Puppies from Firefly/Dragonfly kennels have a great start in life. They are born and raised in the house until they are about 6-7 weeks old, at which time they are moved to the "dog room". They are taken to training classes, vet visits, Purdue University, dog shows, parks, long walks, and lots of car rides for socialization. All puppies are placed with a written guarantee which includes a guarantee that they will have correct working instinct if they are properly introduced to it by their new owner before they are 12 months old. They are also placed with a guarantee that they have a sound correct temperament for their breed at the time they are placed in their new home with their new owners. We do not tolerate poorly socialized or bad tempered dogs, and we will not breed them. After they go to their new families it becomes their owners responsibility to continue what we've begun and socialize and train the new puppy. All puppies are a huge responsibility and commitment, and even more so with a true working breed such as the ACD or the Toller.

Just as importantly, we guarantee the health of our puppies. We do our best to build a strong genetic base of dogs that we use in our breeding program, Therefore: Parents' are only bred before they are 2 years of age in very rare and specific circumstances. Parents' hips and oftentimes elbow are x-rayed and certified by OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) www.offa.org before they are bred. Parents' eyes are checked by a veterinary opthamologist before they are bred. Parents' are either DNA tested by Optigen www.optigen.com for their carrier status of the eye disease prcdPRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) or, their obligatory status is known by parentage/offspring that are tested. We only breed a litter that may have affected (pattern C) puppies in very rare and specific circumstances and these circumstances are discussed with all prospective owners before any commitment is made to receive a puppy. All ACD puppies' are BAER (Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response (for hearing loss/deafness)) tested before going to their new homes. And in most possible cases Toller puppies that are purchased for show/breeding purposes are BAER tested as well. Any dog that we breed that is not our own dog (ie. Outside stud dog or an outside bitch to be bred to one of our stud dogs) is Brucellosis tested prior to breeding. We also periodically test our own breeding dogs for this communicable disease. We guarantee that all puppies are mentally and physically healthy and free of communicable diseases at time of sale to the best knowledge of the breeder. We guarantee that if a puppy we have bred develops Hip Dysplasia, Elbow Dysplasia, prcdPRA, or Juvenile cataracts before 5 years of age we will refund your purchase price (minus the $100 deposit.)

We are a Code Of Ethics breeder with the Australian Cattle Dog Club Of America, and follow the same moral and ethical code when planning a Toller litter as well. We constantly strive to better the breeds we are involved in. It is far beyond a hobby or even an obsession for us, it's a way of life, because, "anything worth doing is worth taking the time to do it to the best of your ability." If you have any questions about the health and DNA testing we perform, or the guarantees we provide for our puppies please let us hear from you.

View the Firefly & Dragonfly purchase contract.