Guardian Program

What is A Guardian Home?
Come join our ShadyGrove family!!

Our Guardian Home Program allows for local families to have a “pick of the litter puppy”, or adolescent/adult breeding dog. We don’t believe that dogs and puppies should live in kennels, these dogs are apart of the family and should be treated as such. The Guardian Home puppy or dog is part of the Guardian Home’s Family forever, while the breeding rights are retained by Shady Grove Doodles for a set amount of time (each situation is slightly different so we prefer to work out specific details with each family on an individual basis.) Once the Guardian Dog has completed his/her breeding career, he/she will be spayed or neutered at our expense, and the dog will remain a forever pet of their Guardian Family!

Our Guardian Home Families are responsible for the general routine veterinary care and wellness of the Guardian puppy/dog placed with them. This means annual vaccines, feeding a high quality dog food, grooming, monthly heartworm prevention, flea/tick prevention, training, regular exercise and socialization, and most importantly all the love and care and attention possible.

Any “breeding related” medical costs for the Guardian Dog such as progesterone testing, health testing and inseminations are the expense of Shady Grove Doodle.

What Are the Benefits of Being a Guardian Home?

A Guardian Family gets the very best that Shady Grove Doodles has to offer in our Doodles! This means that we choose our breeding stock based on the best qualities that are outlined in our breed standard with temperament of course coming first. Another wonderful benefit to our Guardian Families is that their Guardian dog or puppy will be completely health tested by 12 months of age (some tests may be done as early as 16 weeks of age) at the expense of Shady Grove Doodle prior to entering our breeding program at no cost to the Guardian Family. Our Guardian Families get to enjoy the excitement of being a part of our breeding program, and seeing the offspring of their very own Guardian dog be placed with families across the country bringing others the same joy and happiness that they have received from their Guardian Dog! We also offer a certain amount from the litter once all puppies have been placed in their new homes!

What Are The Requirements to Become A Guardian Home?

To be considered as a Guardian Home for one of our breeding dogs, we require that you live within a few hours of our home in Florida and/or willing to do the drive to get the dog to us when needed. It is necessary that you have physical fencing to provide a safe and secure environment for the Guardian dog/puppy, own your own home, and have a schedule that will allow for your dog to not be left alone for extended periods of time. All dogs and pups placed in Guardian Families must be indoor dogs, and never be left outside unattended. Guardian Families must have reliable transportation, and a willingness to bring the Guardian dog/pup to us when needed throughout the year. We also schedule a home visit to see if the setting is a perfect fit for our guardian pets.

So How Does it Work?

If you are applying for a young adult, or mature Guardian dog, she will already come to you completely health tested, and may have just a couple more breedings for us (depending on her age and the number of litters she has had) prior to her being spayed and released solely to you as a forever pet.

Females guardians, it is the guardian family’s responsibility to notify me when the female dog goes into heat. Female dogs in my program are usually absent from the guardian family for 4-5 days for initial breeding, however sometimes returned the same day. Female will remain with guardian family at your home until a week before due date.(Dogs are pregnant for around 2 months). She will then stay with me at Shady Grove Doodles to whelp her puppies and raise them. During this time you are welcome to come visit your dog and once the puppies are weaned she will be returned to you.

For male guardians, once I complete health testing and the male is ready to be used for breeding, I will inform the guardian families when we will need him for breeding giving as much notice as possible. Please know that sometimes this can be short notice as I do have other breeders that inquire about outside stud services. The male may be absent for a few days at a time and stay with me for breeding use. Males could be used 2-3 times a month, however there is likely to be many cases where I will not require his use at all.

If you are applying for a Guardian Home puppy, she will come to you at 8 weeks of age. During the first year, Shady Grove Doodles will have her health testing completed. Once we receive all of the results from her health testing, we are then able to assess whether or not she will enter our breeding program. If for any reason we decide not to breed the Guardian Puppy placed with you (this is a decision solely made by Shady Grove Doodles) we will then pay to spay the Guardian puppy at no cost to you.

If you are receiving a Guardian Home Puppy, we ask for monthly photos and updates during the first year so that we can watch her develop, and update our website. We also will require a visit to our Guardian Family’s home every few months during the first year to assess the Guardian Puppy, as well as build a relationship with her for the future. Occasionally, we will ask our Guardian Families to bring the puppy to us for a visit so that she can get comfortable with our home for when she will be here with us in the future having babies :-). pets.

How Many Litters Will A Guardian Female Produce?

Each dog is individually assessed before determining their required litters. Most of our Guardian dogs will have between 2-4 litters for us (this depends whether you have an adult that has already had litters or a puppy entering our breeding program). Female Guardian Puppies placed in a Guardian home will have up to (and no more than) a total of 4 litters. The health and well being of our breeding dogs is a priority to us, and prior to any breeding, Shady Grove Doodles will receive clearance by both our Reproductive as well as our regular Veterinarian. Occasionally we may decide to have fewer litters if we have accomplished our goals in development of our Guardian dog in a shorter period of time. Again, this is determined by Shady Grove Doodles

  • Live within a 2hr driving distance of Melbourne, FL
  • We give a certain percentage back with every litter you Guardian produces as a huge Thank You
  • Must not have another intact dog in your home
  • Prefer a fenced in yard
  • Dog must be enrolled in obedience classes
  • Make sure you’re socializing the puppy/dog
  • Provide routine vet care
  • Feed a diet recommend by ShadyGrove (several options)
  • Keep up with regular grooming
  • Notify ShadyGrove IMMEDIATELY of any injuries or issues that may cause conflict with the contract
  • Notify ShadyGrove right away when a female begins her heat cycle
  • Have excellent communication skills and willing to work with us on short notices

If you are interested and meet these requirements, please look our Guardian Contract click the drop down tab and complete our Guardian application. We feel this works best for our program and if this interests you feel free to reach out and some of the requirements may even be negotiable. We are very open with working with Families’ and our may goal is to place our dogs with families that wanna share the doodle love as much as us. Look forward to hearing from you!!!

Email Andrea at shadygrovedoodles@gmail.com for more questions