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About our Home & Adult Dogs
A cozy warm home for my dogs & puppies is very important to me. I have remodeled my house to have a puppy nursery that is also my room so I can sleep right by the puppies & they get lots of interaction throughout the day & exposure to day-to-day family life.
When it comes to the adult dogs in my program my biggest priority is that they each have a loving family that they are a part of. My girls who live here in my home really enjoy cuddling on the couch, spending time with the kiddos & playing outside together in our 3 acre yard which includes a creek that they love splashing around in.
I have guardian homes which give my other adult dogs their own loving families who they live with other than when they come to have their puppies here in our cozy puppy nursery. When a dog retires, they will stay with their guardian family for life. I am so thankful to my guardian families who give such wonderful lives to the girls in my program.
How We Raise Our Puppies
The first 8 weeks of a puppy's life are so important to give them a foundation of love, exploration & confidence. Our puppies grow up in our home's puppy nursery where I sleep right by them & monitor them closely. As they grow, they gain access to the rest of the house where they interact with my family & adult dogs and get accustomed to normal home life. I follow 3 socialization programs to help the puppies get the best start in life that they can. below is info on each of them:
Puppy Culture
Puppy Culture was developed by animal behavioralists to teach pups to approach life with confidence & curiosity instead of anxiety & fear. I use their positive training techniques to teach each puppy that new experiences are fun & safe not dangerous. Through this program they will learn beginning concepts of potty training & crate training (to be continued by you), learning to be comfortable going on car rides, positive experiences visiting the vet, basics of being brushed. bathed and having their nails trimmed. I have the puppies play with kids, adults, other gentle adult dogs of various sizes & our cat. They have a playground of fun toys & obstacles that help expose them to different experiences, surfaces & sounds.
Early Neurological Stimulation
ENS was developed for military dogs but is now used by many programs including guide dogs & search & rescue canines. The program every day from day 3 - 16 involving a series of 5 exercises that have been proven to improve puppies' health long-term including:
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Improved cardiovascular performance (heart rate)
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Stronger heart beats
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Stronger adrenal glands
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More tolerance to stress
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Greater resistance to disease
Early Scent Introduction (ESI)
Early Scent Introduction is performed on the puppies from day three thru day sixteen. Scents are introduced to the puppy each day at a young age. This results in stronger scent detection abilities that can prove very useful in therapy and Service dog training (including medical alert dogs), search & rescue etc.
Forever Part Of The Family
Here at Oregon Bernese not only the pups but also their families are important to me! I love staying in touch with you all & run a Facebook group that I invite all of my puppy families to be a part of. My guardian families are also part of the group so you will get to see updates on your puppy's parents as well as siblings! We all share photos & videos of our pups & meet up with others for playdates.
Welcoming a Pup Into Your Home
When bringing a puppy home from me you can expect honesty & transparency about your puppy's health & temperament. It is one of my top priorities to make sure they are the right fit for your home. I pay attention to each pup's personality as they grow so I can help you decide what pup is going to be the perfect fit. To help you decide on the right puppy I highly encourage families to come visit & interact with the puppies before go-home day.
Long Term Support.
I make a promise to every puppy born here that they will have a safe forever home. I will provide support for each pup's lifetime which includes taking the pup back for a period of time while their families life stabilizes, or permanently should a situation arise where they can no longer properly care for their dog. To help make sure I & the pup's family will be contacted in case of emergency, I make sure each pup is microchipped prior to leaving so that if something happens, I am always there for them.
Thank you so much for your interest in this magical breed, I hope they bring you as much joy as they have brought to our family. I can't wait to introduce you to the pups!
About Me
Hi, I am Brie Ella the owner who you will be communicating with! My goal at Oregon Bernese is to raise loved & well socialized puppies from fully health tested parents who can be amazing life-long companions, family dogs & service dogs. I hope that they bring love & joy to their families like my girls have done for me. Seeing my puppies leave a positive impact in people's lives is what makes everything worth it for me.
Below is a bit more about me:
I have been a lifelong animal lover, many kids grow up doing sports but for me all my spare time was spent with dogs, horses & goats. When I was 18 I got my dog Heidi, I was struggling with some severe health issues from an accident. I worked with a trainer who helped me train Heidi to assist me with my health issues as my service dog. She was lifechanging for me, when I was struggling with my health she was always there by my side giving me love & something to fight for.
In training Heidi I learned how essential early socialization & training is in having a confident & well-adjusted puppy. The difference in behavior between puppies who grew up with a in depth socialization program vs puppies who grow up in a kennel where the breeder focuses mostly on just keeping them fed & clean with just basic pets each day is huge. I also have noticed a large lack of thorough health testing especially in a large breed like the Bernese. I shadowed several local breeders, helping with their litter's delivery, health care & training before starting my own program. Through this I learned both things I wanted to emulate in my program & practices I wanted to do differently. Since embarking on my own adventure, I have been able to develop a program that I love & that I feel is the very best for my dogs.
Our cozy puppy nursery in our home
Inside the Nursery
Healthy Puppies Start Before Birth:
Why is Health Testing Parents so Important?
Any dog especially a large breed like a Bernese can struggle with a variety of serious health issues. To prevent my puppies from inheriting many of these issues all of my adult dogs need to be thoroughly health tested first.
Yes I will only breed a dog that my vet has examined & approved BUT there is a lot more testing needed than a physical exam to ensure a dog is truly healthy: many things can go unnoticed till a dog is older if more in depth testing is not done. To prevent this I follow Berne-Garde Orthopedic Foundation of America's guidelines of recommended health testing for the Bernese Mountain Dog breed.
All of my adult dogs have full panel genetic testing done to screen for any genetic diseases. BUT genetic testing is not enough to truly know if a dog is healthy enough to have puppies.
So in addition to the genetic panel I complete OFA hip & elbow X-rays which are submitted to their board of veterinary specialists for scoring. OFA exams at Ophthalmologist, Cardiologist & Reproductive specialists for OFA eyes, cardiac, patella & dentition certification. Each dog's health testing results are then published online for the public.
Puppy Health Care
I work in close contact with my team of vets at Newberg Veterinary hospital who oversee all the health care for my dogs & the puppies born here.
Puppies are started on their first 2 vaccines here - to be finished by your vet. I keep them on a schedule of deworming every 2 weeks from birth till they go home.
Each pup is microchipped before going home & I pre-pay their lifetime microchip registration for families to make sure they can be identified in cases of emergency.
I have individual thorough vet checks at 8 weeks before you pick your pup up. They write reports for each puppy which you will receive copies of.
