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Worthy Kennels has no litters currently. Please check the Upcoming Litters page for future
breedings to take place soon.
What is "drive"? An explanation is at the end of this page, look for the star-->
Click here for an explanation of litter pricing.
***Unless you are a very experienced dog person, and have trained dogs in the past, Worthy
Kennels will NOT sell you two puppies at one time.
It is a very bad idea to raise two puppies together. It leads to two dogs who will love each
other more than they will ever love you. This is called "doggy-ness", and it can lead to
some seriously bad and even very destructive dog behaviors. Please read this article by
Ed Frawley of Leerburg Kennels if you think you want to raise two puppies at one time:
http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/raisingtwopuppies.pdf
Please also do NOT let your older dog raise your new puppy. This also leads to doggyness,
a dog who will never love you best, or respect you like it does the other dog.
All puppies sell with:
1) AKC registration.
2) First immunizations appropriate for their age. If you live locally, bring your puppy back
for subsequent puppy vaccinations for FREE.
3) Tattoo. Please let me know if you want your puppy tattooed.
4) Wormed.
5) Avid Microchip.
6) A motivational housebreaking/basic obedience DVD free of charge for puppy's new
owners. The DVD is from Leerburg Kennels "Your puppy 8 weeks to 8 months". It's a
great DVD that will have you housebreaking and motivationally training your puppy like
a pro in the convenience of your own home! One of our puppy buyers stated:
"The DVD that you gave me was extremely helpful and after viewing it, I see no need to
even take him to obedience school to learn the basic commands I need him to know. He is doing
wonderful. Very fast learner. He can sit, stay, come, place, outside, and walk on a leash. He is
pretty much house broken, with the exception of 3 accidents he's had since we got him. We
named him 'Kaiser' ". --Shannon C., Palmer, AK
Guarantees: All puppies come with a three year guarantee against hip and elbow dysplasia
and a two year guarantee against genetically caused diseases. Check out our extensive
health guarantees page.
What do you mean by "drive" when you talk about drive as being part of the selection process
of your litters?
When I say drive, I am talking about <<5 week old
prey drive in particular. There are WK puppy:
many different kinds of drives: Fenja
pack drive, play drive, fight drive,
civil drive, hunt drive, food drive, etc.
Working dog people often ask me to
look for those drives also in their
perspective working dog. However, for most people, the most important drive to consider
is how much or how little prey drive a puppy has. I classify prey drive as high, medium,
low, and none.
For most families who are not involved in dog training hobbies, a low or medium drive
puppy is most suitable for them. Very active people who are not involved in dog training
pursuits, and who do not have very young children could probably do well with a high drive
puppy.
What some people see as too much prey drive that makes these frustrated folks want to pull
out their own hair, other people see as just the perfect amount of prey drive for training
purposes.
Prey drive is the desire to chase, pounce on, and even bite the captured object. On one
far end of the spectrum, you have VERY HIGH PREY DRIVE puppies that chase their two
legged mom and dad around the house to grab their pants legs to be dragged about
like water skiers attached to a speed boat, or even leap up and grab anything they can grab
with their sharp teeth because their prey drive is so high. I had a very high drive pup in the
F litter (Worthy's Farouk Francisco) who completely destroyed two pairs of pants and two
shirts--while they were on my body--- by leaping up and gripping them (and sometimes me
too) in his sharp ten week old puppy teeth. I sure did love that pup. He now resides in
Mexico with his owner who wants to go to the World Schutzhund Championships
Competitions (WUSV) with his dog as a member of the Mexico team.
These kinds of super high drive pups are easy to train, because they will do anything so you
will let them play with "your toy". The toys used to motivate the dog in training belong to
the trainer, not the puppy, which is an important distinction.
Some high prey drive pups are a pain to live with, bouncing off the walls, constantly after
his people's ankles, etc, and some just can't easily learn to live in the house-- but they sure
are great at dog sports and much loved by their owners.
Other high prey drive pups can learn to control their impulses over time and settle down to
watch TV with you in the living room. But they are instantly "on" when you are ready to
spend some quality play time with them. People who are experienced and knowledgeable
dog persons can inspire a high drive pup and small children to be completely compatible
with each other.
Worthy's Arwin, one of my two training buddies,
who is Anouk's daughter, is VERY high drive,
but she settled down from eating my ankles
while still in her puppy days and has learned
to control her prey drive...to settle down and
watch TV with her head in my lap. She is a
great house dog, BUT, she is still nuts for the
toy and will do ANYTHING for it.
She is fun and easy to train, and fun to live with also.
On the other far end of the spectrum is the pup with
NO prey drive. They lay around a lot, have no
interest in chasing a ball other than watching you
do it yourself, no interest in playing tug, and Worthy's Arwin, BH.
wouldn't chase a rabbit if it hopped across the
living room floor with bells on it. They are can be very hard to train by motivational
methods unless they are the kind that loves food to the point you can use it to train them,
but in my own personal opinion it is very difficult to train a NO prey drive pup.
A medium drive pup is most suitable Ireland and medium prey drive pup from I-Litter.
to be a family protective companion
and as an active family hiking buddy
for people who are not involved in
dog training hobbies.
A medium drive pup has enough drive
to be a good training prospect for most
or even all things, even Schutzhund,
using motivational methods, though he
would not go to the Schutzhund World
Championships with that kind of drive.
He can settle down in the house and
tends to seldom bite ankles as a pup.
His prey drive doesn't overtake his
common sense, while having enough
prey drive to be a fun pup to train.
Of course, you have different levels and
shadings of prey drive from 0 drive to
Super High Prey Drive, and many high drive pups can settle down and be great house dogs,
while some no-prey drive pups have more energy than what I described. There are no
absolutes in the determination of prey drive in pups, only generalizations.
Many super high prey drive dogs are also good with other animals and small children,
depending on their temperaments, and would not chase the rabbit with bells on it
either....because they have accepted the rabbit as part of the pack. Even as I sit here and
type, Arwin and Fluffy are playing tag together beside me--Arwin was raised with Fluffy
when she was a pup, and so accepts him as part of the family. Fluffy the cat sees Arwin as
an occasionally acceptable playmate and associate whom he deigns to notice.
Remember....dogs have masters, but cats have staff.
Here are some other sources concerning prey drive and the working dog:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prey_drive
http://www.thedogathlete.com/playing-with-prey-drive/
Please also consider your puppy's place in the hierarchy of your family before you
purchase him or her. YOU should always be the fair but strong boss-- puppy does NOT
have a vote. Here are some sources on learning how to be your dog's pack leader, for a
lifelong relationship of respect as well as love, and leads to a life of harmony with your dog:
http://www.leerburg.com/ebooks/puppygroundwork.pdf
http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/raisingtwopuppies.pdf
http://www.leerburg.com/puppytraining.htm
If you have a baby or very young child, here is an e-book by Ed Frawley of Leerburg you
should read about how to prevent children from being bitten by a dog...yours or someone
else's.
http://leerburg.com/pdf/preventingdogbitesinchildren.pdf
