(Livestock rescue and Sanctuary.)

Dogs are like Potato Chips,

you can't have just one!

Happy Valentines Day !

Welcome to DreamCatcher Hill!

 I have raised a small number of purebred puppies for over 40 years, variety has grown as my human family has also grown, between the family (in 3 different homes) we raise: Westies, Frenchies, Pugs, Cavaliers, and some purebred and Designer Crosses with Poodles, or Maltese for hypoallergenic puppies We love the variety as we are all also different!

The farm here in Brighton Illinois is a dream come true.

Dear Potential Customers, 

Despite the Covid health crisis mellowing out and everything being open again, it is not business as usual around here. Dreamcatcher Hill is a family run operation and so the health of everyone living at, working in, and visiting our facilities is a priority to us. We request that if you are feeling ill and have a scheduled appointment with us, please call to reschedule. We are remaining flexible in regard to appointments and pickups in an effort to reduce risk to everyone involved in all of our transactions. We are scheduling appointments further apart to lessen the likely hood that appointments will overlap. We are meeting outdoors only for puppy visiting. We encourage anyone who has any questions to please contact us. My aunt, mom and uncle were born in 1935, 1936, and 1945 respectively. My mom and aunt have not recovered from the scare. We honor their wishes to keep exposure to a bare minimum, even now in 2024. I apologize for not having an open door policy any more!

We are honored that you have chosen to place your trust in us while you are choosing your fur baby.

Regards, 

Laurel Grench

Dreamcatcher Hill

About Us

It really is a labor of love for all the furry and feathered friends we care for. I had been an EMT-P, and an RN before turning my calling into a full time way of life. Many wonderful people have joined me in the dedication of adding joy to others lives as well.  See more about us below.  

Puppies

Click on the Puppies drop down menu above for each page. We currently have Frenchie's, Westies, Pugs, Maltipoo's, and Cavapoo's. Each page shows puppy availability, and mom's who are expecting. We love each one and the variety! 

Rescue

Before we learned we are not licensed to do dog rescue (its ok to rescue if they will be permanant pets, but not to help them find good homes. IL has the worst laws! So we no longer can do rescue. We do sometimes know of dogs needing new homes. In the past we had dogs available on the rescue page, many with such sad past lives. We placed over 200 dos into great homes back then. I still have the page and sometimes post dogs we know needing a home, but we can no longer do actual rescue. 

Please consider a rescued adult dog before getting a puppy! 

Bigger cream male

Puppies!

I love our dogs, rescued critters of many varieties, and country life. I have raised dogs for over 40 years: Westies for almost 30 years. I have 3 grown children, 2 grandsons I am blessed live only a few miles away, and couple years ago added a teen son and preteen daughter to my home.

Over time I have added pages and updated the farm name from Laurel's West Highland White Terriers to DreamCatcher Hill, as our furry family has grown to include our rescued dogs, horses, the adorable loving Cavaliers. Plus soft furry Poodles for designer crosses; Cavapoo and Hypoallergenic puppies, and the ever silly happy Frenchies my daughter, Kim's, favorite.

My Uncle AL who moved here in 2013 added Pugs! I can now understand how people call them the clowns of the dog world! Talk about happy and silly!

Our Services

Dog Sitting (Boarding)

We mostly only dog-sit puppies and dogs who were adopted from us. When we have dog guests they are in the house with us, and walked on a leash when outside. Dogs will usually be crated when we are outside, and at night. If they are very well behaved they have the run of the house 24/7 with our house dogs. 

Please contact us if interested.

dreamcatcherhill@gmail.com

(618) 372-7547

Transport:

PUPPY TRANSPORT BY GROUND

$150-$450.
up to 250 miles
State
Illinois
Missouri
Indiana
Kentucky
Wisconsin
Please Ask

PUPPY OR DOG TRANSPORT BY REPUTABLE GROUND SHIPPER

If you know of a reputable shipper please email me and I will add them to the list.

Please contact me for a potential ground transport, or nanny by air transport.

PUPPY TRANSPORT BY AIR TO AIRPORT NEAR YOU

$385

Shipping by air with a nanny, or ground transport only. Since Covid flights are canceled and delayed more often and we don't feel its safe for a dog or puppy. Kim, my grown daughter, now does nanny service and will fly with your new puppy as carry-on to an airport near you. Cost is usually $1500. She also trains puppies so they receive compassionate attention and excellent care.

LARGE ANIMAL TRANSPORT

Occasional transport available if purchased from us. Contact us for details.

