Located in South Dakota, between Ipswich & Roscoe, it is very quite and private out here. 20 acres surrounded by fields, with no close neighbors or towns. We do not even live on a mailing route! Our County has a population of only 4,000. Average class size in our school is about 15 students per grade.
Our Dogs
We breed dogs that make great family pets! Doodles might be able to also become service dogs, English Cockers make great hunting dogs! Many can show, and even make great agility dogs! But our main purpose is to breed family type dogs with great temperments, the least possible health problems that we can breed, with gentle, loving breeds!
Me & George are concentrating mostly on breeding our amazing Mini Saints, Comfort Retrievers, and Labbes. We always loved Medium sized dogs, and these are all very gentle, loving, unique family pets. We do also breed Hush Bassets, which are way too cute!
Baron & Janelle are currently breeding 4 breeds. They are takling over the Copicas & Cuddles, that we started. They are also breeding Toy Labbes & Minute Hounds, which are their own breeds, inspired by our Labbes & Hush Bassets.
Ayla has always been an English Cocker person! She now has her own little Mini English Cockers, which are the cutest little, tail wagging, toy crazy puppies ever! Once in awhile, we also have Colonial Cockers available, which are American & English Cocker cross. We may also still have a few American Cocker crosses, such Cotrailians or Cockapoos.
Gage has a lot of planning, thought, and research into his Dakota Sheepdogs. Bred to be very smart, low shedding, perfect family dogs! He is also very involved with his tiny Toy Bulldogges!
Because the Dakota Sheepdogs are bred from several breeds, we do still have some mature dogs that were nessessary to have, in order to get the breeding stock nessessary for the Dakota Sheepdogs. These dogs are currently being bred for Mini Aussiedoodles & Mini English Shepadoodles. We may occasionally also have a litter of Petite Goldendoodles, or even Mix Doodles
We never sell to pet shops or brokers! Only to loving families and private owners. However, we do not limit registration because it is our belief that people work hard for their money, and that when they buy a new puppy, they can make their own good judgements on whether or not they would like to show or breed their dog someday. Depending on the individual intentions for the puppy, we often reccommend having your new puppy fixed, but the final choice is up to you! It is your puppy! We do not pretend to withhold any type of ownership once you receive your puppy. We do love it when new owners send us updates and/or pictures though!
All of our dogs are much loved parts of our family! We know each and every one of our dogs & puppies for their individual personalities and we love each one for who they are.
All of our puppies are born inside of our house. When they reach an age when they run around, we move them to our dog building which is insulated, heated and cooled when nessessary, clean, and comfortable. We do have large outside pens for our dogs to protect them from our little bit of traffic, the horses strong hooves, from getting lost out here, to control breeding, and a number of other mishaps that could happen by letting a lot of dogs run free.
Our dogs all have comfortable beds, food & water 24/7, kiddy pools to play in during hot weather, ropes, tennis balls, & rawhides. Plenty of room to run and get exersize, they are even allowed to dig holes as dogs love to do! Which it is nessessary for us to refill them from time to time.
We believe in allowing the puppies to be allowed to run around in the sun to create good muscle tone, and healthy hearts as soon as they are old enough! They are allowed to go inside and out, as they please during the day. At night, they have a 4 X 8 foot pen with food, water, toys, a bed, and mom! Again, heated or cooled as needed.
We dock tails on American & English Cockers, and Cockapoos. In the rare occasion that one of our puppies is born with back dew claws, we do dock them. Back dew claws are loose, floppy, and serve no purpose. However, front dew claws are tight up against the paw, and dogs do use them when scratching, and taking corners at a run. Being big agility fans, we do not believe in removing front dew claws.
All of our puppies come with a two year hips & eyes guarantee. They are dewormed at 2 weeks of age, and every two weeks after that, for as long as they are in our care, up to 12 weeks old. Puppies are given first shots at 6 weeks old. We give them a booster at 9 weeks, and again at 12 weeks, if they are still here. However, most puppies leave around 8 weeks old.
