How we raise our adults at Shannon Down


Our dogs at Shannon Down are house dogs, we have no kennel at the moment, but we do have a 'dog room' in the house where we keep most of our crates, the dog food, medication, jackets, grooming supplies and all the other dog stuff.  As I said, we have no kennel at the moment, but we do plan on converting a building we have in the backyard into a kennel where some of the dogs can go during the weekend when both Shannon and Krystyl are at a show, lure coursing trial or race meet to make it easier for the family who is watching dogs while we are gone, since Brad (Shannon's husband) works every other weekend and works nights, he usually sleeps during the day and if we are both gone on a weekend he is working the dogs can go out to the kennel with indoor/outdoor runs and be able to go in and out to potty themselves while he is sleeping or at work.  It would also be a place for bitches in season to go to so they can go in and out and not be crated for long periods of time due to being in season.  But, we don't have a kennel at the moment and even when we do, our dogs are house dogs, pets and family members before show or performance dogs and live in the house and sleep in our beds. 

As said above, we have a dog room.  We have two separate 'packs', the house dog pack (the dogs that almost never see the inside of the dog room, when they are crated for meals and such they are crated in the living room or dining room) and the dog room pack.  The dogs in the dog room are not always in the dog room, they spend time in the house but when they are crated they are crated in the dog room.  Due to the number of dogs we have, they can't all sleep in bed with us every night so they rotate bed time privileges.  Our house dog pack is always loose in the house with us and have the run of pretty much the entire house, they are crates for meals and occasionally some of them are crated at night but otherwise they are always loose in the house with us.  The dogs in the dog room spend time in the house with us as well but during 'down time' in the afternoon when everyone is just napping all over the house they nap in their crates.  All of our dogs are crated trained since most of them take turns sleeping in crates at night (except for a select few that are always loose at night, sleeping in separate rooms with different people) and they all eat separately in crates as well. 

We have a big back yard that the dogs play in for their main source of exercise, but they also all get out to race meets and lure coursing trials to really stretch their legs and they all take turns going on free runs with us either down by the creek by our house or in Brattonsville, SC (a 500+ acre Wildlife Preserve).  Though pretty much any reputable Whippet breeder will tell you to never let your Whippet off leash in an unfenced area, including ourselves.  But we do take our dogs on free runs, we are selective of who we take and who we take together and we are selective of the areas we let them off leash in.  In Brattonsville, were we do most of our free running, it consists mainly of very large open fields and you can usually see for a very, very long distance so you can't loose sight of one of them if they run off a ways.  It's also very far away from any roads, the main problem with a loose Sighthound is that if they spot something they will generally take off and not pay attention to you calling them.  With the areas we pick, anything they spot they are likely to loose sight of before we loose sight of them because of the length of the grass and so on.  We take these chances with our dogs because they love it so much and it's a great source of exercise for them and bonding time with us.  They also always were neon colored hunting collars whenever they are off leash that have metals plates attached to the collars with our contact information in case one should ever get away from us.

As of right now our dogs are mainly on a kibble diet of Diamond dog food, but we do occasionally feed raw and intend to switch to mostly or all raw eventually when we have a bigger freezer.  We are also raising meat rabbits now that will supply our dogs and ourselves with meat.  When we eventually make the switch to mostly or all raw, I will update this section to inform you more about what and how we feed.  Right now, our dogs eat twice a day, separated in crates.  Our dogs also get fish oil capsules every day and they take them just like treats.  Other than that we don't supplement with anything, our dogs love to eat and don't require anything to make them eat better. 

Our house is for the dogs, though we don't need them, we have 4 couches in our very large living room, mainly for the dogs really.  Though they only ever want to lay on the couch that a person is sitting on so they don't usually serve their purpose :)  We have dog toys all over the house and even when we pick them up several times a day the toy basket is quickly emptied, apparently the dogs think the toys are happier being freed from their basket.  We often make trips to Goodwill to pick up several quilts that end up in dog crates or on the couches or floor for the dogs to lay on, they prefer them over dog beds since they like to sleep under the quilts, though there are several dog beds all over the house as well.  When we leave the house and no one is home (though that rarely ever happens except for one or two holidays a year, and then we are only 15 minutes away and drive home to check on dogs often) they are all mostly crated for their own safety though a few will remain loose either separated in bedrooms or in the living room.  We give our dogs Ivermectin every month for heart worm and they are given Frontline during the hot months of the year for fleas and ticks.  We also do regular de-wormings with Panacur to keep them parasite free.

Our dogs are companions and family members first and will always be raised in our home with us, in order to live in our home with this many dogs they all have to get along.  They have to fit into the 'pack' somewhere and not disrupt the peace, otherwise they can not live in our home.  Therefore, all our dogs have excellent temperaments, though there are a lot of rules for them in our house (house manners such as not counter surfing and listening to us when we say 'stop' or 'no' when they are playing to rough or need to settle down, etc.) they love life and enjoy just lounging around the house or waiting for a scrap of food to fall to the kitchen floor (or be given to them by the several gullible guys in the Lyons' family).  They live for their free runs in Brattonsville and their weekend trips, whether it be to a show, coursing trial or race meet and just being loved on at home.