What is a Guardian Home?
Here at Live+Love Doodles, our highest priority is that our dogs have a great home and a great life. Sometimes our breeding program requires us to have more dogs than we can keep in our home, as much as we love them! When this is the case, some of our dogs leave our home to become a part of another family’s life and home. They return to us only for breeding, and for our little mamas, when it’s time to give birth to puppies. The mamas then stay at our home with their puppies for about 7-8 weeks, until the puppies have been fully weaned and are ready to go to their forever homes.
The parent dog becomes a part of their guardian home’s family in every way - they grow up and are trained, loved, socialized, and cared for by their family. A Guardian Home Contract allows a family to have an incredible Live+Love Doodles pup at a very low cost in exchange for working with us for a limited number of litters. It truly is a team effort between Live+Love Doodles and our guardian homes! At the end of the contract, the dog belongs 100% to the Guardian family.
A dog that goes to a guardian home is the breeder’s pick of the litter - what we judge to be the absolute best and healthiest pup from any given litter. We will pay for the health testing required for responsible, healthy, and safe breeding and all costs associated with breeding (progesterone testing, artificial insemination, supplements, scans, etc.) while the guardian family is responsible for all other costs associated with owning a dog (vet and groomers bills, training classes if desired, etc.). At the end of the guardianship contract, we will pay for the dog to be spayed or neutered.
Live+Love Doodle mamas return to our home when they are in heat to be bred and returned to their guardian home for the majority of their gestation (dogs’ gestation is 63 days, give or take a few). In order to allow our mamas to settle into their whelping space and into our home, we ask that they return to us about a week before their due date and remain with us until the puppies are completely weaned (when the puppies are about 7 weeks old). During that time, we would love for our guardian families to come visit after the first week or so as often as their (and our) schedule allows.
Our Live+Love Doodle papas have a vastly different commitment when it comes to returning to our home. Males return when a female is in heat that he is needed for and is returned after the heat has concluded. We do progesterone testing on our mamas to be able to narrow the breeding window down so our guardian families aren’t without their buddy for too long!
In order to qualify to be a guardian home, prospective guardian homes must:
Must have previous dog experience
Must be willing to train the dog to at least a basic level of obedience and house training
Must be willing to work with the dog on being handled by veterinarians comfortably
This includes being held on their back for scans/x-rays, examining paws, mouth, belly, etc.
Must ensure that the dog has excellent socialization and that the dog is comfortable with adults, children, other dogs, and other animals (especially cats)
Provide appropriate routine veterinary and emergency care when needed
A copy of all vet documentation/visits must be shared with us
This includes regular and consistent heart worm/flea/tick prevention medication as well as routine vaccines/boosters
Must be willing and able to identify when a female begins her heat cycle and notify us immediately (we will help you learn if needed)
Must ensure that the dog is kept healthy with the appropriate diet, regular exercise, and routine vet care
Must not allow a female in heat to be near intact males or males to breed with unapproved females
Must be opening to visiting our home with the dog so that he/she is comfortable with our family and our dogs (this makes things much easier for everyone come whelping)
Must live within a reasonable driving distance of Woodland Hills, UT
Must keep the dog well-groomed (nails trimmed, brushed regularly, keep hair out of eyes, etc.)
Must not keep the dog outside unsupervised (the dog must not be an ‘outside dog’)
Must have a fenced back yard (no electric fences - a fence is as much to keep the dog in as it is to keep other dogs out)
Must not allow the dog to ride in the back of a pickup truck
Must not roughhouse with a dog who is pregnant
Must be willing to send lots of pictures!