We give all of the puppies knicknames, for indenification purposes only. You name your puppy a name that you choose!
Our Horses
Our entire family, including Janelle, are very involved with our dogs. No one in our family currently works anywhere else.
Baron, our oldest son, is currently buying his own farm, about 30 miles from us. He plans to get married, and is breeding & training puppies. Baron also likes hunting, fishing, ATVing, ect. Their web site is: www.windswept.homestead.com
Gage, our youngest son, is a vehicle nut! He also loves dog & puppies more then anyone that I know! Gage loves his ATV's, and to play with puppies! Gage has been accepted into the SD School Of Mines, and plans to major in Mechanical Engineering. He is currently a senior in high school, and will start college in 2008.
Ayla is our horse person. She is horse crazy, like me! She owns Tas. She also loves to ride Sheena and Midnight. Ayla is also crazy about her English Cockers! She has shown Ginger for many years.. She loves all the other dogs & puppies too, of coarse ;o) Ayla is currently taking private flying lessons, and a Freshman at the SD School Of Mines, and majoring in Chemical Engineering. She also plays golf, kickball, and is on the Baja team. Ayla also likes ATVing and Bow hunting.
George spends a lot of his time building/repairing, caring for the dogs, and working on vehicles. Like Gage, George is very interested in vehicles. He also likes to go hunting & fishing.
I am Karen.. I grew up on a Dairy Farm, but we also had almost every other kind of animals too! Except for sheep... (My dad just was not into sheep). I could not imagine a life without animals! I really love baby animals being born and raising them. If I ever have spare time, I like to Oil Paint & gardening.
Like many people, we are fascinated with Draft horses! We love their gentle temperments, their movements, builds, and feathers!
However, Draft horses are huge! Intiminating to some people because of their large size, and they can eat a lot!
Our goal with our horses is to breed smaller Draft horses, around 14 to 15 hands tall. After all, Draft horses do not need to plow fields anymore! Because of their build, they can carry large riders. But because of their gentle tempermets, they are also great for kids! They are a perfect size for anyone to handle, and they do not eat nearly as much as a large Draft.
Flash, being a Gypsy Cob, is the perfect stallion for our breeding program! He has the right size, bone, temperment, plus color and feathering! Style and good looking just ad to him! Our Draft cross mares have either a lot of feathering, or spots! They are just perfect to breed to Flash to create small Draft horses! But if Gypsy horses are such perfect smaller Drafty horses already, we don't we just breed them? The answer is easy! Because many people cannot afford, or just do not want to pay the high prices of a purebred Gypsy horse!
Our small Draft horses are great for anything, except for speed. Perfect family horses for riding and driving! If you want a smaller team, driving or cart horse, nice, mellow trail horse, a nice horse for the kids that is trustworthy and gentle, something built, but not too tall, a stylish English horse, or whatever, a small draft horse may be for you?
We do have other horses also. These horses are our pets.. Horses that we have had for many years, or raised from birth. Horses that we ride, play with, and just cannot bear to part with.
Our horses are only stalled when foaling, injured, or sick. They have run-in shelter, either prairie grass or hay 24/7, daily oats to keep them loving us, mineral salt, and water which is heated when nessessary. They get a minimum of daily attention.
Dakota Winds Ranch
George & Karen Brausen
PO Box 647
Ipswich, SD 57451
(605) 426-6488
(605) 216-7859
Gage, Karen, Janelle, George, Baron, & Ayla at Lead, SD summer of 2008. (Custer Peak)
Karen, George, Baron, Gage, & Ayla, summer 2004 at the Badlands, SD.
Baron
George
Karen
Baron's fiance, Janelle
Karen, George, Gage, Ayla, Janelle, & Baron, summer of 2008.
Getting good & dirty while ATVing! At the very top of Custer's Peak. (The Ranger's Station.)
Janelle, Baron, Gage, Ayla, Karen, & George, summer of 2008.