Raising & Placement of Puppies

As a responsible breeder, all of my breedings are carefully planned, with research into health, temperament, conformation, pedigree, etc. in order to produce only the highest quality Poodle puppies. Any puppies that are of show potential are kept by myself to show, or are placed in known show homes. There are almost always pet puppies in any litter. To the average person, they may look identical to a show puppy, but they may have a subtle difference in eye size, or tail set, or even temperament, which makes them not as desirable to show. These puppies will make wonderful, loving pets, and may go on to do obedience, agility, therapy or other important work.

An intact (not spayed or neutered) dog has the possibility of producing scores of puppies in its lifetime; males can easily produce several hundred puppies. I will not contribute to pet overpopulation. The only way I can control this is to require my puppies to be spayed or neutered. All of my pet puppies are sold on a strict spay/neuter contract and have limited AKC registration. Limited AKC registration means that should this dog produce any puppies, those puppies would not be eligible for AKC registration under any circumstances. My puppies must be spayed or neutered no earlier than 6 months of age and before they are 15 months old. I retain the AKC registration papers until I receive proof of spay/neuter.

I feel very strongly about spaying/neutering and it is not something I am negotiable on. All of my personal non-breeding dogs are spayed or neutered. As a member of the Twin Cities Poodle Club, I am also bound to abide by the ethical guidelines of the Poodle Club of America, which clearly state that:

“Pet Puppies will be sold with Limited registration. Unless the puppy is sold as a show prospect, you will require them (the buyers) to spay or neuter the puppy.”

I would require this even if I wasn’t asked to. The entire code of ethics may be seen here:
https://www.poodleclubofamerica.org/pca-the-club/about-pca/code-of-ethics

I breed my bitches only to tested dogs – my breeding bitches are tested. Every effort is made to ensure healthy puppies that are free from hereditary defects. I guarantee all of my puppies for a period of 2 years from the date of purchase to be free from any inherited disease that impairs long life, good health, and full function as a pet.

All of my puppies are raised in my house, not in a kennel or “puppy room”. Until they are 2-3 weeks old, they are kept in my home office to allow the nursing mother privacy from my other dogs. There is almost always someone in this room at any time during the day or evening. We employ the ” Bio-Sensor/Super Dog” early neurological stimulation program. Additionally, we have direct interaction with each puppy several times a day. They are exposed to normal household sights and sounds as their eyes and ears open.

Once their eyes and ears are open, the puppies are moved into my living room. They are kept in a pen for their safety (there are so many cords that just beg to be chewed on), but they are taken out several times a day to explore and play, or just snuggle on the couch with one of us. We obviously continue to interact with them; they are given a wide variety of toys, and they interact with our other dogs – always well supervised and very controlled. They are given many opportunities for socialization and are exposed to as many new situations/toys/people as safely possible. We start taking them outside to “potty” at 5-6 weeks.

At around 6-7 weeks of age, I start separating the puppies at night. They spend all day together, but they each start to sleep in their own crate at night. This helps with housetraining, and also makes a big difference in dealing with separation issues when they eventually leave to go to their permanent homes.

At this same time, I usually start to introduce the puppies to very basic obedience – sit, drop, stand, come. I use the clicker training method with my baby puppies. If you are not familiar with this training method, it is all positive training, with a conditioned operant – it is the same basic method used to train dolphins. Poodle puppies learn quickly!

As you can see, raising puppies is a lot of work – at least it is at my house.

My puppies are seen by my regular vet at least twice before they leave here – once at 2-3 days and once at 8 weeks. They are also examined by a veterinary ophthalmologist at 8 weeks. The puppies are micro-chipped before they leave my house. They are evaluated for temperament and conformation at 8 weeks. My puppies receive at least one set of shots. I am a big believer in not over-vaccinating my dogs. I recommend Dr. Jean Dodds’ Vaccination Protocol.

After doing my homework on making sure that the puppy will have a safe, healthy, loving home, the most important consideration I have in actually placing a puppy is making sure that I have picked the puppy that will best fit its potential home. Each puppy has its own personality, making it unique, and thus making it a better choice for one particular home and perhaps not the best fit for another home. I believe, and have found to be true, that the right home exists for every puppy, but not every puppy is right for every home. I try to make sure that each puppy is going to the home where it will be best suited. The time and attention that I put into my puppies before they leave my house, and the screening and matching process that I do all help ensure that once a puppy leaves here, it is in its “forever” home.

Breeding dogs is a responsibility that I don’t take lightly. My puppies exist solely because I made a decision to breed my dog; therefore I feel that I am responsible for my puppies forever. Should any unforeseen circumstances arise which should cause a buyer to not be able to keep their puppy, at any point in its life, it is to be returned to me. If the buyer has a friend or family member that they would like to have the puppy, they have to go through the same approval process with me before I okay the change.

There are plenty of purebred Poodles each year that are surrendered to rescue organizations because they “just didn’t work out.” The work I put into placing my puppies helps ensure that they will not become part of that statistic.

So while it may initially appear that I am asking for a lot of information from a prospective buyer, you can see that my first responsibility is to the dogs that I’ve produced and having the proper information helps me achieve my goal of placing them in the good companion homes that they deserve.