Guardianship...The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly?

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

I have been keeping in contact with a breeder for a year now.  I almost my doodle from her, but the timing wasn't right.  I'm a teacher & wanted to get a pup at the beginning of the summer to bond & train.  So I went with another breeder to get Bexter.  Anyway, I love Bexter sooo much I want another doodle.  I am considering staying with Bexter's breeder & getting one of his siblings in about a year from now. 

 However, this other breeder that I've been in contact with who I respect a lot has a guardian program.  Basically, we would get the "pick of the litter" girl puppy at 8 weeks (at NO cost), raise her like our own.  When she is old enough to be health tested & assuming she passes, she would be bred up to 4 times, and then breeder would pay to spay her & ownership transferred to us. 

Sounds like a great deal & very interesting.  However...I have questions for anyone who is knowledgable about this.  I will be discussing these concerns/questions with the breeder also, but would love your input.  I will be thinking about this for SEVERAL MONTHS before committing.  I want it to be the right decision for everyone involved.

1.  How do you know when the dog is in heat?  What precautions do you take?  I have a boy dog now, and he of course will be neutered, but is there a concern?  Will he hump her?  Will his behavior change when she is in heat?

2.  We want our dogs to travel with us whenever we go on vacations.  Will that even be possible with a guardian dog?  Or would we be able to assuming we timed it right according to her cycle?

3.    When the dog is pregnant, aren't you totally paranoid if your kids (or other dogs) play too rough with her?  I am afraid I'd be a nervous wreck.  My boys are gentle for boys.  They are 11 & 6.

4.    I am also concerned about her going into labor while I am at school working.  Has that happened to any of you, or does the dog go back to the breeder a little early before the due date?

5.  How do you stand being separated from your dog for the whelping process?  I am not sure if I could stand that.  This breeder lives about 1 hour from me.

6.  I do have a fenced in yard, but I probably will be a nervous wreck until she is really mine legally.  I'd be so worried about her getting loose, etc.  (Of course I worry even when the dog IS mine legally, but you know what I mean...)  Thanks for any input!  I want to make an informed decision!

[Nancy - Opal, Meadow & Tariki]

Hi Traci,

 

My Opal has just had her lats litter in a guardian program and it has been a really great experience.  In answer to yoru questions...

1) They keep a pretty steady cycle my girl was 7 1/2 months like clock work and trust me you know.  But you need to be ever watchful as you need to know the start day.  I have 2 female dogs so only precaution I took was to keep her home.  Our dog run is 6' high OR I kept her crated in the house when we were out.  I have no idea your boy dogs reaction, if it wasn't perfect timing my girl would give any boy major crap for even lookling at her.  I suspect he will follow her 'like a dog in heat'.  My Opal had her pups May 6th and we were out walking with 8 dogs today and one boy thought she still smelled lovely and was licking her ears.

2) Our girls RV with us, and so I had to be conscientious of her cycle.  I never travelled with her from heat to pregnancy if she was going to bred.  If it was a heat that was being skipped... then I did not worry about it.  But it can be a bit messy... although that was never a problem for us.  The breeder will have somethign to say about that I suspect.

3) The first pregnancy I was paranoid but kept her doing her regular things.  We hiked and she chose what she could handle as far as playing with her sister.

4) Breeding is a pretty good science in my opinion.  They are only pregnant for 63 days... and typically you dont know for sure until around day 30.... although mine always got morning sickness around week 3.  I live 15 minutes from the breeder and typically had them to her within an hour of whelping and this last litter I had her there 3 days early.  If you count things off you will eb pretty close to knowing when to watch closer and also take temperature etc.  I`m sure the breeder will take that into consideration and maybe even ask to have the dog a week early..

5) As I was basically delivering a dog in satge 2 or 3 of labour to the breeder I stayed with the dog so she wasn`t distressed.  I think if the dog is dropped earlier then she has time to adjust... regular visits to the breeder will help her with the transition too.  Has the breeder given any guidelines around these questions?  I visited my girls not at all the first week (they are very busy) and then on average every other day there out.  I actually like the chance to give the other dog some good one on one time.  You remind me of me... I am into mitigation (I don't call it worrying).

6) I understand your statement... generally you worry about somthing that is not yours that is in your care a buit more... but not love it any more.  I really never felt like Opal was not mine and I suppose if things were iffy she got leashed first.  I think the relationship with the breeder is the important part... you have to work together and be on the same page.  Does your breeder have any other guardian homes? 

 

So, sorry so long winded... feel free to message me.  I've had a super experience.  I think my breeder really raises fantastic dogs, and I was more than happy not only to own 2 but to vicariously be a part of the breeding process.

