We take applications from potential guardian homes that would like to host a Windsor Doodle breeding dog in their family. These homes must be within Windsor-Essex county and the family must meet the requirements set forth by Windsor Doodle to be a Guardian Home as well as agree to the expectations and guidelines set forth in the Windsor Doodle Guardian Home Program Agreement.
The family that provides a Guardian Home for a Windsor Doodle breeding dog has to be one of a special character. Not only would this family be required to have a fenced in yard and care for all the health costs they would if it were a spayed/neutered puppy, but they would also be responsible for bringing the dog to and from Windsor Doodle for health testing, mating, whelping, photo shoots, etc. This family would have to be willing to be without their family member for a 5-8 week time frame (with regular visits of course) while their female gave birth, whelped and weaned her puppies. It's a special family indeed who can handle this type of agreement.
Health Benefits: If assessed for addition to our breeding program, your puppy will be completely heath tested, without having to pay for any of the testing yourself. We assess puppies around 12 months of age for quality based on our high breeding standards, and then we will pay to completely health test this puppy for things like hips, elbows, eyes, prcdPRA, vWD, DNA profiling, etc. Based on those results, we then decide if we will breed this puppy or pay to spay/neuter them for you. If we breed them, they will continue to live with you as your beloved pet while not here having/making babies. If we spay/neuter them, you have a beautiful puppy for less than ½ of what you would normally pay for a pet.
Cost Savings: You can get a top quality Australian Labradoodle puppy for a fraction of the going pet price, or even at a refund of a portion of your security deposit by gaining obedience/agility titles or service/therapy dog certifications. Windsor Doodle selects and places our “pick of the litter” puppies in our Guardian Home Program and this allows our families an opportunity to have some of the best Australian Labradoodles in the world as their family pet.
A Part of Something Bigger: You become part of the Windsor Doodle Family, and contribute to the future development of the breed worldwide, where the Australian Labradoodle is ensured for generations to enjoy. You get to enjoy being a part of our breeding program and take part in your dog’s puppies going to families or other breeders across this country or even around the World.
The program is only available to families and individuals who live within Windsor-Essex County. We ask that you assess your lifestyle, reliable transportation and permanency in the area to ensure that you are able to meet the requirements of caring for a pet, but also meeting the requirements of the Guardian Home Program agreement. We do require the dogs to come back to us for short visits so they can participate in the assessment and testing process, and eventually the breeding program, but always the Guardian Home dogs return to their family after these short breaks. After your dog has fulfilled the requirements under the Guardian Home Program, we then pay to spay/neuter them for you, and they continue to live with your family in their forever home.
You must have a safe and secure environment for a Guardian Home dog to ensure their safety and health. While we prefer families with previous dog ownership experience, we are happy to work closely with families and individuals who are new to dog ownership. A fenced yard will be required, so your Guardian Home dog can remain secure, but also to keep strange dogs out of your yard. Also, if another dog is a member of your household, it needs to be spayed/neutered.
A security deposit of $1000 would be required. Rather than paying full price for a pet puppy, you will receive a “pick of the litter puppy” for a $1000 security deposit which is less than half of our normal pet price. You are getting the best that Windsor Doodle has to offer in an Australian Labradoodle puppy. This means that, in the litter, this puppy possesses the best qualities as outlined in our breed standard, not only for type, conformation, color and movement, but also for temperment, soundness and coat quality.
50% of your security deposit is set aside for any Guardian Home who, while the dog is in the breeding program, obtains an Obedience or Agility Competition Title, or completes and gains a Therapy Dog Certification. We recognize the time and work our families invest to gain any of these titles or certifications, and therefore we would like to recognize their accomplishment with the return of 50% of their security deposit.
Our Guardian Home Program dogs are to be kept as house pets and family members. Even though you are only paying less than 50% of the normal pet price, we require that you take top notch care of them. This means, but is not limited to, a high quality diet, routine veterinary care, puppy and obedience training, love, exercise, and attention. These are our babies that we place with you, and we want to be assured that they will become your cherished family member.
