About us and Our Visitation Policy
Hello and thank you for stopping by. Rocky Oak Cavaliers is situated in NE Oklahoma on a small 18 acre farm. Along with our dogs we raise dairy goats and few laying hens. We have been raising cavaliers for 17 years. We got our name from the fact that our land is mostly wooded with beautiful oak trees and we live in the Ozark mountain foothills so the land is very rocky. Hence the name Rocky Oak.
Our puppies are whelped in our home and raised in our home until they go to their forever family. Our cavalier, shihtzu and Biewer Terrier puppies are registered with the AKC. Our hybrid puppies are not registrable. We do only give ACA registration to our pet homes. This is to help ensure our puppies are not bred without our consent. If you wish to breed we would be happy to discuss that option with you.
All of our puppies are raised in our home. Our puppies will be very used to household sounds, being handled & bathing.
Our adult dogs get health testing, vet treatment when needed, they are vaccinated and dewormed on a regular basis. Health testing is performed on all dogs and yearly exams are done by our vet. We only breed females and males that are healthy and mature. All of our puppies will see a vet at least once but usually twice before leaving here and going home. Before puppies go home they are seen by our long time vet and given a complete head to tail exam,will have at least 2 vaccines, dewormed on a regular basis, started on flea and heart worm medication(revolution) & litter box trained. As you can see we take our puppies health seriously which leads to the next question...
Can I come visit?
No! We often get asked why we don’t allow visits. This is not surprising given the number of “what to do when buying a dog” websites that advocate for visiting the breeder and meeting the puppy parents before purchasing a puppy or getting on a wait list. The problem with these sites is their priority is the buyer, not the health and safety of the puppies or the breeder. Below are the reasons we don’t allow visits.
First, we are not a petting zoo. Puppies are little living beings and susceptible to many things.
Like a newborn baby, the opportunity for young pups to pick up infectious diseases is increased with all new contacts. Their immune systems are building, so at this time, the moms and puppies live in in our home separate from all outside traffic. Most illnesses and diseases are innocently carried on people’s shoes and clothing. Entire litters of puppies can and have been wiped out from visitors visiting kennels and carrying in the parvovirus. This disease can be picked up unknowingly by people in a school yard, a park, sidewalk, vets office, pet store ,parking lot and especially other kennels... and this is only one disease that could effect small puppies. We cannot risk exposing our dogs and your puppy to diseases that could destroy them. So we have a no visitor policy...Period! Please see link below.
It is extremely stressful for the mama dog to have strangers visit as she is caring for her litter. This in turn will put stress on the new born pups. Our dogs all love people but keep in mind mamas protect their babies! Puppies can be crushed by moms accidentally stepping on them when she is faced with a new person and feels threatened. Moms move very quickly to assess any threat to her pups and in doing so puppies can and have been injured or killed. Remember, you are only one of many people who want to adopt a puppy, not including everyone else who “just wants to peek at the new babies.” If we allow everyone to see, touch, or spend time with the new pups, the mom’s routine would be disrupted.
Your puppy is not the only puppy. By protecting all of our puppies from a disease that could be brought in by visitors, we are protecting YOUR puppy. Just think about how you would feel if someone who just wanted to see his or her pup happened to bring in illness that would cause us to lose a puppy, your puppy, or even the entire litter. We have heard from many people that other breeders allow people to visit puppies early. We understand and totally respect those breeders decisions. However; for us it is just not good practice when putting the health and well being of puppies first and foremost.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We take great care, pride and much time caring for our dogs and puppies. It is a time and energy consuming commitment. We understand your excitement, and we are happy that you are enthusiastic about getting your pup. However, until you take your puppy home, we are responsible and the puppy’s health and safety is our number one priority. We guarantee, waiting a few weeks will be worth it.
We do take pictures and/or videos bi-weekly so you can watch your puppy grow and change. I am always available for questions about your puppy. Please understand I may at times be slow to respond if I’m caring for puppies. They are my first priority.
Not only is visiting a concern for our dogs and puppies there is the issue of safety for us as well. There are more and more cases of dogs being stolen out of homes, yards and kennels while a breeder went to run an errand. People are posing as buyers only to gain access to a breeders home or kennel. In one very sad case a breeder was murdered. *SEE LINK BELOW
The world is not as safe as it once was. There are anti-breeder groups targeting breeders and making threats against their lives. A quick google or Facebook search will quickly yield results. It's simply not a safe practice in our opinion to allow strangers to visit our home.
Again, puppies are in our home and no one should allow strangers in their home....PERIOD! No matter how much we text, message or talk on the phone we still don't "know" each other. We understand and respect if our no visit policy is against your own personal morals and ethics in choosing a breeder. We understand and respect if this is a deal breaker for you, and we also ask the same respect and understanding in our "Safety over sales" motto. We are not in this to "just sell a puppy", we want you become part of our "family" and stay in touch long after you get your puppy. We want to know how our puppy is doing, growing and how they adjust in their new home. We will be happy to provide you references of people that have gotten a puppy or puppies from us.
Kansas Dog Breeder Murdered
