Trust
Health, Vaccinations and My Vet
Step by step, the health work behind every puppy: the shots, the worming, the clinic that signs it off, and a plain account of the testing I don’t do.
No puppy leaves Sedona until Bell Rock Veterinary Clinic has examined it, and it goes to you with a written record of every vaccination and worming it has had. Nothing on that record is rounded off or estimated: each date is lifted straight from the clinic’s own notes.
My veterinarian, named on purpose
Bell Rock Veterinary Clinic, Sedona, at 45 Bell Rock Plaza, Sedona, AZ 86351, phone (928) 284-2840.
They give the vaccinations and they run the examination before the dog travels, and so the figures on your health record are their figures. I print their name, address and number here for one reason: you can ring them yourself and check that I am telling you the truth. A claim you cannot verify is worth nothing, so I gave you one you can.
And if the pre-travel examination turns up anything off, the dog stays put. You hear exactly what was found and you decide what happens next. No puppy is pushed out the door because a delivery slot was already on the calendar.
Every step, in the order it happens
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Weeks 2 through 10 | Every two weeks from two weeks old until ten weeks old |
| First vaccination | DHPP, covering distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza and parvovirus |
| 10 weeks | DHPP booster and canine influenza |
| Before it travels | Every puppy is examined by Bell Rock Veterinary Clinic before it goes home |
| Handover | A written health record travels with the puppy |
| If you want it | Microchip. Available for an additional fee |
| First week with you | Your own vet looks the puppy over. That visit is what switches the health guarantee on |
Do not skim that bottom row, because it is the one buyers let slide. Getting the puppy in front of your own vet within within one week of collection is written into the sales policy as a condition of the guarantee, and the point is as much practical as legal. It puts an independent vet on the record seeing the dog well, so if something surfaces at four months there is already a baseline to measure it against.
The testing I don’t do, stated plainly
I put this in because an earlier version of this kennel’s site made a health claim it had no right to, and setting that straight matters more to me than any sales line.
The parents are not screened and they are not certified. There is no hip or elbow scoring, no formal DNA panel, and no certificate of any kind behind these dogs. If you read anything, anywhere, that says this kennel does that, it is false.
What I actually bring is the examination by a clinic I have named, plus the fact that I have watched the litter every day since it was born and I know which pup cleared its bowl and which one went quiet this morning. That is a genuine thing. It is not screening, and I will not dress it up as screening.
Certified programs exist and if that is your priority you ought to buy from one. Plenty of kennels print the word on a web page, and distinctly fewer can hand you the paperwork when you ask for it.
Where this breed tends to run into trouble
Owning up to the lack of screening means owning up to what it is I am not screening for. In American Bullies the genuine trouble spots, roughly in order, are skin and allergy issues well out in front, then the hips and elbows, then laboured breathing in the flattest-faced dogs, and tied to that same conformation, a poor tolerance of heat.
None of these is a certainty, most can be lived with, and the ones most in your hands turn on keeping the dog lean and sensible with exercise through its first eighteen months. The full guide, with the cost of managing each, and the four things that really set how long the dog lives.
Phone the clinic before you phone me
Bell Rock Veterinary Clinic examines every puppy before it goes anywhere, and their number is right above. Then call me on (742) 306-3184.