ABOUT US
Singing Sands is operated by myself (Andrea Carlson DVM) and my partner JP (James Walker).
I am a licensed Veterinarian and received my doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine. I have been practicing veterinary medicine for over 20 years at Southlake Animal Hospital in nearby Merrillville, IN. I am certified in Chinese Veterinary Herbal, Food Therapies, Tuina, Palliative and end of life care, animal chiro, and Veterinary Acupuncture. I am an active member of BMDCA (Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America) and BMDCNI (Bernese Mountain Dog Club of NE Illinois). I am the BMDCNI health liaison to the BMDCA. I am the secretary and board member of the Berner Garde Foundation. I believe in Berner- Garde which is an open database of bernese mountain dogs world wide. Berner- Garde includes pedigrees, AKC registration numbers and titles, and all of the health testing I have done on my dogs. Please follow this link to view my page in Berner- Garde, push the button people and search for my name.
I am also an Avidog breeder associate,
which means we agree to raise our pups
to be as healthy and stable as possible.
Please click on the logo to learn more about
the Avidog way of raising pups.
JP is responsible for the day-to-day care of our pets and home.
Animal lovers through and through, we share our home with a fleet of four-legged furry friends, and wouldn't have it any other way!
We are the proud parents of six Berners, and four cats. We feed our dogs a variety of foods including My Pet Carnivore Raw, K9 Kravings Raw and Raw Meaty Bones. We believe that feeding raw food is the best choice for our dogs so that they are the healthiest they can be. If you have an interest in raw feeding, please see the links on our website for more information.
We believe in natural breeding and rearing in order to have the healthiest dogs possible. I am a veterinarian and started out doing most things traditionally but wanted a better way, so very soon after getting our first bernese mountain dog, we started raw feeding and have become more and more natural. We use holistic medicine and only use traditional medicine when absolutely necessary. We do not use any chemicals in our home or lawn. Our dogs get one puppy vaccine based on a normograph from their mother's titer and no more for the rest of their life. The main reason we breed and raise naturally is to prevent cancer and increase longevity in our beloved breed that is so plagued with cancer and early death. We are proud to be be breeder members of the Natural Rearing Dog Breeding Association. Please click on their logo to learn more.
Our Philosophy
"We breed Bernese Mountain Dogs for temperament, health, type, and longevity. Our goal is to continue to improve the breed whether we are producing our next show dog or your loving family companion."
We strongly believe in participating in Berner Garde, an open database of Berners worldwide.
History of Our Kennel Name
We were located in the city of Valparaiso when we began our breeding program. Valparaiso is located in Northwest Indiana, right off of Interstate 90 and just a short drive from the beautiful Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The Indiana dunes are known for their singing sand dunes. The "singing" is caused by walking on the sand or wind passing over the dunes. Since certain conditions must be met for sand to sing, this only occurs in about 35 locations around the world. We are so blessed to be so close to such a rare natural phenomenon. Below is a link to hear what singing sand sounds like...
http://m.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/science/video-the-singing-sands-of-liwa
Same Here:)