Any medical costs related to the breeding, and any stud fee costs required to produce the litter, are the sole responsibility of Windsor Doodle. Our Guardian Program families are only responsible for routine maintenance and medical care, such as, but not limited to, feeding, vaccinations, flea, tick and heartworm preventative, grooming, just as they would if they had a spayed/neutered family pet.
For the purposes of the Guardian Program, you will be required to use the same vet as Windsor Doodle (Town and Country Animal Clinic in Lasalle, Ontario - behind the Windsor Crossing Mall). This is to ensure that we have access to all the dog's health and medical records whenever needed. The resident veterinarian, Dr Fetherston, understands the situation and knows that Windsor Doodle is the owner of the dog until such time as the agreement between Windsor Doodle and the Guardian Home is complete and ownership is transferred to the Guardian Home.
In adopting a puppy or young adolescent from the Guardian Home Program, the first months are fairly basic. You will pick your puppy up from us and the puppy will live with you as your family pet. Love, training and socialization are the most important things you can do for your puppy at this stage.
We expect the girls to have their first season/heat cycle between 9-14 months of age. Upon the start of their season, you need to contact us immediately. If you do not have a safe, protected place to keep them, or do not want to go through this cycle with them, you can bring them to us, and we will take care of them during this cycle to ensure they are not accidentally bred. A season will typically last about 3 weeks. We do not breed our girls under the age of 12 months, or before health testing has been completed. You can expect their next season in 4-8 months.
Sometime between 10-14 months of age, we will request that this dog come and have a photo session with us. We try to coincide this photo session around an already planned visit, either for grooming or a health testing visit.
By 14 months of age, we will have a breeding program assessment and health testing visit scheduled. Once we receive the results from the health testing, we will make a final assessment of adding this dog to our breeding program. This is our way of being able to keep the best males and females from each litter, and then to have the ability and availability to select the best candidates to continue with the breed’s development. If we decide not to breed this dog, we will then have them spayed/neutered for you, at our expense, and the contract is complete.
If we add this dog to our breeding program, we will require you to bring this dog to us at the start of each season that we plan to breed. With our girls, during the off seasons (if we decide not to breed during a season/heat) you may keep and house her with you if you have a safe area to keep her protected, or you may bring her to us to ensure an unwanted breeding does not take place. We do not necessarily breed our dogs on every season, and each dog will be evaluated on a case by case basis. After each season they spend with us, the dog will return to you. If we have mated them while here, they will go back home with you during their gestation, and we will give you details as to their care, and when they need to return to us to have their litter.
We require that all pregnant Guardian Home dogs return to us one week prior to their due date. This ensures them time to settle in and start nesting in preparation for the birth of their puppies. Once the puppies are born and Mom is settled in, her Guardian family is welcome to schedule visits with her and the new babies as often as they wish while she is with us. Once the puppies are weaned, sometime between 4-7 weeks of age, the Guardian Program dog is then ready to go back home with her family. By this time, Mom is usually more than ready to have puppies with their sharp little teeth weaned, and to go back home to her family.
We require between 2-5 litters from our Guardian Home Program dogs once they are in our breeding program. Each dog will be individually assessed with each breeding and litter produced. Windsor Doodle takes the health and well-being of each and every one of our breeding dogs very seriously. It is our top priority to ensure they are in optimum condition for each litter they produce. If we have accomplished our goals in breed development, we may select to early retire them, or we may select to breed them out to the full five litters. It will be solely the decision of Windsor Doodle, and it is our right exclusively to make that decision. Upon retirement, we will spay/neuter them and transfer ownership to their Guardian family where they can be your pet with no further requirements, as well, we will return your $1000 security deposit or $500 if you had chosen to have them certified as a service/therapy dog or obtained an obedience/agility competition title, in which case you would have already received a $500 return on your deposit.
If you have self-assessed and believe you and your family would make a good Guardian Home for a Windsor Doodle breeder dog, we would love to receive your application today.