English Bulldog Puppies in Illinois

About Us

The actual 24/7 of farm and critter life is not for anyone but a crazy workaholic! Its not unusual for me to be up every 3 hours around the clock feeding babies of some variety, puppies, but also baby pigs, bunnies, and some other critters that seem to just fall into our lap.

I have had extended family and friends visit, move in and stay a time for a temporary home as they each build their own dream.​ I am blessed to be a part of it all. 

My Uncle AL moved here in 2013.

In 2016 my aging mother and frail aunt also moved here full time. We completed their own little house here on the farm in fall of 2017.

My cousin Brenda lived here for a time. Then Aryne, a young mom with 3 little boys, we met in December 2016 moved in April 2017. She needed a place and we needed help with paperwork and getting the house for my mom and aunt completed. She has her own place now and a few furry friends of her own including a cavalier named Sophie, and her poodle boy Sonny.

My daughter left her corporate job, worked here part-time and is raising their wonderful boys. (My only 2 grandchildren. I am SO fortunate they live close so I am a part of their life!) Nothing like a job that you can show up and go home, whenever it works best for your family. Family is #1!

Libbie worked here awhile, a sister to a friend of ours mid-2018 to spring 2020. She added more help for the puppies and dogs to have socializing. She has had some schooling to be a therapy dog trainer. Plus she's great at paperwork! She is now doing her own thing; original art work! If you would  like a custom puppy, or dog portrait please contact her, she is exceptionally good! She also does art of other animals and people, Seriously talented!

Things evolve. In winter 2019 we hired Brandy, an accountant part time, who was also a full time college student. Her husband, Mike, lucky for us, wasn't very busy so he started working here helping with basic livestock animal chores, some help with the dogs, plus big time farm clean-up and renovation. My son, Keith, and Mike work great together and have steadily organized and repaired the things Art and I couldn't get to with the furry critters taking all our time and attention. Mike and Brandy lived on the farm, for a few years. The farm is really a stepping stone as they of course have their own dreams. With the Covid pandemic it was very fortunate for me to have help who lived here as Kim and Libbie were home on the stay at home order. Kim is also now home schooling the boys. Brandy had family matters and college on-line taking all her time for awhile. Mike was my only help, which he did livestock chores morning and night, keeping up with long term goals of building and repairs with Keith and helped with dogs when I just couldn't keep up from early April to this update, mid-May. Kim would come by and couple hours here and there as she could. I had to set up an auto-reply on email as we were getting thousands of emails, doing all the dog chores. Art had moved out and was gone, and I had no help with the jobs Kim, Libbie and I did for office work. It had been all I could do to try and keep up. The critters come first. They are doing terrific! The Covid hasn't effected them in the least, even if I am ready to drop from exhaustion! When Brandy's semester was over and family matters settled down she helped with the phone. She is doing the accounting farm stuff. Kim worked a bit more to help with registrations and the things Libbie was doing that had piled up when the stay at home order lifted. Ethan started work in May and caught on really fast. He has been terrific with helping with dogs and puppy cleaning. It let me go back to working just the typical 1.5 to 2 people worth of work. 

Its August now 2020. Brandy and Ethan are going back to school, Kim will have her 2 boys being homeschooled. Art had come back, slowly getting his health back, although not able to help with any work. I just heard the first 4 cases of covid are in Bunker Hill, the town closest to us. Prayers everyone reading this and their families and friends are ok! 

I can still look across the fields and trees and feel blessed every day to be so fortunate to have a beautiful space to call home with friends and family all living here, never a dull moment.

Like many, the stress of Covid is always on our mind with so many susceptible people living here, plus friends and family who are all at risk. 

I feel so bad for those many people isolated during this stressful pandemic when accustomed to going out and socializing! Hopefully everyone has windows to be able to notice the shapes in the clouds, dream of new projects, complete some goals, and catch an occasional rainbow! Hang in there! Having issues coping, look up many articles on ambiguous loss to understand the immense invisible stress, and please call; hotlines, friends, or family and get help! 

There is beauty all around us, and in us, despite our emotional brain blocking what our senses can pick up in the here and now!

Recommendations

Food:

Please remember no food is perfect,  adding "toppers" to dogs food for variety and interest. (Real people food with no additives, like cooked chicken, beef, green beans, carrots, ect...)

We fed Fromm purchased from Four Muddy Paws, in Edwardsville IL. Its a great little pet shop that offers dog washing, training and  list of services and products. Fromm in your area can be found by going to their official website: https://frommfamily.com

We fed Fromm Lamb and Lentil to our pregnant moms in the last 1 to 2 weeks of pregnancy, and moms with puppies for several years. We usually feed Fromm Surf and Turf to the puppies who we have retained, to any of our potential moms, or bred moms and stud dogs. 

