Our Standards and Guiding Principles

Our dogs are our companions first

Our Doodles live in our home with us, or in the homes of their guardian families, and share our daily lives. We limit our number of dogs so that every dog receives excellent daily care, individual play and activities, and group play and exercise with our other dogs.

Our dogs have choices

Over the course of our lives with dogs, we have embraced emerging science and steadily progressed in our goal toward ever more positive training methods. The current step in that journey is learning and adopting cooperative care and opting out.

Cooperative care is often shown on zoo and wildlife sanctuary websites - elephants who willingly present their feet for care and grooming, tigers who offer to stand and accept routine vaccinations, and so on.

For much of dog/human history, people have demanded instant obedience rather than willing cooperation. By engaging in giving our dogs as many options in their care as we can, we not only make their lives better and less stressful, we also develop a deeper bond with these companions we love so much.

Opting out is something we use for any games or activities we offer to our dogs. If a dog enjoys chasing the ball but not bringing it back, opting out of the second part is just fine with us. If the dog loves backyard agility except the dog walk, there is no problem with them skipping that obstacle.

Sometimes the opting out is a result of anxiety about the activity - we do not pressure the worried dog, but we do present them ongoing chances to participate if they want to. An example is during group play with our dogs, we engage in each activity with those who choose to. Observing their friends enjoy an activity is often an incentive for the worried dog to try it, too.

We are all about healthy canine minds in healthy canine bodies

Our main focus in breeding our companion dogs is excellent companion temperament and lifelong health. We are fortunate that the other physical traits we value (adult weight of 10 to 25 pounds and a low shedding coat) can be found in many dogs of a variety of breeds and mixes who exhibit the temperament and health we are looking for.

No dog is perfect, but by keeping our eye on what is most important to us and not worrying so much about purely cosmetic traits like color, pattern, ear set, and so on, we are able to focus our efforts on the traits much more important to us

• Friendly behavior with people and the other animals they live with
• Neutral or friendly behavior with unknown people and other animals
• Lack of resource guarding (food, toys, etc)
• Lack of reactivity or other fear or aggression toward people, other animals, noises, and challenging situations
• Excellent functional structure so our dogs can engage in all the things dogs should be able to do painlessly and happily - running, playing, digging, freely breathing, tolerating a reasonable range of temperatures and weather
• Excellent lifelong health without significant or life-threatening congenital or hereditary disorders (especially those that present before they are well into their senior years) 

People are our passion project

We breed dogs who will fit into our modern world and provide a human/animal bond. There is nothing like a loving companion animal to bring joy, comfort, and stability to a family or individual.

We respect and value

• our Doodle families
• our fellow breeders
• canine scientists and researchers
• our veterinary team
• our local community including our friends and neighbors; animal shelters and rescues; police, fire, and city workers

Continuing education is vital for any profession, and dog breeding and training are no exceptions.

We regularly participate in online and in person learning opportunities including webinars, seminars, classes, forums, groups, scientific paper review, videos, blogs,  and informal chats with fellow dog professionals.

Some of our coursework and reading includes:

Functional Dog Collaborative

• Podcast
• Functional Breeding Facebook Group

MadCap University

• Puppy Culture 
• From Newborn to New Home
• Puppy Culture Podcast

Fenzi Dog Sports Academy

• Sarah Stremming - Enrichment for Dogs: Ditch the Bowl, Better Their Life!
• Christina Young - Are They Having Fun Yet? Teaching Polite Dog-Dog Play
• Nicole Wiebusch - Calm in the Crate: Skills for Success
• Deb Jones - 101 Things to Do With a Chin Rest

Other Podcasts

• The Future of Dogs
• Cog Dog Radio