Our Breeding Practices

Fifteen Acre Farms Australian Shepherds is located 30 minutes north of Tulsa, OK. Email fifteenacrefarms@yahoo.com. Call or text Laura Perry at 918-706-1931. We have placed puppies in their new homes in 29 states & Canada.

We strive to raise quality Australian Shepherds that are happy & healthy & meet or improve breed standards. We begin with our breeding practices choosing a good cross between male and female & breed strictly merle to tri to avoid the lethal white gene that can cause blindness and deafness in Australian Shepherd puppies. Our sire, Ely, is 21" tall and our females are 18-20" tall. We breed for correct bite, color, temperament, clear eyes, good earset, not too much height, obedience, companionship, & reproduction ability if the buyer so desires. Our dogs also use their natural herding abilities to work livestock, as do their offspring when given the opportunity.

When choosing a male or female for our breeding program, my decision to purchase is never based on how many champions are on their pedigree & what their ancestors did or did not have the opportunity to accomplish based on the home they were placed in. My dogs are chosen for their talents & abilities, confirmation, health, temperament, etc. I don't think a prospect should be overlooked because his/her ancestors were not given the opportunity to develop their show or working potential & earn a title. It doesn't make a prospect any less of a dog because titles are not present on their pedigree.

We spend ALOT of time with our puppies to help them develop their social skills. We are there when they are born, helping out if necessary, & making sure everything goes well with the birthing process. We band their tails at about 24 hours of age. We check on them every 1-2 hours, even at night, for the first few weeks, especially in extreme temperatures. All puppies are kept inside the kennel on a heating pad and/or under heatlamps in winter and are placed on cool wet towels and under fans in summer.

In addition to mama's milk, they are supplemented with bottle feeding to make sure every puppy is fed appropriately. Then they are started on canned purina or pedigree and jersey cows milk, in addition to mama's milk, at 2-1/2 to 3 weeks of age 3-4 times daily and offered dry dog food at 3-4 weeks. By 6 weeks they are weaned from mama and eating dry dog food well. Puppies can normally go home around 8 weeks of age. We will hold them longer if necessary. All puppies are played with regularly and given appropriate room to excercise at all times.

Our deworming schedule begins at age 2 weeks. Puppies are dewormed at 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, & 16 weeks & a schedule is given to the buyer to continue. Vaccinations are given at 6, 9, 12, & 16 weeks.

Our dogs spend their days running, playing, & exercising in one of our fenced yards, or napping under a shade tree or on the porch. We have one half acre yard & two quarter acre yards, all fenced, plus fifteen acres that they can go running on & down to the pond for a swim or out in the pasture with me while horsebackriding. The only time any of our dogs are confined to a pen is when a female is in heat or has new puppies, as necessary. Our pens are very large as to give the dogs plenty of room for exercise & they are let out regularly for potty breaks when confined. Our dogs do not potty in their pens, when they are confined, because they know they will be let out every few hours. When a female has puppies, she may be confined to a pen for the first few days & then a board is placed at the end of her run & the door propped open so she can leave her puppies as she pleases & go out into the yard for exercise while puppies are safe & secure in the kennel.

Many people who visit us after leaving a kennel where dogs are confined to small pens comment on how relaxed, mild mannered, well behaved, & calm our dogs are compared to one's that are always in a kennel. This is because our dogs get the appropriate exercise needed daily & they do not appear hyper in anyway.

When the puppies begin toddling around, usually about 2 weeks of age, they are brought outside in a 10 x 10 pen on concrete & completely shaded & cool, weather permitting, as to enjoy fresh air & sunshine & begin exploring their great outdoors. Then back into the kennel at night & the indoor boxes they sleep in while still having access to an outdoor run. See "Our Facilities" page for pictures of the kennel. Then, at around 5-1/2 weeks of age, they get to spend their day in a large pen on the ground & by 7 weeks of age get a whole yard to themselves until they all go home.

 We do our own marketing & website maintenance & never sell to brokers or pet stores. ALL of our puppies are placed directly with their new families. 

We strive for cleanliness in our kennel with rigorous cleaning schedules with bleach and water. We also take necessary precautions for bird and mice control.

If you are considering buying a puppy to later use for breeding, please keep in mind your little bundles of joy will need constant care 24 hours a day 7 days a week with appropriate pens/housing, excercise, feeding, attention, vaccinations, vet checks, etc. until they are ALL placed in appropriate homes. Breeding & raising puppies requires a strict commitment for several weeks or months per litter. If you do not plan to use your puppy for breeding, it is recommended to spay or neuter at around 6 months of age per your vet's recommendation to avoid unwanted puppies in the future. Accidental breeding resulting in mixed breeds are often hard to place and can end up homeless & abandoned. It is usually those dogs/puppies that end up in shelters costing taxpayer dollars. 

It is pertinent that you have your new puppy registered even if you never intend to use him/her for breeding. If, at any time, the buyer were to become incapacitated, or no longer able to care for the puppy, he/she will be much easier to place in a home with registration paperwork. And we will always take a dog or puppy back that we produced, no matter what their age, if the owner is unable to care for him/her.

Responsible breeders never turn their backs on the dogs they have bred. Ensuring each puppy's quality of life is their main concern, from the moment they decide to breed to the day the puppy dies - ideally of old age, after a long, happy, fulfilling life with their new family. If you are unwilling or unable to make this committment, then don't breed your dog.