From a Kraftwerk / Wane Curry employee - Page 3

Kennel hygiene (functional, not necessarily aesthetic) and puppy health are VERY achievable, and it's not so expensive or hard to do, if you know how. I previously mentioned the fact that I have had eight week old pups weighing 20 pounds, and that is no exaggeration! I did this simply by keeping them OFF THE GROUND, in portable, modular kennel systems that I call "platform kennels", or if you want to be snobby and pretentious, you might call them "penthouse kennels".

I do know that these are types of housing which are used widely in other breeds which for some strange reason you never see used with working dogs. I think it is a matter that they have been used in hunting dog communities for so long that they are widely accepted with them, whereas working dog people have never even seen them.

These kennels were first described by Dr. Leon Whitney, DVM, in his early books.. I think it is titled, "Breeding Dogs".. well worth getting a copy, if you can! There is a company in the midwest that sells the entire kit, but I would not really recommend the kit, because the flooring is simply electroplated galvanized rods, in a spacer array, and that does not hold up to dog urine for longer than a year. Then, they start to seriously rust.

There is much more that can be said on this topic, and I would highly encourage anyone who has had serious problems with giardia, coccidia, parvo and worms AS WELL AS FLEAS to look into this kennel system. There are so many benefits, and so few drawbacks. I am well familiar with both and had to modify my kennels rather extensively, but got it down to a pretty good science. You also can have fifteen to twenty pound HEALTHY puppies at eight weeks of age, and I think anyone can do it, with minimal labor, by using this kennel system and by feeding the way I fed the pups, as well. More on that later, if you are interested.

To make the best flooring systems, I had to re-engineer things to use stainless steel round bar and flat bar assemblies.. which was quite difficult to source, affordably, and had to be rather painstakingly made by hand, but we had our whole kennel done this way. Excellent for adult dogs, and the safest, most hygienic thing you will ever see, but NOT good for puppies, because unfortunately we found that they could be seriously injured in some circumstances (rare, but best avoided). For the pups, I bought a molded plastic type of flooring that came from Canada, and used the stainless steel flat bar to make a strut system which was very, very, very strong and durable, suitably hygienic and absolutely safe for the pups.

My husband and I are not lightweights, and we could both stand on one of these floors and walk around with out any sign of it sagging or having stress. To this day I still have two of these floors (I engineered and designed them myself) and I have pups on one of those floors right now. PERFECT!!!!! NO diarrhea, no medications, no toasted kidneys to cut the dogs life short. Anyone who deals with coccidia by medicating with Albon is in my opinion playing with fire. NOT as safe as what they make it out to be! The secret to puppy health is prevention, and that means getting them OFF the ground, where parasites, viruses and bacteria have a reservoir and fomite effect! The vet tech guy knows exactly what I'm talking about, here!

As for the employee, that's quite another matter. She sounds like an AR (animal rights) activist to me. This is a much more serious problem than parvo virus!!!! Be careful who you hire to work in your kennels, folks!

I have heard similar stories.

There's nothing sadder than sick puppies. I wonder if its time to start importing vaccines from Europe for our females, born and vaccinated only against domestic strains of the virus, to stack the deck a little more in our favor? Couldn't hurt? Better safe than sorry? Not sure what Customs would think of that, but I've brought other veterinary medications into the country with no problem from Customs.

The worst thing I ever imported in a dog dog was a case of whipworms... another real bear to get rid of once it gets in the soil on one's property. I was lucky I caught it within 24 hrs. of importing the infected dog with a quick routine stool sample check. I put him on concrete, away from any other dogs, till he was worm free after injection of Styquin, then used a not pressure washer set to sanitize on the kennel he was in and everything he had come in contact with. No more problems but had he been allowed to run in the yard there's no telling how much trouble it would have caused. I had a lot of dogs at the time.

SS

I want to be clear that when I say that the original complaint may have been from an AR activist, I am not talking about the vet tech, "thezoo". He sounds like a righteous guy. I can't imagine what is going on in Wayne's mind, if this is true. HSUS could use someone like this as a poster child for tougher animal cruelty laws and breeder regulations / licensing. Wayne's been around for a long time.. one of the "old school" guys. Sometimes, these old-timey folks don't think there is a problem, because things have "always been this way", and they don't think they can get into trouble. Oh, but they can! You are right, vet tech guy "Thezoo". This is serious business, and could be Wayne's Waterloo, if allegations are correct and he doesn't get it under control. Most likely source of trouble, the state attorney general, if there are enough complaints. The system is complainant driven.

