About Our Frenchie Kennel
We hope that you take the time to read this page in it's entirety so that you will have a clear and concise idea of our motives for raising Frenchies. We have been raising dogs since 1991 and have never considered doing anything else. Creating a purebred dog is an art and not something to be taken lightly. This is a living breathing creature that will most likely be here for upwards of 10 years, we try our best to make each puppies lifetime as wonderful as possible. We do this by NOT breeding dogs with health defects or bad attitudes, we want our babies to be perfect family companions that will bring years of joy to those that care for it.
We do not have "outside jobs" and because of this we are able to devote 100% of our time to the dogs and puppies. We have a full time kennel helper who is here 5 days a week, she is responsible for bathing the dogs and deep cleaning the kennel every week, she also spends her time allowing the puppies full range of their environment, we all spend our time socializing these sweet babies so they are ready to meet you, no one wants a scared withdrawn puppy, socialization is the answer!

About our adult dogs. Our adult Frenchies are some of the finest you will find. First and foremost is our wonderful boys! Wow, we have some really awesome sires. As you browse through our site you will see that all our boys have already become AKC champions, if they are not already champions than they are working towards achieving their title. For the customer this is a wonderful asset, you know that your puppy will be an exceptional example of the Frenchie breed. Our adult females are hand picked, usually as puppies because most of our females are raised right here by us.
If the female was not raised by us than most likely she was a product
of one of our stud services where we chose to take a puppy back as
payment, that totally depends on the pedigree of her dam. Most of our females are champion sired, some are champion sired and champion damed, if they are not champion sired than the female must show impeccable conformation and attitude, she will be closely scrutinized to be sure she is worthy of reproducing. We do NOT just breed "any old female" just to make a profit. NONE of our Frenchies are imported, they are all U.S. born and bred, we personally do not care for the look of some imported Frenchies, we prefer the short cobby look with huge heads and beautiful bat ears. We have, unfortunately, seen the health problems that can come from imported Frenchies, we also hear the sad stories from people that purchased an imported Frenchie from a bad breeder overseas, the heart break and vet bills are quite daunting. We know that there are some very respectable breeders in other countries, but because we are unable to go there and see for ourselves how the dogs are raised and cared for we prefer not to take any chances, there are many good Frenchies right here at home. Browse through our site, we have posted several pictures of each and everyone of our adults, we are very proud of our beautiful dogs and we want you to see what your puppy will look like when he/she grows up, if you have any questions please feel free to call or email. |
About our puppies. All the puppies you see on our website are conceived and raised right here, we do not resell puppies for anyone. Our females are brought into the house about a week before their expected due date, here they will raise the puppies at our feet with us watching 24/7. All of our puppies are raised with common household noises, they are held frequently and coddled, who can resist those fat wrinkly faces! Our puppies are administered a high titer blood plasma right after they are c-sectioned out, all our Frenchies are born by c-section, no exceptions! The blood plasma helps get them off to a super good start by protecting them from Herpes Virus and other communicable diseases. When the puppies are old enough they will start a strict vaccination protocol and de-worming regimen. Our puppies are started on house training as soon as possible, we start with wee wee pads and after they have been properly vaccinated they will go outside on a regular schedule "with the big dogs" to learn good potty habits. At 5 weeks of age the puppies go for their first veterinarian visit where they are carefully health checked for everything, the puppies will go back to the veterinarian again for another examination before they are allowed to leave and meet their new family. When you purchase a puppy from us you will get: Full AKC rights and privileges (unless otherwise noted), a complete health certification from the veterinarian, a complete vaccination and de-worming record, a sample of Nu-Vet vitamins (highly recommended) and a 1 year genetic health guarantee plus 10 day communicable disease guarantee. |
