BG Minis Blog

Beginning article from Richard's blog on Miniature Schnauzers.

Early November update from Blue Grass Miniature Schnauzers or "BG Minis". We are joyfully sending Potion and Remington's puppies home this week. Their wonderful litter of 8 has been our largest, 7 of the puppies are placed
and Alex, a salt & pepper male, is choosing his new home.

The puppies have found great new families to be with in Kentucky and Tennessee. Most of the pups are going to families who already have a Mini or families where they will be the beginning of a new generation of Miniature Schnauzers in the new home. The new families we meet with each litter become a part of our extended
Blue Grass Miniature Schnauzer family.

With this litter of 8 we have found that the work we did this summer finishing the basement for their 5 to 8 week development stage is very good for the pups. The puppies are whelped on our sun porch and stay there with Mama until they are 4 or 5 weeks old. Once they have spent the first 4 or 5 weeks upstairs playing with us and socializing they are ready for the next step which is the playroom in the downstairs.

Mama stays with the puppies and they continue their socialization by following us everywhere, inside and outside. This is a very important stage in their development and we now start house training. They will enjoy romping and playing in the grass and will very quickly learn that they want to be outside to potty.

We continue the socialization process by subjecting the puppies to every imaginable family living situation. Our goal is to set a good solid foundation of skills that will stay with the puppies for the rest of their lives. It's been a real challenge with a litter of 8 following you everywhere you go, but it has also been very rewarding and lots of fun.

Folks always ask, "Isn't it hard to see them all leave and go to new homes?" The amazing thing about beeing a professional breeder is being able to place the puppies with such wonderful and caring families. We can learn a lot from the puppy applications that we receive from perspective purchasers. The application helps us match temperaments of the puppies with lifestlyes of the new families.

We learn from all communications and look forward each time to meeting the entire family when they arrive to pick up their puppy. Sending them home is always a special day for the family that they have waited and looked forward to for weeks and often times even months. This is the beginning of the relationship between the puppy and the new family. We work very hard to ensure that we have done everything possible to give the puppy the very best start in life and to make the transition from our home to the new home as easy as possible for the puppy and the new family.

We look forward to hearing from families and getting photos as well. We are working on ways to better organize ALL photos and comments from the families about the puppies and our breeding program. It's great to hear how they have adapted to the family.

Being a professional breeder we know the importance of bloodlines, good health, and socialization. At the end of this year we'll be checking in with all families for information on how the pups developed and their personality traits. The new families who care for and love the puppies have a huge impact on how the puppy develops and finds its own special place in their lives. The training, discipline, and love the new family gives to the pup is very important to their total overall development. Thus it's a great feeling knowing a pup was placed well and later on is doing well as part of our extended family. It makes all the time and effort in breeding and placement of quality Miniature Schnauzer puppies worthwhile.

We are looking forward to pups from our new stud "Cowboy" in the spring of 2008. He is developing into a wonderful addition to our main Papas Thoren and Remington. We will add updated photos of him soon. We will also be looking forward to puppies in 2008 from our new black female "Cypress". An important part of the process is choosing when to retire the mamas and papas and where to find the next generation of Minis. This is a never ending search for a breeder. During this time you also develop strong bonds with the boys and girls who have produced those wonderful past litters.

Have a great November and look forward to more pups and information from Blue Grass Miniature Schnauzers.

Richard, Jacque, Kris, and all the gang at BG Minis.