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Donald and Trina started from working at an animal shelter to creating another place for them to go to help alleviate the strain on overflowing shelters, aka foster homes with rescues. This was our first experience with the Great Dane breed. After many years of seeing poorly bred Danes we decided to start our own breeding program. We wanted to ensure the best of the breed was being passed down. This is why it is very important to us that our dogs meet the breed standards, are health tested per OFA recommendations, are color tested prior to pairing, etc.

We are dedicated to finding the best family possible for each of our puppies. We have a thorough application process  before a puppy is placed. Not everyone will get approved for a Blue Ridge puppy. Above all else, the health, safety and happiness of each puppy is our focus.

We have incorporated Puppy Culture into our program.  Your baby will come home healthy both physically and emotionally. 

What is Puppy Culture?

On the top level, Puppy Culture is a socialization and training program specifically developed for puppies from birth through the end of their critical socialization period, with age appropriate protocols and lessons laid out in an organized format. 

Puppy Culture is based on the premise that the puppy always leads the learning, and puppies learn best by appropriate experiences at the appropriate time. So what we are doing is teaching you to observe the puppy, and, based on the behavioral markers you see, serve the puppy the experience or lesson that is optimal for him at that moment in time.

By letting the puppy lead, we are:

•maximizing the benefit of any given protocol or lesson,

•minimizing any danger of over-facing or scaring the puppy

•creating confidence and self-efficacy by presenting the appropriate level of challenge that the puppy CAN do without failing or presenting a danger to himself.

Finally, we teach owners to enjoy each puppy for the precious individual he is, and to bring out the best qualities in that puppy, rather than holding the puppy up to an arbitrary yardstick and labeling him as a problem if he does not measure up.

Many puppies are labeled as having behavior or temperament issues when they are simply being served an inappropriate experience for their developmental age. This can hobble the puppy for the rest of his life with an unjust label that will cause people to treat him in an unthoughtful manner. By letting the puppy lead, you avoid this and enjoy your puppy for the wonderful individual that he is.

So you watch the puppy and see what learning experience he's ready for. And learning what those experiences are and how to effectively serve them is a big part of the Puppy Culture program.

Why is this so important? Because things that are perfect in one developmental period could be useless or even detrimental in the next, and vice versa. So we teach you to know where your puppy is developmentally, and what to do right now.

Yes, Puppy Culture is a "positive," reinforcement-based program and we do not use corrections or outmoded dominance theory, but that is really all a by-product of observing the puppy and serving him the learning experience he is asking for.

And I will add that our program is based on the latest science and studies on puppy and animal rearing, and we include many experts and authors in the film to further explain the logic of the program.