What is a Guardian Home?
Picture Perfect Doodles is a small home breeder, because of that we can not house all of our moms in our home. This is where local families come into play. When we have a puppy that we feel would make a great mom, 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 we have finished health testing, she will be bred to have a few of litters of goldendoodles, poodles, or cavapoos.
How does a Guardian Home work?
We want to make sure all of our future moms have a loving, caring home. When we are looking to place a potential future mom 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 and about 18 months old, we do all the recommended testing to see if the prospective mom is a good fit to carry a litter of puppies. If she is healthy, passed all her testing, and has a fitting temperament, we will breed her on her next heat cycle. When she is close to her due date, we bring her to our home and help her deliver and take care of her puppies for the next 6-8 weeks. When the puppies are weaned, she then heads back home. After she has about three or four litters, we have her spayed, at our expense, and she will live her life with your family.
Why would I want to be 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 chose 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" with every puppy sold from their mom.
How long does a pregnancy last and how long will she stay at your home?
Once our future mom is old enough and has finished health testing, she will be bred with a stud of our choosing. We will take her for a few hours, three days of her heat, to have a "playdate" with our stud and then she is brought back home. Female dogs are pregnant for 63 days. During her pregnancy she will continue to live with her family til a few days before she is due. 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 them 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 are some things that I need to know before being a Guardian Home?
Guardian homes are a great option for many families, but there are some draw backs. One of the draw backs of a guardian home is having a female in heat. Female dogs go into heat every six months. During their heat they can bleed to 2.5 to 3 weeks (their fertile period being 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 draw back is that most boarding facilities do not allow unspayed females 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 male at their home as a precaution to not having an unwanted litter. Other then those three items, a guardian is just like any other family pet!
If you are interested in becoming a Guardian Home to one of our future moms, you live in St. George or Salt Lake City areas, have a fenced yard, and plan to live in the area for the next few years, we would love for you fill out our Online Application and indicate that you would like to learn more!