What about cheaper puppies? The old adage about “You get what you pay for” is certainly true when it comes to a well bred, properly cared for puppy. When spending a large amount of money on a puppy you should not cut yourself short, quality is always a factor. We take breeding standards very seriously, our adults conform to AKC standards and most (if not all) of our males are finished champions, proving that they meet the breed standard, some of our females are finished champions as well. Our puppies will make you proud! What makes our puppies healthier than others? First of all is good breeding, we match males and females to each other to strengthen the weaknesses in each parent, no dog (even champions) are 100% perfect, so making sure the adults will compliment each other is extremely important. Second is health testing. We do not do every test available on the books but we do check for the major breed issues, the most problematic health issue with French Bulldogs is their spine, each of our adults has their spine x-rayed to be sure we avoid breeding any dogs with a Hemi-Vertebrae. We also try to avoid any dogs that seem susceptible to allergies, this is a hard task as allergy problems can skip generations. We also run Chem-Panels on our dogs at least yearly to monitor their organ functions including thyroid. These health exams come with a price, but this also helps to ensure that your new puppy has the best chance at a long healthy life. Third is high titer vaccines given at the proper times to be sure your puppy is completely safe from communicable disease. Proper timing of vaccines is imperative for the puppies protection. We give frequent vaccines because studies show that puppies can loose their maternal immunity somewhere between 4-10 weeks of age, that is a large gap to take chances with! Vaccines given while the maternal antibodies are still present will result in vaccine failure leaving the puppy unprotected, but since we don't know for sure when that immunity lapses we choose to vaccinate every 2 weeks so that the puppy does not have a “gap” in protection and makes the transition from maternal immunity to vaccination immunity seamless. We administer blood plasma to our puppies within 4 hours of their birth, this serum contains super high titers of Parvo, Adenovirus, Distemper, Kennel Cough, Measles, Corona and most important it provides protection from Herpes Virus, that is a certain death for new puppies. This serum is drawn off specially vaccinated dogs and is only available at a clinic that is 3 hours away, it is expensive but the cost pales to the loss of one single puppy. Fourth is proper feeding and socialization. Our adults and puppies eat a very balanced diet. Everyone of our adults and puppies is handled several times a day, our puppies are handled by different people and are exposed to different stimulus making them well adjusted when they arrive at your home. Proper nutrition does not come without a price either but it is essential for the proper growth of a puppy and the healthy maintenance of the adults. Fifth is proper veterinary care and inspection, our puppies will go through 2-3 vet exams before they meet you. Our puppies are checked carefully, our veterinarian checks all aspects of their health and does a fecal exam as well. We guarantee your puppy will be free of communicable disease upon arrival to your home. |
Do we AI our dogs? YES! We never allow Frenchies to attempt a free breed. Most people are unaware
that French Bulldogs are usually not able to breed naturally. French
Bulldogs are a man made breed and quite frankly they are anatomically
incorrect when it comes to mating. Not only can the males “not reach”
the females, often the females anatomy is such that her vulva is set
very high up on her body. Our experience has been that when we allow the
males to attempt a free breed they generally become exhausted, over
heated and will even vomit from the strain, all in all it just isn't
worth the health or well being of an expensive champion male. There are several advantages to doing AI. I have listed some of the main reasons:
How Do We Know When To Inseminate? Timing is very important
when breeding by AI. Without proper timing AI is virtually useless. To
determine when the timing is right we must know when the female
ovulates. We can determine this by doing a progesterone test. This
requires a blood sample. In our kennel we do our own blood draw. After the blood is drawn we must spin it in a
centrifuge, then perform the actual test using the blood serum from our
sample. The results of the test tell us the progesterone level in the
female, when the progesterone reaches a certain level we know she has
ovulated. After ovulation the eggs need about 48 hours to mature, that
is the perfect time to AI. We AI the female twice, once the day after
ovulation and then again 2 days later, we have excellent resulting
litters. We do not “hit” them all, but we have an excellent record in
the high 90% range of resulting pregnancies. A wonderful asset to
progesterone testing is that we can narrow the whelp date down to a 2
day window, this allows us to generally schedule our c-sections, takes
the guess work out of knowing when the time is right. |
