My breeding philosophy
I am a small scale hobby level breeder, not a kennel nor do I deal with brokers. My pups are all born indoors and all of my dogs are part of my family. I usually just have one or two litters a year. Think of the difference between a factory produced item and a handcrafted item. The factory works to produce low cost items and still make money at it and has to cut quality to do so. The craftsman loves his product and everything he turns out is a work of art and therefore worth more, not just because no corners were cut, but because of the time and all the extras put into the work of art. Which one will be thrown into the recycle bin and which one will be cherished?
Now think of dog kennel production or puppy mills or backyard breeders, where the goal is not to create the best dog possible, but to be able to sell at a lower price and still make a profit. Corners are cut. Quality is lowered. If you ever browse through the puppy pictures, look closely at the eyes of the pups. So many look terrified and many have milky colored eyes (parasites, poor nutrition) rather than bright shiny eyes. Look closer and you will see that many were not even bathed for their pictures because the breeder is mass producing puppies and has no time to give to the individual pups.
I like to think of myself as an artisan, producing doodles who are each a work of art, special, to be cherished for their entire lives.
My Story
in 2004 my husband was diagnosed with leukemia. By 2007 I had to quit my job to take care of him when he needed round the clock care. I got my first breeding dogs then and started Doodledawgs. I put a puppy pen on the patio right outside the window where Curtis sat in the daytime. The puppies brought him so much joy that final year and took the financial pinch off our lives. In November of 2008 Curtis went into hospice care and died on Thanksgiving day.
In the years that followed, the dogs gave me comfort, purpose and joy and I continued breeding them until I had some health problems in 2016. I retired from breeding for two years, but my home and my heart felt empty without puppies. I had a minor stroke in 2017 and my daughter took care of me while I recovered. I sold my farm and bought an older home in town. I put up fencing, added a dog door, made a new puppy playground and bought new stock from the same breeder I had bought my best poodles from. I still had access to Duffy because I had given him to a close friend who promised not to neuter him. In 2018 I had my first litter since coming out of retirement.
I am only able to breed one litter a year or two if there is a small litter or if I am taking my vitamins and getting my exercise. I turn 73bthis year and am able to manage on a smaller scale, but not two litters at once. My training program is also limited now to no more than two training contracts for each litter so that I can continue producing the best puppies available because my goals are still the same as they have always been, just on a smaller scale.
I have had genetic testing done and the parent dogs are clear. My dogs are from show stock, with beautiful conformation even when clipped short. I also select for temperament and have produced many awesome doodledawgs.
I currently have just three dogs. Nacho is thirteen and is a neutered Schnauzer-Yorkie mix. Samson is my AKC registered Golden Retriever future stud and Jada is my AKC registered Standard Poodle female. While Samson is growing up, I am mating Jada with Dogwood Farms Golden Retrievers Mojo or Liam, both health tested red AKC Golden Retrievers.
My home and my heart are full again!