Our family lives in a modest home filled with kids, joy and love(also yelling, hair pulling and overall chaos).  I have long loved the Golden retriever, they seemed such the perfect family dog, enjoying both the indoors and outdoors, large enough to be protective yet gentle enough for small children. Over the years we noticed a few failings with our beloved Golden Retriever. Aside from the total abuse to my vacuum cleaner(my hubby says they only shed twice a year. First for six months and then again for six months!)I found her to be a little less gregarious and not quite as concerned with loyalty as we anticipated. Quiet, sweet and gentle natured I wished she shed less and had just a little more of that bond we all cherish.

Here was an animal who was absolutely beautiful, just the size and color I loved, with exactly the personality I had hoped for. Full  of adoration for his owner, quite frankly the happiest dog I had ever met and smart as a whip.  The trainability and glamour were just the beginning of my newfound love for the Goldendoodle. I learned that poodles are as the retriever in history, bred for water and fetching. Who would have ever guessed that a Poodle was a sporting dog!!  This made the cross more respectable to me.

I learned exactly what I wanted in my own Goldendoodle and how to get it.  I am a lover of the wavy coat, I really think the Poodle curls are quite nice on a poodle but for me the maintenance is overwhelming. I wanted a light to medium champagne coat that shimmers.   I have two male children who like to play hard so I wanted a hardy pup who would play too.  I keep my pets in my home, so I need a non destructive, trainable family friend.

Welcome to our site, we hope you enjoy yourself while visiting! If you have any questions feel free to e-mail us. 

We are located in Texas, close to Greenville

We have 20 beautiful acres, a roping arena, three pastures and pipe and panel fence so no one can get to the road. When we bought our home, schools and privacy were of huge concern so our dogs and horses were not at any risk.

Therapy dog

From Wikipedia, Golden Retrievers are often used as therapy dogs due to their calm demeanor, gentle disposition, and friendliness to strangers. A therapy dog is a dog trained to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, people with learning difficulties, and stressful situations, such as disaster areas.

Therapy dogs come in all sizes and breeds. The most important characteristic of a therapy dog is its temperament. A good therapy dog must be friendly, patient, confident, gentle, and at ease in all situations. Therapy dogs must enjoy human contact and be content to be petted and handled, sometimes clumsily.

A therapy dog's primary job is to allow unfamiliar people to make physical contact with it and to enjoy that contact. Children in particular enjoy hugging animals; adults usually enjoy simply petting the dog. The dog might need to be lifted onto, or climb onto, an individual's lap or bed and sit or lie comfortably there. Many dogs contribute to the visiting experience by performing small tricks for their audience or by playing carefully structured games.

In my personal opinion a Goldendoodle with the correct training and handling may be the ultimate therapy dog. Please see guidelines and tips for this calling, sent to me by Matt, one of my favorite owners.  He is Daddy to Denver and Echo.

Starting your pup in Therapy work

A note about my breeding program.

It is confusing for the new Goldendoodle owner when they read F1 and F2, then they see many different looking doo's on various sites, size, colors, and coats. I can't tell you why other breeders do what they do, but I can tell you why I don't.

I breed F1 Standards. This means Golden to Poodle, a first generation cross. They are perfect, great coats, great minds, and hopefully all the health benefits that come along with a F1.   I breed the Golden as the Dam, I do not enjoy the maintenance of curls, I breed for waves.  The ones you see that are so different and still called F1's are usually a cross with the Poodle as the Mom, she contributes about 15% more to the pup, depending on many variables, this is a generalization.

Speaking of generalizations, I want to talk about Poodles. 

Yes, the temptation of getting a Miniature Poodle and trying a cross for a smaller dog is there.  Everyone should own a Doo, some people just have to have a small dog, why not cross a Mini Poodle to a Golden and have a cute little Doo? It seems reasonable, but for me it is not. You can find a Moyen or Klein poodle(a Cross between a standard and a Mini Poodle)and not have as dramatic a size difference in Mom and Dad, but here is why I do not, and remember, these are generalizations and may be uncomfortable for some people to read.

Standard Poodles are gentle, soft and kind. I am sure there are some out there who are wild and even a grumpy one or two, but generally they are careful, and wonderful, almost like a Golden.  When they downsized there had to be a mix in there, either different blood or just inbreeding for size control. I am sure there are millions of wonderful Toy and Mini Poodles, but so many of the ones I meet are quivering, nervous, or overactive. Forgive me, I know they are wonderful, all dogs are wonderful, but I am breeding for a very specific mind and attitude.  The dog I want is calm, loving and safe.  I think the F1 standard cross with Golden as Mom is unbeatable.  We need to breed "Like To Like" in order to preserve our health benefits.

My last comments will be about the Goldendoodle to Goldendoodle. What the heck are people thinking? I assume people just do not want to purchase new breeding stock.  Finding great Golden's is tough stuff and it would be easier to just keep a pup here and there to breed back. They are not registered, so you could line breed(inbreed)as you pleased and no one would know. Not saying this does not produce excellent pups, but the health benefits that are so important can be lost, and why is it human nature to take perfection and push it until it is in ruins.

I am a very small breeder, I have very few litters per year and do not depend on the babies for my income, I think in a more competitive breeding atmosphere, you probably have to make some concessions, please find a breeder who can explain why they do what they do, other than financial reasons.

Almost Lastly

There are sites on the net that will find you a pup in your area and have it shipped to you pretty much instantly.  Most people who get the puppy bug have a hard time waiting for months to get their new baby, but I ask you to please educate yourself about these services. They do not allow you to talk to the breeder, I do not want to make unfounded accusations, but although they guarantee no puppy mills, I have my own fears and doubts. You would probably still get a wonderful pup, but you need to know the Moms are loved and cared for properly.

Lastly

I get this e-mail or one like it at least twice a month,

Hello. Our names are ----- and we are interested in purchasing a goldendoodle for our family. We unfortunately purchased a pup earlier this month as a Christmas present for our boys. We named him Irish, born Oct 6 and brought to our home Dec 18th. After being in our home 2 days, he developed vomiting and diarrhea. The culprit: Parvo. We informed the breeder and he tested the remaining litter only to find that they had all been contaminated. Our pup died Saturday morning, 12/24/2011, despite great Vet care. My husband found your site and with our recent devastation, respect the fact that you go to great lengths to protect your pups. Would you please send us more information on the pups available We would like to try again as we were not able to give our boys the gift they most wanted: A puppy for Christmas.

Please ready my puppy page to understand how I try to be careful.