Hello and welcome to our Picturetrail albums! We at Southern Sands Kennels invite you to visit for awhile and enjoy this vast photo collection of our beloved Rat Terriers. You will see us and our dogs competing in show events, playing on the beach, hunting, relaxing at home and otherwise just enjoying life. In these albums, we are proud to showcase the excellent conformation of our dogs as well as their happiness, their health and the great quality of their lives. We strive to candidly display our intense devotion to them, this unique breed as a whole and the clear satisfaction of our buyers. And we are always glad to provide numerous varied references of our previous buyers and colleagues as well as written referrals by request.

Over the years, we have been honored to enrich our breeding program with the diverse bloodlines of some of the most remarkable Rat Terriers in the world! As we continue our development of The Sands Line, we uphold our dogs as a living testament to both the quality of their ancestors and our own uncompromising committment to safeguarding this breed.

Extreme care and forethought regarding the health, temperament and conformation of the resulting offspring is put into every breeding that we carry out. BEFORE BEING BRED, each of our breeding dogs are thoroughly checked by one or both of our veterinarians, Byron Steve Lynn, DVM and James Neal Deal, DVM. A meticulous examination of the overall dog including its heart, respiratory system, digestive system, genitourinary system, musculoskeletal system, coat, eyes, ears, elbows, hips and patellas is performed to verify complete soundness, and its cardiac status and patellas are OFA certified. If ever there is a valid health concern suspected in any one of our breeding dogs or their immediate lineage, we promptly pursue further testing and necessary certification as such. Each of our breeding dogs and every puppy we produce is kept strictly up to date on its vaccinations, wormings and health care.

All of our Rat Terriers are AKC-FSS and UKC registered. Most of our Rat Terriers have some amount of the prestigeous Decker bloodline in their pedigrees, so we do keep a record of those individual percentages as well. Every dog and puppy available for placement comes with a comprehensive pedigree and a written health guarantee also.

From the day of birth, we carefully socialize each individual puppy that we produce with lots of love, cuddling, stimulating play and positive reinforcement according to their Developmental Stages. We implement the "Developing High Achievers" (a.k.a. "Bio Sensor" or "ENS 'Super Dog'") Program during their first weeks of life. These gentle exercises enhance the development of a self-confident, accepting nature and a healthier, more resilient condition in each of the puppies by facilitating their coping mechanisms from an early age. Once they are old enough to be up and on their feet, we start their surface training (letting them play on different surfaces such as grass, wood, concrete, hay, sand, water, etc.). And then the great adventure begins. . .they meet many different people, get to know other dogs (big and small) as well as our two cats, go for rides in the car, get to romp indoors and outdoors, visit new places, enjoy playing with various types of fun toys every day, are exposed to numerous different sounds (including music), stand on a grooming table frequently, get their nails trimmed, take their first baths, see the vet, start learning basic puppy boundaries (like what is and isn't okay to chew on, etc.), spend short periods of time in a travel crate to begin crate training. . .and their favorite. . .going for daily rides either on an ATV or in a little red wagon pulled slowly behind an ATV!

Loads of loving care and positive socialization are key to a good start, and we are proud to provide it.

To learn more about us, please visit Our Website or Our Geocities Webpages. We are active members of the RTCA and the ARTA, and we enjoy showig our Rat Terriers in conformation events! We compete for the fellowship of the sport and to hopefully put a Champion title on each and every one of our dogs. To contact us for more information, please E-Mail. If interested in acquiring one of our available Rat Terriers, please fill out Our Online Application at our website. Thank you for stopping by!

NONE of the photo images in ANY of the below listed albums may be copied, used or reproduced without written permission from Lisa Sands.