What is a Guardian Home?
Picture Perfect Doodles is a small home breeder: because of that we cannot house all of our moms in our home. This is where local families come into play. When we have a puppy that would make a great mom or dad, we often use guardian homes to grow our program. The families receive a puppy from us-free of charge-with the plan that when the puppy has matured and finished health testing, he or she will be bred to have litters of goldendoodles, poodles, or cavapoos.
How does a Guardian Home work?
We want to make sure all of our future moms and dads have a loving, caring home. When we are looking to place a potential future parent, and have found the perfect family, we provide the puppy to the guardian family at no cost. The family takes their new addition home just like any new puppy owner. They work on potty training, basic training, and provide food, vet care, and grooming for their new family member. When the puppy has grown, we do all the recommended testing to see if the prospective mom or dad is a good fit to produce puppies. If they are healthy, passed all testing, and have a fitting temperament, we add them to our breeding program.
What do I need to know about
having a female as a Guardian Home?
Once the future mom is old enough and has finished health testing, typically around 2 years, she will be bred with a stud of our choosing. When she is in heat at her peak ovulation time, we will take her for a few hours up to a few days to have a "playdate" with our stud and then brought back home. Female dogs are pregnant for 63 days. During her pregnancy she will continue to live with her family as her belly grows. When it is a few days before her due date, we bring her to our home to get ready for delivery. We help deliver, care for her and her puppies, provide all the necessities, and provide veterinarian care for her and the puppies while she is at our home. We love our guardian home pups, so while she is away from her family we do our best to shower her with love and affection. Our guardian dogs do great while they are away from their family and love the special treatment they receive from my husband and I and our five children! After our moms have finished nursing and training their pups, they head back to their families. They are typically at our home from 6-8 weeks. Families are always welcome to come visit and see the pups, often families enjoy being there for delivery!
What do I need to know about having
a stud as a Guardian Home?
Our studs are such a highlight to our breeding program, along with other breeders in the area. We do our best to find the sweetest and calmest personalities for our studs. They go through extensive health testing to ensure the healthiest puppies. Having a future stud is a little different than bringing home one of the cute females. Males don't go through heat cycles like females, which is a perk for many families, but can sometimes struggle with marking if not trained properly. Once the males begin stud services (around a year old), they typically breed two to three times with the female in heat-often with a day in between-to maximize the females peak ovulation. That means they can be gone for a few hours or up to three days depending on the location. Typically the stud is scheduled out a week in advance but often can be reserved with limited notice. We come pick him up then bring him back once he has had a "playdate" with the female. Families are compensated a "puppy bonus" for each female the stud engages with: which is a benefit to the guardian families. Studs can breed until about the age of 5 or 6 years old, at which point they would be neutered and live their best life with their families.
What are the benefits of being a Guardian Parent?
There are many reasons you might want to be a guardian parent. A perk of our guardian home program is the puppy's new family is able to receive a high quality, genetically healthy, well trained, adorably cute puppy free of charge. We choose the best puppies to move on in our program-with the best personalities-so you get that benefit. We also cover the cost of all breeding expenses, along with extensive health testing, which gives families peace of mind knowing their puppy will live a happy, healthy life. Another perk is that families receive a financial "puppy bonus" to thank them for all they do to care for our moms and dads.
What are some drawbacks of being a Guardian Home?
Guardian homes are a great option for many families, but there are some drawbacks. One of these drawbacks is having a female in heat. Female dogs go into heat every six months: starting at six months of age. During their heat they can bleed for 2.5 to 3 weeks (their fertile period beings around days 10-15). Some females bleed a lot, while others you hardly notice. We provide doggie diapers for our moms to help with this. Another drawback is that most boarding facilities do not allow un-spayed females or intact males to be boarded. This would mean guardian families would need friends or families to help watch the puppy when they are out of town. The last one is families are not able to have an intact dog of the opposite gender at their home as a precaution to not having an unwanted litter. There maybe a few drawbacks-but a guardian dog is just like any other family pet!
If you are interested in becoming a Guardian Home to one of our future parents, you live in St. George, Hurricane, or Cedar City areas, have a fenced yard, and plan to live in the area for the next few years, we would love for you to read through our Female Guardian Home Contract or Male Guardian Home Contract and fill out our Online Application and indicate that you would like to learn more!