 

I probably shouldn't do this, but I'm sending a link for complaints:
http://www.atg.wa.gov/FileAComplaint.aspx
Probably nothing happens to him, if he knows and works with police.
Not sure about the laws in WA state, but veterinarians have been charged with animal cruelty along with the principle defendant/s, for not reporting cruelty. You might want to cover your ass.
There is really no excuse for an ongoing problem, if there is one.
Personally, I don't care for concrete kennels. The dog is living in a toilet that gets flushed once or twice a day.. think about it! Dogs smell like crap when they live on concrete. And, concrete will NOT prevent giardia, coccidia or worms.

thezoo,

 
I was searching yahoo today to see who had litters out of Ajax and guess what litter came up. Give you 3 guesses and the first two dont count.

I was just looking at Kraftwerks Ajax litter on line today. 4 weeks old and thought what an interesting breeding.

Sure is odd how sometimes things just happen.
 
I was having problems sleeping so I thought I would read the message board. It normally makes my eyes tired after an hour and then I can go to sleep.
 
Then I saw the Kraftwerk thread and clicked on it to see to my dismay that someone would spend the money for a nice titled bitch, have her bred to Ajax and not give a damn about keeping parvo isolated and quarantined. I said to my self "what the - - - -!!!! 
 
How does this guy sleep at night knowing he's not doing all he can to prevent puppies from dieing and crying, pukeing and crapping blood and water.

 Most people dont ever get a chance at a breeding like that. I guess 10,000.00 - 15,000.00 dollars worth of puppies is a piss in a jar to this guy. 

Wayne  ought to be able to go to work for AIG or Lehman Bros. He may qualify for a bailout stimulas package if he keeps this up by the end of the year.

And people wonder why we have so many laws being thrown at breeders.
 
It's guys like this that bring on the laws that take our freedoms away. It would sure be nice if he could catch Parvo himself. It would save a lot of unecessary suffering of the puppies in his care.
 
Does anybody remember getting burned by the infamous  Base Marantz / VOM SEIGEREHOUSE Kennels, another high end puppy mill in the 1980's from southern California. It's been 24 years and I still remember his name.

just my thoughts, mahon

Wayne i s not the only one at fault here,i blame those idiots who buy puppies that are being sold for 2500 and more i mean who are these morons they should contact me i can find them just as good dog if not better for less.most of these dogs where are they going.i mean i can not understand that pet homes can be that stupid to pay this kind of price for a companion.not that any one should pay this kind of price even if you are dreaming about competing at a high level.as long as dumb asses are buying people like Kraft will sell.it is not because this guy is breeding the best dogs have amazing dogs and that is wyh he can sell his puppy at these prices. we just have too many dummies in this world and that is not Wayne's fault. have a nice one.

I have concrete, painted/sealed with epoxy, with fluffy wood shavings in my runs. The shaving absorb well, dogs smell fine, footing is good, no callouses on elbows, but if I need to, I can sweep out the shavings and sanitize the whole place in about an hour. I hope I never get infectious disease in my kennel, but its nice to have a place I CAN clean to the max when I need to.

SS

Perhaps the issue is the screening process versis the pocket book??

I'm in the process of purchasing a pup this summer... Have been in contact with the breeder for the past 5 years, and watched their dogs.  They've gotten to know me, my abilities as a trainer, and my limitations due to back problems.  I know that when the litter arrives we'll find the right puppy in that litter to match with my life.    He's a different puppy than I would have gotten 20 years ago... but one that better fits me.  When prospective buyers with big pocketbooks come to larger breeders and want a puppy NOW and the breeder says "Sure... here's the big one from my top competition dogs litter."  There's a lack in communication on BOTH PARTS .  Maybe the buyer can be excused due to ignorance of how it should be done, but breeders need to step up and refuse sales... need to do more homework on prosepctive buyers.  This would make it a lot harder to keep a stable of Studs and Bitches, and turn out 20 litters in a year... but the buyers, the breeders and the bred would be better in the long run.

I know NOTHING about Kraftwerk... so this isn't aimed @ them... but at large kennels who sell numerous pups each year

Shavings can make excellent bedding for pups, because the feces get coated with the shavings and don't get in the fur. Shavings are good at cleaning fur, too. Be careful with the really large shavings, because dogs have been known to eat them and get bowel impactions, which could be fatal. Very hot / dry weather can make them sharp and able to pierce the foot pads. Very fine shavings or those which have not been screened can cause a type of foreign body pneumonia. So, be picky about your shavings!

Otherwise, yes.. Wood shavings can make a fine bedding for puppies!

So,  I would just like to point out my observation that I-litter was just reduced to 2 puppies available. Very sad, as I am quite confident they are not all "sold". Although I am sure that is what people are being told. This litter was very ill and given a grave prognosis by a local vet.