Currently we are feeding Nutrisource small and medium breed puppy to the puppies and pregnant moms if they like it. Nurtisource lamb and rice is our base kibble for the adults. 

Some of the stud dogs, rescued dogs, and anyone who is on just maintenance, or spayed/neutered we feed Nutrisource, Fromm Classic, Fromm Heartland Gold Adult or Proplan sensitive Salmon. We often add some of the other kibble to their food for variety.

We have tried many, many dry foods over the years. Many are great for a few months or a couple years, and then we see strange things happening in the dogs. Eventually it dawned on me that any food can not be perfect, advertised as: "for the life of your dog" really is not a good idea unless you add variety with scraps, or toppers. 

Seriously, how can any man made food be perfect? People don't know everything, new nutrients and needs for those nutrients are discovered all the time.

The healthiest dogs are those who get lots of exercise, and a variety of real foods. Look at the label of what you eat, and what is in most dog foods. Both can be scary. 

Wetting any dry dog food and letting it absorb the water, before giving it to them is said to help the dogs digest any dry kibble better. We would have hard time doing that as we like to full feed our dogs and puppies. We do wet puppies foods when they are very young. 

Since any dog can eat a different amount on any given day we rarely measure their food making them eat one amount each day. Even when we had English bulldogs we purchased as adults only one is on measured feed. More exercise is working for every other dog, despite the fact they are said to "require" food limitations for weight control. We like to keep dry kibble available at all time to any dog.

It is imperative to keep kibble available for puppies at all times 24/7, or at least 7am to 7pm to prevent a mental idea they develop which causes them to eat everything in sight and have no food eating limits. They will eat until they vomit when given as much as they want. I imagine any dog you know who is a food hog was fed measured food at specific times as a growing puppy. It just does not give them what they need on the days they need 3 times the normal amount, they feel hungry, the learn to gobble and eat everything to prevent that extra hungry feeling. 

Trainers:

Kim, my daughter has gone from a high end coorpertate world for 18 years, where she was the only female and also the youngest ever to be promoted to the position she held until being a stay at home mom summer 2017. I could not be more proud of my grown kids for being honest, kind, harding working members of society. 🙂

Since she was a child she trained our dogs, and the crazy horses we would bring home. She has more patience and more persistence then any person I have ever met. Absolutely perfect for training! Plus she loves animals and its all done with love and their best interest at heart.

Now that she has time she is going to train a limited number of horses in the basics of eventing for her instructor who has retired race horses. The horses can be hot headed, and are always a very sensitive lot. The horses just bloom under her riding!

We have had families getting our puppies ask if we can start housebreaking for them, or trained puppies. We just did not have the time to offer that service.

Kim has agreed to board and train any puppies/dogs from our kennel for clients who would like that service.

Puppies will be well socialized with children, other dogs, and cats. In addition they will be housebroken (or well started depending on age and how long the puppy is in training) taught to walk on a leash, crate trained, and learn "sit." $150, first week and $125. for each additional week, a fraction of what trainers, or boarding usually is.

She may be willing to board and train other puppies, but will have some age, and vaccinations requirements. Price may also be different. Older puppies and dogs are much harder to re-train then puppies are to start correctly. Plus since she has children, dogs, and cats she will not put any of them at risk if an older puppy, or dog is having aggression issues. ALL aggression issues are a direct result of a puppy, or dog not having the right guidance. Personalities are different, but respect for people is training.

I have heard great things about Kennelwood Villiage in St. Louis. Mo

​In Pasadena CA a client with one of our puppies has recommended and certified trainer who has a lot of experience and has done wonders with their Westie:
www.treat2train.com
Szashe Rowland

Please feel free to email me any trainers who you have used and have done a great job. 

Canine Massage Therapist:

Ashley Edwards is a certified Canine and Equine massage therapist. It is wonderful for dogs in sports, and dogs recovering from injuries, or older dogs who are just stiff a sore. You should see them melt under her hands! 

​You can contact her directly at (217) 320-8971, 

or her Facebook page: Hands Of Love Equine & Cainine Massage Therapy

Custom Art Work:

Libbie Wright is an incredible "starving artist", not really starving. Her work is top notch. She can do whimsical and also  very detailed realistic work. She will do custom portraits of your new puppy or dog, besides has art in several mediums, and jewelry for sale. Please email:

elisheva.lib97@gmail.com