Westwind Wheatens

OUR WEBSITE IS BEST VIEWED ON A COMPUTER OR TABLET RATHER THAN A MOBILE PHONE
PLEASE BE PATIENT WHEN PAGES ARE LOADING AS IT IS VERY IMAGE INTENSIVE ON PURPOSE
YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PICTURE ON OUR WEBSITE TO VIEW IT FULL SIZE

We are easiest to reach by email and it's better for me to have a written record of our conversation due to the large number of inquiries we get. If you wish to call us instead, please leave a message, we are out in the kennel most of the time, but we will return your call as soon as possible.

Website updated 04/24/2024!!! FINALLY!!

Hi friends!! Yes, we are still alive and still raising wonderful Wheatens. It's been a rough year since I last updated.

Here's a few pictures of the litter labeled with their collar colors so you can tell who's who.
Bentley is the RED boy, we kept the YELLOW collar girl, Paige.
(click on any picture to enlarge)

CURRENT UPDATES:

Beautiful example of the type of puppies we raise! These little guys have long since gone to forever homes!!

Our gorgeous boy Bentley from Sage & Bubba's 12-18-2022 litter found his "furever" family! Thanks to all who inquired about him.

INSPECTIONS: links to view all of our reports can be found on the CONTACT page

05-16-18: Had our IDALS inspection today. Flying colors again.

01-10-18: Had our impromptu AKC inspection today. All went well again.

08-11-16: Just had our annual surprise IDALS inspection today. Nice compliments again.

04-12-16: Had a surprise AKC inspection today. We received wonderful compliments again.

04-22-15: Our annual Iowa State Dept of Agriculture & Land Stewardship (IDALS) license kennel inspection was today. We passed with flying colors and high compliments again!

Welcome to Westwind Wheatens. My name is Sherry Akers. My husband Steve and I are small breeders devoted to raising healthy, happy, social AKC Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers. We are licensed and inspected by Iowa State as well as AKC, and Veterinarian inspected annually. We have received high praise from all on our facilities and care of our dogs. We do this for the love of the breed. After meeting our first Wheaten Terrier many, many years ago, we were instantly hooked. We have now been Wheaten owners since the late 90's, breeders since 2010. We are totally addicted to the breed. For us, there is none better. We have never met a dog so loving and jovial. There is absolutely nothing like coming home daily to receive the "Wheaten Greetin" - as any Wheaten owner can attest to. We want to help other families discover that special kind of joy that we believe only a Wheaten can bring into your life.

We have many very happy extended Wheaten family members that send us so many fabulous emails and pictures that I just have to share. A good portion of our families are from a long enough distance they don't have the ability to drive in to meet and pick out a puppy in advance of them going home, so it's good to see what past customers are saying. To view these "testimonials", go to the NEW FAMILIES pages section. The oldest are on page 1 continuing on up to the newest. This is the reason we raise Wheaten Terriers!

We raised all the beautiful puppies in the slide show above

Even though the Wheatens have an Irish heritage, we named most of our Wheaten family members with a western theme since we are pure country at heart. We raised and showed horses for over 20 years and are big country music fans.
Our "kids" are JESSIE (James) ~ CJ (Calamity Jane) ~ ANNIE (Oakley) ~ JAYCEE (Justa Cowgirl) REMI (Lady Remington) - SHOOTER (Miss Winchester) ~ CLEMIE (Darlin Clementine) ~ GAVIN (Westwind's Gunslinger) ~ and CIMMI (Westwind's Cimarron Gal).
A few I just couldn't think of something western... KENZI, JORDAN & DARCY, and BUBBA came to us already named.
In 2018, we retired and adopted out OAKLEY (Annie's full sister), TOFFEE and SHERRY. We also retired JOSIE Wales but she is staying here with us for the rest of her life.

Thanks to all of you for the wonderful compliments on our puppies and facilities. We strive for the happiness of our dogs and puppies.

