Rockin' Diamond T has been raising Australian Shepherds for over 10 years now and have produced puppies that owners are proud to call their own. I wanted to write this page for people that want to know what our breeding philosophy is and about the quality of life our dogs have. What makes us different than big show kennels or backyard breeders? Why a Rockin' Diamond T puppy? Read below and decide for yourself!

WHY WE CHOSE OUR AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERDS!

We do not show our dogs due to time constraints but have strived to buy great dogs! We love the breed and want the very best for our dogs and puppies! Even if you just want a good companion dog, it's nice to know they come from good stock. I love dogs with working and agility pedigrees because they were bred to be athletic and smart - not just have conformation that is a breed standard. We believe Australian Shepherds are incredibly smart and more easily trained to listen to commands than some other working dogs.

HOW OUR DOGS ARE TREATED!

When people first started asking me if I was kennel my initial response was "No!" because it conjured up visions of chain link runs and caged dogs. Our smallest pen here is about ten times the size of a typical dog run. That pen is for our bitches in heat that we don't want bred that cycle. The rest of the time all of our dogs have run of the fenced 4 1/2 acres that make up our yard.

All of our dogs are indoor/outdoor but to what extent depends on the dog's preference and how many we can tolerate under foot at once. Oz is outside 95% of the time where Bella, Freckles and the retired dogs are inside 90% of the time! Jim's mother who has a home on our property has adopted the retired dogs and Bella so they are usually at her house. All of our dogs get daily love and attention from us and our extended family!

ALL OF OUR FEMALES ARE "SOLID" as in not merle. We NEVER have to worry about a merle to merle cross. Merles should NOT be bred to another merle because when some of the puppies get the merle gene from both parents there are serious consequences such as blindness/deafness. It is highly unethical in my book to ever breed merle to merle on purpose.

Knock on wood WE NEVER HAVE ANY FLEAS OR TICKS! One advantage of living with very few neighbors. We do deworm and vaccinate our dogs on a regular basis.

HOW OUR PUPPIES ARE TREATED!

ALL of our puppies are whelped out in our family/great room except Bella who has her puppies at our Mom's. Jim made 2 whelping boxes that we use now. (No more turquoise pools in my family room!) They stay indoors until they can jump out of the box (right about 4 weeks). I hate to see pictures of fences around whelping pools because if they can get out they need more room - time to move them to somewhere bigger!

Our puppy room has been evolving over the last five years. It is an Arizona room that we keep enclosing bit by bit. It now has an evaporative cooler that sits on the outside of the room or we can set up safe heaters in the winter. There are doggie doors that go out into the puppy yard. The puppy yard has a couple awesome big trees and room enough to play without getting lost.

Our puppies are handled every day and by the time they are 4 weeks I know every one of them by the temporary names I give them. I don't call them "tri male 1" or such because I want to remember that every puppy is an individual and deserves my love even though it can be a little sad when they leave. When people ask me how I do it I just smile because it's hard to describe the joy and satisfaction I get when excited families come to take them home. I know they are getting a healthy happy puppy of one of the best breeds I've ever owned. If someone chooses a name before they go home I start calling the pup by it's new name. I feed premium puppy foods (Science Diet or Iams) and make sure the puppies have adequate nutrition by supplementing their diet with Baby Rice Cereal and Esbilac II puppy formula. Tails, dew claws, worming and first shots are done on all of our puppies!

WHY WE CHOSE WILDWEST WIZARD OF FAIROAK TO BE OUR MALE!

Since our only intact male dog is the sire to all of our puppies his pedigree, disposition and health is of extreme importance to all the puppies we now raise. Oz comes from a line with extensive titles and abilities! His parents are part of Australian Shepherd breeding programs that are, without exaggeration, some of the best in the WORLD! Both Fairoak and Imagineers are Hall of Fame Kennels! Recently ASCA bestowed the HOFX title on BOTH Fairoaks AND Imagineers as in HALL OF FAME EXCELLENT!! (Told you they were great). Oz's sire AND dam have produced titled dogs. I also chose the Fairoak line as my Aussie "Main Man" for it's healthy genetic pool especially for eyes! When Oz's hip x-rays came back OFA Excellent for conformation I was ecstatic. While Aussies do not have as many hip problems as large breeds they CAN have hip problems. I know of at least 3 unrelated Aussies locally that have been diagnosed with dysplasia. Those owners then came to me because Oz and Prowler are OFA Excellent.

