MollyDogs - Shichon Puppies - Ethics and Breeding Philosophy

MollyDogs Ethics ~ We Promise:

to raise our dogs and puppies in a clean, healthy, and happy environment.
that all our puppies are born and raised here on the premises. I am present for the birth of each and every puppy.
to always put the emotional and physical needs and wellbeing of our dogs and puppies first.
to place the importance of finding the best homes for our puppies above the desire to “sell” a puppy.
to never talk you into one of our puppies, it must be a good fit for your family, for the puppy and for us.
to produce strong, healthy, well socialized puppies with happy temperaments that become great additions to your family and your life.
to care about each and every dog and puppy that we have or produce for the life of the dog.
to remain available to you as a resource and for help with puppy support once you take your puppy home.
to always treat our dogs with dignity and respect.
to always make their health a priority rather than worry about vet costs and the “bottom line”.
to provide the best quality food that meets the nutritional requirements for our dogs and puppies.
to be honest and open with you about the entire process of adopting one of our puppies and welcome you here anytime to visit and meet with us and your puppy.
to have questions for you about where the puppy will be going to live, who the puppy will live with and require a spay/neuter contract signed by you.
to be responsible for each and every new life/puppy that we bring into this world and if we cannot find the best home for a puppy then we will happily keep the puppy as our own.

Our Philosophy

At MollyDogs we are in LOVE with our dogs and puppies. We believe that the health and happiness of our adult dogs is of the utmost importance. Each and every one is a member of our family. We have raised each of them from puppies and know that they each have their very own individual personalities and traits.
We believe that happy, healthy, well socialized adults make for happy and healthy, well socialized puppies.
We believe that each of our puppies has their very own home out there waiting for them and have witnessed this time and time again.
We believe that each of our adults also has the perfect home waiting for them when they are “retired” and we try to retire them as early as possible so that they will have a long and happy life with their new families.
We believe in educating our families about their puppy so that the more you know and the more prepared you are when you bring your puppy home the better your experience will be which will then make an easier transition for our puppy.
We believe strongly in spay and neuter contracts for our puppies and will not send a puppy home without one being in place. Please feel free to ask us about this when contacting us.
We believe in making sure our puppies/dogs never end up in shelters and will always be available to help find them new homes should that become necessary.
We believe in turning away or refusing to send one of our puppies to a home that we have any concerns about or where we feel the puppy would not be safe, we have in the past been threatened with a lawsuit in such a situation and our feeling was “bring it on” we are NOT turning over the puppy.

MollyDogs Breeding and Care Guidelines

Whatever is best for our dogs is the starting point for all of our decisions and evaluations. Everything else, our breeding guidelines and the individual needs for each dog, flows from there.

Breeding and Health Care

The health of our dogs is our number 1 priority. Our Vet is very involved in the care, she comes here annually and vaccinates and examines each dog, as well she sees them in her office on an as needed basis. She knows all of our dogs. She can be contacted at any time for a reference if you like.

Our puppies are all born and raised here. I am present for each birth, no matter what the day or time is.

All puppies go at 8 weeks for their first shot and complete Vet checkup.

We begin breeding our dogs at the age of two and with the advice of our Veterinarian (and with supporting evidence) we breed them on back to back cycles to keep their hormone levels balanced. This also allows them to retire and enjoy going to live with their permanent family at a nice young age.

Our Moms are given x-rays near the end of the pregnancy to monitor the size of the puppies so that we know whether to expect any problems, that way we are better prepared as is our Vet. She measures the skull size of the puppies to the pelvic canal to determine any problems ahead of time. If we suspect any really difficult problems then a C section/spay is planned. We believe that if any of our Moms cannot deliver easily and without a Csection then that means we automatically spay them and find them a home. We do not need to breed so badly that we are prepared to put any of our girls through such an ordeal.

Our females have a maximum of five batches of puppies and then they are ready to begin a new life with a selected family that will be perfect for them. It is much harder for us to let our adults go as we have raised them from puppies and they are so much a part of our family, finding the perfect family for them is as important for us as it is when we are screening families for our puppies.

By following this procedure it enables our girls to retire at a very young age, usually by the age of 5 or just under. This gives them a nice long life with their new family.

Our males are retired between the ages of 4 and 5, or earlier if needed.

Retired adults must be spayed or neutered.

One of Our Decisions

This is the story of Lucy and Lily. Lucy was one of our beautiful black and white parti girls. She has the sweetest, most gentle nature and spirit. From one of her batches of puppies I kept one of her girls and named her Lily. This was a way to keep Lucy’s line alive as I knew we would be retiring her soon. She was 3 years old. Well a family happened to come and see us, they were looking for an adult dog, they absolutely fell in love with Lucy, but she was only 3 and we were planning more puppies with her. Our general policy for retirement is 5 litters, however, this family seemed like such a perfect family for Lucy, they were a perfect match, so because we had Lily to continue on Lucy’s great characteristics and we didn’t want Lucy to pass up on the perfect home we made the decision to retire Lucy early, at only 3. We had her spayed and she loves her new home and family and they are thrilled with her.

So the story continues from there, we now had Lily; well I notice one morning that Lily is very lethargic, not her usual friendly self that would come to greet me, she was hanging back, wouldn’t get up. I picked her up, she felt hot, I took her temperature, it was very high so we were off to the Vet’s. It turned out that Lily had bladder stones which required surgery and the recommended procedure of spaying. We were heartbroken, here our Lucy had retired and now before she could even have one batch of puppies her Lily also had to be retired. I asked the Vet was this necessary as I had been given some conflicting advice from another breeder and she looked at me and said “this is what would be best for LILY” so that was that. Lily was spayed and again, has found a fabulous family where she is happy and loving life, they are crazy about her. We were sad to see her go as this had been our only chance to carry on Lucy’s line but the need to do what was best for both dogs far outweighed our “breeding” needs. We will always make our decisions based this way and will never compromise what is best for our dogs.