These photos were taken July 2014 showing our beautiful kennel we built (yes, we personally built - not hired done) in 2010 for our dogs. It is all about their comfort, being heated ad air-conditioned, with stereo and cable TV, as well as security cameras we can monitor when in the house. Summer 2015 we added a roof over the outside runs. Previously we had a beautiful Mulberry tree that provided wonderful shade.... as well as LOTS of mulberries! Needless to say, our gorgeous light color Wheatens would come in from play time looking like purple polka dot Dalmatians! Now they can go out even if it's raining instead of being inside.

Watch the slide show below to take a "walk" through the dogs' living quarters. As you can see, this is a normal quiet day in the kennel. Everybody's relaxing and watching TV since it's winter and too cold to go outside to play. The smaller empty pens are for the puppies during their final week with us. This is where they are divided first into groups of three to four for a few days and then down to pairs to be away from Mom and to begin their transition to going home by themselves. We feel it makes it a bit easier than just suddenly removing them from mom and siblings all at once and taking them to a new environment. They are handled and played with continually, get to go outside in the grass when the weather allows, learn all kinds of sounds from the TV and stereo. When the puppies are in the pens, we leave the top lids open so it's like a little playpen. We put little storage bins with a door cut out of the front (you can see the blue ones on top of the tub in the Lab room) to give them a little house. They LOVE them! It helps them transition over to a kennel because they feel safe and secure there. It's their own little den.

The pictures below show the "Lounge", our meet & greet room we built in the main kennel Spring 2014. It allows families to see the dogs and puppies and meet them one on one while not disrupting the entire kennel. It's safer all around for our puppies and that is our main concern. It's our second home and where we practically live during puppy birthing season!
In March 2019 we flooded and had to evacuate the dogs. There is a NOAA water depth gauge on our river that's only a block away and it updates by satellite every 15 minutes so we were always informed as to the status. It also gives the river crest predictions during periods of high water. Even though the water receded overnight and we only had 16" of water in the kennel, it was a mess. We had to tear out the insulation in the walls, tear up the floor tiles and completely remodel it.

We are continually trying to make improvements to make the dogs happy and their facilities nicer. In 2013 we added another kennel area for newly weaned moms and one of our males. We also made a giant 100' x 100' fenced in area so we can let them out to run and play together and boy do they have fun!

The Wheaten Terrier is an extremely intelligent breed. They are excellent family dogs, they love children, and they LOVE to play! They retain their "puppy joviality" throughout their lives. Their tails are almost always wagging, sometimes involving a whole body wag! ;-D They make great apartment dogs as long as they are given enough exercise. Just a few years ago they were rated the #1 apartment dog in New York. They love “their” people and just love to be with them. They actually become very in tune with your feelings and moods.

Sammi before her first haircut

The Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier is often referred to as hypo-allergenic. They have a single soft coat of hair, rather than fur. When people are allergic to dogs, it is typically the dander they are allergic to. The Wheaten's hair doesn't collect dander the way normal furred dogs do, thus making them a better choice for those people who suffer from allergies. They are also non-shedding, which is FABULOUS for a house dog (we used to have English Springer Spaniels in the house and they shed ALOT even with the brushing). But if you choose to leave their hair long, they will require brushing every few days to keep their hair mat free. We like to clip ours to expose their beautiful expressive intelligent eyes. They are beautiful either way!

Shelby (puppy) and Cassie

They are born dark reddish brown to black and gradually lighten with age. They look like little teddy bears during a lot of their puppy stage. Some have darker points in the beard and ears, others have hardly any dark left on them when full grown. You can see several pictures on our website of a few of our Wheatens as puppies and adults, with their long hair and after we have them clipped. They are a nice sized dog standing between 18 to 22 inches tall and weighing between 30 to 45 pounds at maturity. A beautiful dog to look at, and yet sturdy enough for the kids to play with! (And boy, do they love to play!!) A great all around combination!

Sammi after her hair cut!

We are located in southwest Iowa in Red Oak, just 45 minutes east of Omaha, Nebraska. Feel free to contact us and let us know of your interest. We'd love to help you attain your new puppy/family member!

WE STRIVE FOR QUALITY - NOT QUANTITY
OUR DOGS ARE OUR FAMILY MEMBERS
AND CARED FOR BY US - NOT HIRED HELP

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visitors since 4/1/2010