What is a Guardian Home?
A guardian home is the opportunity to be apart of our family. We don’t have the ability to keep every breeding dog in our home, so we find amazing families for them to live with. It takes a team to raise healthy, happy pups. We want each puppy in our breeding program to be placed with an amazing family, so that they can live their very best life.
Being a guardian means entering into co-ownership with us for the duration of their breeding life. There are certain requirements that must be followed by a guardian family. Males will be required to be available when needed for stud services. Females will need to be brought to our home mid-heat cycle for 2-6 days and then they will return to you for the remainder of her pregnancy, at which point, she will return to us, 1 week before her due date and stay until her puppies are weaned (usually about 6 weeks).
We do not casually choose guardian homes. Guardian families are held to a higher standard and there will be certain expectations that must be followed.
Must live in Beaumont or Orange, Texas or the surrounding areas. Male guardians must be within 30 miles of Orange, as they may be needed frequently during a females heat cycle. Female guardians may be located at maximum 60 miles from Orange, Texas.
Must be willing to sign and notarize Guardian Program Contract.
Be able to provide a safe, clean, loving forever home.
Fenced in yard is HIGHLY preferred, but not always a requirement.
Previous dog ownership & training is a plus.
Must not own or allow access to any intact dogs of the opposite sex.
Must be able to afford high quality approved dog food (Acana Wholesome Grains Puppy Farm & Sea), regular grooming every 6-8 weeks, regular vet checkups, vaccinations as well as heartworm, flea/tick & parasite control and deworming.
Must enroll the puppy in one of Learn with Me Puppy School’s training courses, at no later than 6 months of age. This is at the guardian families expense BUT at a 50% discount from the regular training prices
Be willing and able to socialize your puppy often. An unsocialized puppy does not do well when it comes time to breed.
Must sign a contract to keep your puppy on a leash during heat cycles (15-21 days approximately every 6 months for females) until breeding contract is over OR be willing to leave her in our care during her entire heat cycle if you cannot keep her leashed and at home.
Must be willing to give up your female dog for each whelping, 1 week before whelping to adapt to our home and their whelping area, and then about 6 weeks after the pups are born. Expect a minimum of 4 litters before we retire your dog.
If you are a Guardian Family of one of our male dogs, we will need you to bring the male dog to our home for brief engagements as needed pending Mother Nature for our female dogs. This can be a daily occurrence for about 5-7 days during the females heat cycle. You are welcome to just your male dog for the 5-7 day duration if that is easier.
Refrain from agility, jumping, excessive use of stairs and long distance running during the puppies first 18 months of life. Over working the hip joints at a young age is known to cause Hip Dysplasia, even if the dog is not genetically vulnerable to develop Hip Dysplasia.
Please DO NOT contact us if you are just interested in getting a "free puppy”. Guardian puppies are not always free, cost is dependent on litter, but they are ALWAYS significantly discounted, if not free.
Guardian families are held to a much higher standard and have many more commitments than the average dog owner.
Walk with Me Doodles retains the right to refuse anyone interested in this program that we do not feel is a good match for a dog or the program.
Contact us today WalkwithMeDoodles@gmail.com or text (907) 252-5097.
Our Experience
As some of you may know, we began this journey as a Guardian Family for a doodle breeder. During that journey, we learned a lot. We learned how to treat our guardian families and how to honor their role in our program. When you join our guardian program, you become our family! We’re here for you, not just when it comes to the dog, but with life events too.
A guardianship is a co-ownership until the dog is spayed or neutered. We want our guardians to be as involved or uninvolved in the process as they would like to be. This means being here for the delivery or helping with the honeymoon, whatever you would like to do with and beside us.
A guardian family has to be okay with sharing decision making with us. Trust me, we want the best for the dog and for you.
We hope that our experience as a past guardian family can help ease your way and decision in joining our team. Please message, text or call to chat more. We have so much to share about being a guardian, but I’d be writing a book if I put it all here.