Why c-section? Whelping of Frenchies is a tedious and nerve wracking experience, the same is true for either French OR English Bulldogs. These breeds do not whelp their own babies, a c-section is almost always required. I do occasionally hear of some Bullies that free whelp but this is not the norm. Most (not all) Bullies that free whelp are of European bloodlines and tend to have longer, taller bodies than our American bred dogs. The whelping of the puppies never actually occurs here as we do not allow our dogs to attempt a free whelp, there are many reasons for this. 1) Females that attempt to free whelp will stress out and their puppies will stress while trying to be free whelped, this high stress situation causes more puppy fatalities than if you just opened up the female and took the puppies, usually even if the female is able to get the first one or two babies pushed out she will more than likely not be able to get them all out and in that case a c-section is needed anyway. 2) Free whelping stresses the uterus more which causes stretching and weakness, a weakened uterus is less likely to return to normal right away and can cause more problems in the future. A stretched uterus has more lesions and thin areas that can actually tear open with the pressure of a large litter, a torn uterus is a scary thing and can cause death of the female very quickly! We do everything we can to eliminate this scenario. 3) We KNOW all the puppies are out! There is no wondering if there is one more puppy in there, I often hear the stories of "we thought she was done" and then 2 days later.......the female passes a dead puppy and/or develops a very volatile infection. This infection can be deadly to the female, it can also cause so much damage that the female may need to have her uterus completely removed due to the infection, this is a good way to shorten the career of an excellent female. It is not worth the risk! When To C-Section? Since we do progesterone testing we know when our females ovulate, we breed according to ovulation and when the eggs are ready to be fertilized. This practice tells us when our females will whelp, usually in a 2 day time frame. Our experience has been that Frenchies tend to start labor 60 days post first breeding. The onset of labor is usually noticed by a drop in rectal temperature. Starting on day 57 we regularly take the females temperature several times a day anticipating the familiar drop, the drop in temperature is not always present but we find that it is a very reliable indicator of imminent labor. Her temperature will start at anywhere over 100-101 and will suddenly start to drop, we take our girls in for their c-section when they hit the 98 degree mark, by this time they are usually digging in their bed, looking forlorn, not eating and possibly laying up on their bellies. If you know your dog you will notice the "signs". The C-Section Our c-sections are done by our favorite vet who also happens to be our nephew! Yeah, we got it good! Our vet does a tremendous job for us and he is very aware of keeping the incidence of scar tissue to a minimum. He takes great care to make small incisions in the appropriate places, he generally only makes one incision and tries to manipulate all the puppies through that one hole, remember, scar tissue is the enemy of the uterine horns. He also incorporates a certain stitch for closing the uterus so as to alleviate any excessive scarring. Some vets feel that filling the body cavity with a sodium solution before closing helps to reduce adhesions, my vet does this as well, whatever my vet does works well for us as our girls have excellent uterine integrity and the uterus is inspected during each c-section, if the uterus does not look in excellent condition we will NOT breed her anymore. How Many Litters? About the most you can hope for from a Bully female is 4 litters, some only give 2-3 and once in a great while a female can produce 5, this has only occurred a few times for us, we just don't ask our dogs for anymore than they are able to give in a healthy manner. If a female produces a litter with a birth defect we will breed her to a different male on the next breeding, if she still produces the same defect she is spayed and placed in an adoptive forever home. |
About our kennel building. Shown below are some pictures of our kennel. As you can see our kennel is extremely clean and neat. We pass every inspection with super flying colors. Our kennel is extremely comfortable and very well made,
we designed it ourselves to be easy on the dogs and easy to clean and
disinfect. We have no concrete or bare metal. Often when people visit us
they say our kennel looks like a vet's office! We
have a large commercial grooming tub/wash sink, lots of storage area, a
grooming table and breeding table, not to mention various assorted
plants and decorative items (plus carpet!) Our kennel is a pleasure to
be in and very comfortable. When
we are expecting a litter of pups the expecting mother is brought into
the house to be watched closely, we have a special whelping pen that we
use for each litter, mom and babies reside in this pen until the babies
are up and moving about freely. Mom of course goes outside to potty and
this enables her to be completely crate trained so when she is retired
she will already know how to behave indoors and to be crated, she will
also be aware of all household noises and daily life commotion. This is
where our puppies are socialized and they too learn inside noises and daily life sounds. |
The Must Be Frenchies name has been registered with the Missouri Secretary of State and the AKC.
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