Have you been wondering what it means to be part of our Point Breeze Doodles Guardian program? We’d love to tell you all about it!
We place puppies we’ve decided to keep for our breeding program with loving families. You must live within 45 minutes of our place just outside of Rochester, NY for boys, and within 2 hours for girls. The puppy is part of your family, just like any other dog. You provide all the typical things – food, vet checks, regular grooming, etc. But you don’t get them spayed or neutered.
When they’re around 18 – 24 months, they come to us for a few days for their health testing. Our health testing includes OFA certifications for hips, patellas, elbows, heart, and Penn-hip, plus genetic testing through Embark. We also have an eye CERF once a year to check the health of their eyes. If the testing all comes back clear, we then move forward with discussing a breeding schedule with you. Our contracts for girls are for 4 litters, and a litter consists of 3 or more. For boys, they are bred until they are 7 years of age. All medical expenses related to breeding, like their health testing, progesterone testing, ultrasounds, and spaying or neutering are paid for by us.
For the girls, when they are ready to be bred, she would come to our house approximately 6-7 days after her heat starts. Once with us, we have her progesterone testing done and breed her. This typically takes around a week, depending on the progesterone results. Once bred, she goes home to you for the duration of her pregnancy, which is 9 weeks, until one week before her due date. She then stays with us until the puppies are fully weaned, around 6-7 weeks old. After that, she would go back home to you!
When she’s in heat, she must be supervised and kept from unneutered male dogs for one month after she stops actively bleeding. This is when they are actually fertile.
The process for boys is a little different, with shorter but potentially more frequent trips to us.
If you’re interested in joining our guardian program, please fill out an application here and mark that you are interested in being a guardian.