HOW WE BECAME BREEDERS OF AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERDS!

My first Aussie "Risky" as in Sir Risk It All Blues was purchased after I saw a blue merle at a horse auction and wanted one as a pet. We had owned Queensland Heelers and Border Collies but this was our first Aussie. At that time we had no intentions of leaving him intact or breeding them. We actually had a pair of Anatolian Shepherds we planned on breeding. We had chosen that breed for their reputation as outstanding livestock guardians. We have A LOT of coyotes around here and wanted our chickens, goats and foals to be safe. We then discovered that Anatolians weren't the right breed for us. Too intense around other dogs and even territorial towards the horses if they ventured near the Anatolian's self proclaimed area of the yard! So we found good appropriate homes for the Anatolians but we still wanted to raise a litter or two of puppies every year.

Jim suggested that we raise Australian Shepherds since we already had gorgeous AKC/ASCA Risky who happened to have Champion lines. Since I had fallen madly in love with the breed (they are so much more biddable and willing to please than our Queenslands or Border Collie had been) we purchased two females and that was the start of something that has grown over the last decade into a more serious undertaking.

With each dog we purchased I became more interested in bloodlines and started pursuing dogs that were out of state. Risky and Bella were having a few puppies in each litter with excessive white markings so 3 years ago I decided to buy a new male with limited white. I found a local puppy but found out that both parents were co-owned by an Illinois Hall of Fame kennel by the name of Fairoak. After extensively researching the line I was very excited about the healthy eyes in that line and the generations of winning dogs not only in conformation but more importantly to me in agility and working! I also know the cases of epilepsy in Aussies is mostly in the line bred conformation dogs. Since we were growing beyond raising the occasional litter it was of extreme ethical importance to me to buy dogs bred for intelligence, health and disposition. As someone who has raised horses for decades I understood the importance of good breeding. Since dogs can multiply so quickly I feel good putting quality animals out there even though luckily most will go to loving pet homes.

PAPERWORK AND WHY WE DON'T DO CONTRACTS!

I don't do contracts or extensive questionnaires because I don't believe they are effective. Anyone can put on a good show to get what they want. As someone who works with lawyers and the US Attorney's office I know they are largely unenforceable as well. When I've bought dogs out of state I've made it clear that I expect to get the papers with the dog. It took me 6 months to get my papers from a big kennel once. In the case of Freckles I never got her ASCA papers and had to pursue her breeder to another state to get a replacement puppy. (Vandal was worth it!) My puppies come with both sets of papers in their puppy folder unless there is a unexpected quirk. Their health records and pedigree are also included in the file. I am a CPA so paperwork is a strong suit of mine!

ABOUT OUR PRICING!

I price our puppies at what I feel is well below market for the quality and level of care the puppies receive. I feed premium puppy foods (Science Diet or Iams) and make sure the puppies have adequate nutrition by supplementing their diet with Baby Rice Cereal and Esbilac II puppy formula. I ALMOST NEVER discount my puppies below what I already consider a bargain price for quality, double registered puppies.

I will also tell you that some of the best puppies I have ever raised are tri males. They are by far the best deal and the most pup for your buck! On the flip side every single litter the high priced merles sell quicker than the lower priced tri males.

IF YOU WANT A PUP FOR BELOW WHAT I'M ASKING - WAIT! Fair Warning: I will most likely get full price for all my pups but IF I have a last puppy that is approaching ten/eleven weeks then I will consider offers. If you contact me before the pup is 9 weeks I can almost guarantee the answer will be no. I'm sorry but I do not give multiple puppy or prior buyer discounts - my profit margin is already too low. I wish I could make sure everyone could afford one of my puppies but the horses have to eat! I already strive to give people a good deal with my set prices and a reason to drive up to Carefree Highway - even from the East Valley.

38326 N. 12th Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85086
(602)292-1969

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