Our Breeding Standards

We have an uncompromising approach to breeding and raising pups

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When our family decided we wanted to start breeding dogs in 2006, we knew one thing for sure, we wouldn't compromise with anything in our program. Whether it be the breed we decided on, the health of our dogs, the raising of our puppies, or choosing the families our puppies go home with. We chose to be educated breeders and provide ethical practices in our program. We take our job very seriously here and it is a family effort. What sets us apart from many other breeders is our standards for raising the best quality pups possible. We breed for health, temperament and confirmation as our main priority. We also love everything about canine genetics! We are able to predict coat type & color genetics of our future litters. All of our breeding dogs go through extensive genetic health testing, confirmation and temperament evaluations. We require each of our adult dogs to pass breed specific OFA testing before considering them active breeding dogs in our program.

Pairings are determined by breed percentages, temperament, size, genetics, structure and coat/color traits. We put a LOT of time into planning our future pairings to produce a healthy and happy puppy to perfectly match our families wants and needs. MOST importantly we strive to produce the best quality pups from tested parents with strong genetic, great confirmation and excellent temperaments. We have DM Hilltop pups all over the US! 

Caring for our puppies if one of the most important things we do. All of our pups are born and raised in the middle of our home. Our moms and puppies safety are our number one priority. We consider socialization and mental health just as important as physical health when raising our puppies. They each are handled several times a day by our family of 7 and are able to interact with our adult dogs. 

We follow both Puppy Culture methods and BAB curriculum protocols. Socialization and exposure begins at 3 days old when we introduce ENS, along with ESI. ENS also known as Early Neurological Stimulation applies mild stressors, which has been known to improve their health, become more tolerable to stress and perform better in certain problem solving tests. Some methods included in our curriculum are startle and recovery exercises, barrier challenges and resource guarding prevention exercises. We begin gentle 10 step daily handling exercises at 2 weeks old and slowly increase intensity over the next 6 weeks, in order to condition them to various forms of human touch. Training begins early by us teaching our puppies fundamental concepts and will need to continue with you for the rest of their lives! We start potty training as early as 3 weeks, crate training beginning at 6 weeks, along with introducing them to a grooming table and grooming tools. This helps for an easier transition when they go to their new homes. We incorporate several steps, each at a specific stage, along with desensitizing them to certain sounds. surfaces & textures to build their confidence in new situations. To see a glimpse of our program, enjoy the videos on the left and our slideshow below. You can see additional live videos and pictures on our Facebook page.