Breeding Set Up for Working Pups
By Chyril Walker
(Published in Choban Chatter, newsletter published by Anatolian Shepherd
Dogs International, Inc., Spring, 2007, Volume 17, Issue 1.)

In the corner of a 12’ x 12’ stall which is next to a goat stall, we built the whelping box (4 ft wide, 5 ft 4 inches long, and 2 ft 4 inches high) almost the same dimensions as the Durawhelp size extra-large whelping box found at http://www.xocom.com/fr/Boxes.htm#sizes. We added the puppy rails on the inside (2" x 4" about 4" off the ground) so the puppies wouldn't get smothered accidentally by their mother. The puppies are born and grow up their first 3 to 4 weeks in the whelping box. We have found straw works the best inside the whelping box for labor, delivery, and growing puppies. Straw works the best also in the horse stall outside the whelping box. When the pups are old enough		to walk and can climb out of the whelping box, they have the 12 ft x 12 ft horse stall to wander around in, as the whelping box is built into a corner of the horse stall next to the goat stall next door. (The door to the whelping box is left open for the mother to go out into the larger horse stall as needed in order to eat, drink, potty, and get space from her pups.) By the time the pups are about 5 weeks old, they are ready for more exercise in a larger area. At that time we move them to a larger puppy pen outside in the goat pasture. The "horse panels" have 2 inch by 4 inch spaces, which contain the pups nicely. (If anything is used with 4" by 4" spaces, the puppies will get their heads stuck!
Larger than that and the puppies will escape. Some can even escape the 4" X 4" spaces!) The horse panels are connected to the posts and each other with cable ties (also called zip ties). A "cattle panel" is used on the top of half of the pen, topped by four 2" x 2" x 10" posts over which a tarp is spread and turned under tightly (otherwise the goats rip up any dangling tarp sides). The tarp is then fastened down securely with cable ties as a roof from the rain and to help with shade. The two pieces of plywood fastened to the sides of the pen are mainly for shade because of how the sun hits the pen. Holes are drilled through the plywood and then cable ties are used to fasten it to the inside of the horse panels. The whole pen is 16 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 6 feet tall. This pen contains the		pups at night, while they are eating kibbles 3 times a day, and any time the pups cannot be supervised in the much larger goat pasture with the goats. The door is just a 4 foot wide section of a horse panel that is cable-tied at the hinge end. Two locking clips attach this door to the overlapping horse panel on the opening side.