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 About our Breeding Program
Baycliff
breeds to produce dogs that are physically and emotionally sound, to meet
the standards of the Portuguese Water Dog Club of America and ensure the
integrity of our breeding program.
There are certain health problems within every breed and many breeds
share the same problems. Nature
produced the problems; breeders must test for them and breed responsibly to
protect the gene pool. Our medical
and genetic testing which includes:
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 OPTIGEN testing
provides DNA diagnosis of progressive rod-cone degeneration, a form of
Progressive Retinal Atrophy, which causes blindness. This test is
vital because the breeding of two carriers will produce blindness in
puppies.
Canine Eye Registration Foundation
(CERF) examinations identify other hereditary eye diseases. Only dogs with ratings of
"normal" or "clear" are acceptable for our breedings.
The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals
(OFA) certifies our hip x-rays. Only dogs with ratings of “Good”
or “Excellent” ratings are acceptable for our breeding.
Juvenile Dilated Cardio Myopathy (JDCM)
carrier testing is vital because the breeding of two Carriers will prove
fatal to puppies. This is an
important, new test.
GM-1 Storage Disease testing is done to
prevent this genetic disorder.
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Our
PWDs must
also achieve their ACK Championship status, which demonstrates structural
conformation that the dog represents the Breed Standard of the Portuguese
Water Dog Club of America.
See Additional Health and Information
Links at bottom of page
About
our Puppies
Puppies not chosen for "show"
are temperament tested to determine the best personality match for families
who desire a Baycliff puppy, based on their Application for a Companion
Dog. Please see our Puppies’ Temperament
Test page. We
require references and are happy to provide references for you as
well. We place our puppies in homes
that will provide the love, time, and care necessary for the breed.
Our puppies are examined by our
veterinarian and dew claws are removed.
Puppies are wormed and receive their first set of vaccinations. Pups go to their new homes at ten weeks
of age and we send them home with a puppy packet that includes their AKC
papers and pedigree, a cd containing your puppy’s paperwork, first
pictures, and shot records for your vet.
We also provide a leash, collar, a toy with our scent and Mom’s, and
a sample bag of what they are being fed.
We require that puppies are vet checked again, within three business
days after going home.
We strongly recommend obedience training,
which can begin as soon as your puppy has had complete
immunizations. Obedience training is a wonderful way to bond
with your puppy, and an obedient, well trained dog
is a happier dog and a much better companion. Please see our Care
& Training page.
Tracy Hilliard, owner-breeder-handler of Flashepoint Malinois, and animal behaviorist, helps us provide
on-going support to foster our puppies' development and appropriate
training. Traci has shown PWDs for
both Baycliff and Navio; she is a trusted, knowledgeable friend and a
valuable resource.
We enjoy wonderful relationships with our
"puppy people". It is a
great compliment and an honor to have families have come back for their
second puppy, while their friends came for their first! Our many puppy families enjoy
companionship, obedience, water play, and therapy work with their dogs.
About
the Availability and Cost of our Portuguese Water Dogs
It
takes an enormous amount of time, work, patience, love, and money for any
conscientious breeder-owner-handler to produce pure-bred dogs of good
quality. We whelp puppies, clean
endlessly, provide care and attention to Mom and pups, and bottle feed at
all hours of the day and night for large litters. We scrutinize, temperament test, and make
our show pick(s) within each litter; then we oversee puppy development, and
match appropriate families to pups.
We also take dogs of our own breeding back, retrain them when
necessary, and place them in appropriate homes.
We
train, groom, and provide proper nutrition and exercise. We show on weekends and return to work
exhausted on Monday morning. We pay
for registration fees, DNA samples, show fees and handlers’ fees, grooming
and transportation fees, photographers’ fees, and veterinarian fees. Then we pay for medical and genetic
testing and x-rays, and pray that our hearts will not be broken, and that
all our work was not done in vain because a genetic problem, or hips which
cannot be certified until the dog is two years old, could then disqualify
him/her from breeding. We research
potential pairings, pay stud fees, and breed to produce better quality in
the next generation, and the cycle begins again.
We
often laugh and ask each other, “Tell me why we do this again”? I love and respect my dogs and I feel a
responsibility to help protect the gene pool; therefore, only the best are
bred and puppies that are not show quality are placed only in approved
homes, and only spay/neuter contracts.
Applications for puppies must be complete and contain references. We are happy to provide references as
well.
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