Our Facilities

Hygiene and Biosecurity

Young puppies are very susceptible to bacterial infections, particularly prior to their first vaccination at 6 weeks old. A huge part of our job as breeders is protecting our puppies against infection, and we take it very seriously. Our facilities are set up to minimise the risk of infection and we have strict processes we follow every day to ensure the health of our puppies is not compromised. The only people with access to our facilities are the Lomond Hills team, our vet and his team, and inspectors from our local council. Our facilities are not open to the public due to the risk of infection. Instead, we have compiled a selection of photos along with an extensive description of our facilities on this page for you to browse at your leisure. We are very proud of our set-up and are delighted to showcase it here. You can also rest assured that we are licensed breeders and our facilities, protocols and record-keeping are inspected regularly by the local environmental health department along with their selected vet. We have been licensed since 2006 and the inspectors have always been very impressed with our standards.

Dog Suites

Besides a few dogs that live with us in our home, the vast majority of our breeding dogs live in Family Care Homes. As such, we don't operate a large kennel facility like most breeders do. Instead, our breeding dogs enjoy family life and are pets first and foremost. We have a few suites available for our Family Care Home dogs when needed – usually for when they are in season, breeding or having a short holiday with us. These suites boast sealed polyurethane floors with Polygiene to prevent the growth or spread of bacteria. PVC wet walls ensure that the suites can be easily disinfected and kept immaculate and fresh at all times. They also have under-floor heating and doggie doors with access to an outside, roofed, artificial turfed area – this offers the best for traction, hygiene and drainage. Dogs staying in our suites also have direct access to our outdoor play paddock which is used frequently throughout the day.

Puppy Suites

All Lomond Hills puppies are bred, born and reared here with us. Our puppy suites are set up such that they can be small and cosy for a new-born litter, a little larger as the puppies get up onto their feet and much larger when they are learning to play and do their business in the right place! Floor to ceiling walls ensures a cosy and quiet area so that nursing mums with young puppies are not disturbed by older, livelier puppies – particularly at feeding time! Sealed polyurethane floors with Polygiene prevent the growth or spread of bacteria and offer a clean surface with good traction for little paws. PVC wet wall provides an easily cleaned and disinfected wall covering to ensure that our puppies stay healthy and happy. Individually controlled thermostatic under-floor heating ensures that each litter's room is at the perfect temperature for them. Neonates cannot regulate their own body temperature so must be kept warmer, whereas puppies from 3 weeks + enjoy slightly cooler temperatures to be more comfortable. Our under-floor heating keeps everyone at just the right temperature! Once puppies turn around 4 weeks old and are getting established on solid food, we open up their puppy doors to give them access to their play/toilet area. This area is covered with very soft shredded paper (made from tea bag material) which offers a great space for the puppies to play and allows them to learn to go to the toilet on a soft surface, away from their sleeping quarters. It also has a lot of natural light with multiple windows for lots of fresh air – it replicates being outside as much as possible, but keeps the puppies dry and warm whilst they are still too young to go outside, or if the temperature is too low. Once they are old enough and if the temperature is warm enough, our puppies frequently get out into our outdoor puppy play area.

Outdoor Play Paddock

Our outdoor play paddock offers a safe, secure space for our dogs to enjoy playtime! We have both real grass and artificial turf so that we can keep our dogs clean when we need to. The paddock is on a slope with good natural drainage, is securely enclosed with a wooden fence and is kitted out with a range of agility equipment which our dogs love playing with. We don't take agility seriously, we just do it for fun and the dogs love it!

Indoor and Outdoor Puppy Play Area

We like to get our puppies playing outdoors when the weather and temperature allows, it's good for their development and great fun for them! To make this possible, we have constructed a play area on artificial turf so that it can be adequately disinfected, and covered by a roof so that rain showers don’t get in the way of playtime when the temperature is still warm enough! We also have an equivalent indoor play area for the cold winter months when it is just not possible to get young puppies outside safely for any length of time. We have a range of fun play equipment for our puppies to stimulate their senses and get them learning about new sounds, textures and experiences. The ball pool is particularly popular and is always a lot of fun, we sometimes fill the pool with plastic bottles as they make lots of loud noises which is great for reducing our puppies’ sensitivity to strange noises. We also have a range of soft play shapes which can be constructed to build puppy-suitable assault courses and is a great way of introducing puppies to different levels, heights and edges. Our caterpillar tunnel introduces puppies to enclosed, dark spaces and our adventure box with its myriad of hanging and swinging objects reduces our puppies’ touch and sound sensitivity. It is all great fun, but everything has been thought out and has a developmental purpose.