Huskies.

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The questions breeders should consider before breeding are;

• Can I produce equal or better quality than I can buy?

• How do I improve the breed?

• How am I a steward of the breed?  (Am I kennel blind?)

• Do I strive for continues improvement and education as a breeder?

• Do I have unquestionably high standards, honor and Integrity for the Siberian Husky?

 

How do I prove each?

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We start with parent selection; most breeding’s are evaluated for 2 years before moving forward. In selecting & evaluating our pairs we look for particular behaviors and key attributes such as but not limited too.

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• Excellent Structure & Movement in and out of harness

• Intelligence (leaders)

• Eagerness to please

• Mental soundness

• Startle and recovery / rebound

• Courage & awareness

• Focus & engagement

• Enrichment seeking

• Self-confidence

• Off switch

• Excellent Feet

• Good eating and eating habits

• Good to excellent environmental focus

• Hard working

• High Drive

• Moderate to High energy

• High play desire

• A minimum of 2 seasons performance testing.

• Only A team dogs will be considered for bred.

• Note: Sorry volume control not included

 

Health

Once dogs are performance evaluated, all Glacial Lake Siberian huskies being considered for breeding will have completed OFA eye examines and examination at our veterinary clinic which may include blood-work panels and radiographs, this helps to verify dogs are fit and healthy.

Further to physical & hands on exams we are firm believes in the value & information different types of genetics and DNA testing provides. We Embark all our dogs and tests for multiple mutation that can affect our breed such as: XLPRA1, DM,  SPS1 & SHPN1.  

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Once bred our females have an ultrasound to confirm pregnancy, and are X-rayed about a week before due date to confirm puppy count and aid in delivery plan. A plan for an emergency C-sections is always planned and discussed with my vet.

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Nutrition

We start with our females even before she’s in heat. With our extremely fit working gals we like to put a little extra meat on their body to aid in the growth and development of health puppies.

We do this by increasing food, continuing with mixed kibble /raw feeding but also including additions like fatty acids, omega's and probiotics. We tailor to the individual female as they can all be slightly different in what they need and how much is necessary as pregnancy progresses.

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How Puppies are raised will impact them for the rest for their lives.

 

Our puppies are introduce to a goat milk slurry with a small amount of raw Chicken then Turkey (Puppylicous)  around 3 weeks or when they show interest in lapping. Once the puppies gain lapping control we increase the raw meat and add Purina Pro Plan Puppy mash to the Slurry.  As the puppies grow other meats like Beef or Fish may be introduce.  At an appropriate age goat milk is slowly removed and Inuksuk 26/16 and later after 14wks of age 30/25 are added to the raw meat mix. We look for puppies immediately taking to their new food through each stage and thriving on it, if we don’t see this we take a step back adjust to ensure we are doing the best for our puppies.

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Puppy Rearing Program

Our puppies are whelped and raised indoors until they are 5-6 weeks of age then they transition to the kennel. We feel raising puppies indoors during the first week’s of life helps to mitigate chances of accidents, unwanted exposures, and illness. It also gives us control over the climate/temp changes, interactions, parasites, pathogens brought in by birds etc.

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 We use the most successful and up to date puppy rearing programs & evaluations which includes: Puppy Culture, Avidog and Breeding Better dogs.  These programs are shown to produce enrichment seeking, outgoing puppies, with better responses, and above average resistant to illness & recovery. With each litter we learning and gain further experience and add or remove content to our puppy raising program. Some of the key program focuses, milestones and evaluations we adhere to are:

• Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS) (Puppy Culture/ breeding better dogs/Avidog)

• Early Scent Introduction (ESI) (Advidog)

• Startle and recover exposure (Puppy Culture)

• Introduction to new items and places

      (Daily Stimuli/ car trips) – (Puppy Culture /Avidog)

• Socialization to other approved dogs and people (Puppy Culture)

• Solo exposure and manning (Puppy Culture)

• Age appropriate physical and mental problem solving

      games & challenges (Puppy Culture /Avidog)

• Puppy Party (Puppy Culture)

• Volhard Temperament testing

• Movement analyst- From the bottom up (Breeding Better Dogs)

• Avidog testing

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We do not place puppies based on pick order, but rather collect information forms from our accepted adopters including lifestyle, goals, and experience to pair the best suited puppy & adopter.

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Puppies do not leave Glacial Lake property for new homes until 10-12Wks of age.

 

We dedicate an incredible amount of time & energy to our puppies in their critical first months of life, where they will gain experiences and life skills through our puppy rearing program ensuring they have the best foundations and skills to join their new life and teams.

We continue to offer support for our puppies and dogs throughout their lives.