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Welcome to Augustine Kennels Web site.
Let me introduce myself and some of my dogs as you go through the sight.

At Augustine Kennels We breed only Portuguese Water Dogs.
We have been in the Breed since 1988. All of our dogs are fully health tested prior to being bred.

All of our puppies are sold with health guarantees and contracts. We require that all pups sold as pets be spayed or neutered. We feel that breeding should be left up to people that are willing to do the research behind the health issues and temperament of the dogs being bred prior to breeding and at the same time be available and responsible for any puppies placed 24-7 the rest of that pups life.

We start letting our pups go into their new homes generally arround 10 weeks of age. Depending on the individual puppy some stay with us longer for more training if necessary. They do not leave until they get a full vet check up and at lease one set of vaccines. Most are paper trained and started crate training and house breaking prior to leaving. We start leash breaking at 6 weeks of age.

Our pups are socialized with lots of people and noises and changes in surroundings so that we can observe how they react in different situations in order to help with each placement.

More important to us than coat, color and sex in placement of our puppies is temperment. Each family is an individual as each puppy is Therefore both have individual needs to take into consideration prior to placement. It is of utmost importance that time is taken to observe each pup to make sure that we find the right homes for them.

On occasion for various reasons we may have older pups or adults available. Please feel free to inquire there are alot of advantages of getting an older pup or dog.

We invite you to ask as many questions as possible and give us as much information about you and your family situation as possible in order to make the right placements.

Things you need to know about a Portuguese Water Dog:

A Portuguese Water Dog is not for everyone.

They are a breed that wants to be with you and do things with you all the time. They must be crated when you cannot keep an eye on them at least until they are two years of age as if left un attended and loose they will find things to entertain themselves. This is not limited to but may include chewing shoes, couches, furniture and posibilly even window sills.

They are very devoted to their owner and family. If raised with consistancy, direction and dicipline they grow to become wonderful dogs that have a desire to please you.

There are several health issues in the breed some of which we have testing for so that we can avoid producing the problem.

First is Gm-1 or Storage disease. We have a dna test available.
Second is Hip Dysplasia. We x-ray all breeding dogs prior to being bred for this. Now just because you get a dog whos parrents have been x-ray clear of hip dysplasia does not 100 percent guarantee that your pup will not become affected it just lessens the chance. Dogs that Pass ofa can still produce hip dysplasia the same as dysplastic dogs can produce dogs that do not have hip dysplasia. This is why we encourage you to have all dogs x-rayed for hip dysplasia at 2 years of age.
Pra. or Progressive Retinal Atrophy. We have a DNA marker to test for this which allows us to breed dogs that are not affected. Carriers will not be affected with this disease but if bred must be bred to dogs that are clear of the disease so that the offspring will have no chance of being affected.
Addisons disease Can occur in the breed. We do not currently have a test for it.
Cardiomyopathy can also be found in the breed. We are working on finding a test for this but to date none is available. It is believed at this point to be a recessive gene that causes it therefore it is important to know where it is if at all in the pedigrees prior to breeding in order to lesson the chances of producing it.

       
   

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