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

Nancy,

Your response was awesome!  It does make me feel somewhat better, althoughI won't be making a decision for a while one way or the other.  If you were there for the labor (which I actually hadn't even thought about) that would be so neat!  What an honor!

[Nancy - Opal, Meadow & Tariki]

The breeder actually even let me name a few dogs.  It was freakty at first... I don't do well with gushy stuff... but by the 3rd litter we were actually eating pizza in between puppies.

 

Glad to be of some help... like I said send me message any time.

[Annie Starlight Dancer Hovis]

 

We have a guardian girl and adore her! She was just bred for the first time and goes in for an ultrasound in 3 weeks! Well to answer your first question you can either wipe them with a napkin or some other cloth to see if they are bleeding when they start showing signs they are getting close. The signs are; they start licking their behind, they seem moopy, and thirsty. Those are the common signs we see in OUR dog, but i would ask your breeder. We travel with our girl with no problem and she is just fine, but we always keep extra diapers on standby. Our dog, since she is pregnant at the moment just follows me around and sleeps staying out of the way from the kids and other dogs.  Our agreement is that she goes to the breeder a week before she is due, but i would ask your breeder about that. I don’t know since this is her first litter, but our breeder said when the puppies are 3 weeks old we can go and visit her, but again ask your breeder.  Annie always sticks close to me, but every time she goes out we ALWAYS check the gates to make sure they are shut and make sure all doors are shut. Well i hope this could help, but again this is just my experience with ours. Good Luck and have lots of fun with your puppy.

[bmdoodle]

Hi Traci,

I have two guardian dogs, Bella and Mia. Bella was two on Feb. 12th. She had one litter last year and is in heat now and I took her to the breeders (who lives about 40 minutes away) twice and so we will wait to see if she is pregnant.

1) you will know your dog is in heat because she will begin to menstruate. During this time I have diapers that have velcro straps and I just use a panty liner. She will only come into heat every 6 months for about 10 days. I don't know if your boy dog will hump her but my two females hump each other when they are in heat. Mia usually comes into heat first and then she brings Bella into heat then I only have to worry about it twice a year.

2) We take both Mia and Bella with us on vacation. We know their heat cycles and since it's only every 6 months it's pretty easy to work around.

3) Bella didn't really start showing until week 5 of her pregnancy and only slowed done just before she was due.

While Bella was at the breeders I visited her twice a week and I was there for the birth. It was amazing to watch and Bella was a really good mom!

Mia turned one year in April but didn't get her hip test done in time for this heat so she won't be bred until her next heat. So I won't have two pregnant dogs at once.

I love being a guardian mom but I believe it all depends on your relationship with the breeder. I am hoping to buy a puppy from Bella's last litter! So I guess this is another plus.

Hope this helps!

Caroline

 

[lyn cederholm]

We just became a Guardian family 4 months ago to an Australian Labradoodle named Annie.  We totally adore her!  We are expected to feed her top of the line food, do her regular vet checks, routine shots, etc., and they pay for anything breeding related.  She is ours without cost as a result of the time and commitment we will put into her breeding, heat cycle, etc.  She is worth every minute of it and we'd do anything to make sure that the breeder is happy and comfortable with the arrangment, as we'd never want to do anything that would jeopardize the arrangement.  She is 3 1/2 and only has 1-2 litters left, so that really makes a difference in our level of commitment left regarding breeding.  The breeder is about an hour and 15 min. away, so when breeding time comes there will be some traveling involved.  There is not a payment for her litters, which some breeders do offer, but we feel we've gotten the dog of our dreams, so we are thrilled.  We had a difficult dog experience just prior to getting Annie, so we appreciate what a loving dog she is for our family.  :)

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

Lyn-

I can tell how happy you are with your arrangement.  Your girl sounds wonderful!

UPDATE - I have met with the breeder in person (after e-mailing back & forth for a year) & have gone over the contract & all my questions/concerns, etc.  I am thrilled to announce that I will have a baby girl next spring/summer!  Having her will be so worth the putting up with some heat cycles!  The breeder said I can be there for the birth if I want and thereafter to visit whenever we want to while our baby girl is there being a mommy.

I have one more question (actually 2) for you all.  Do you get your mommy dog back BEFORE the puppies go home or does she stay there until the puppies are picked up & then you get her back?  When your dog comes back to you, is she upset or looking for her puppies?  If so, I guess I just want to know how to deal with that.  I didn't think about that or I would have asked the breeder, but you all will be able to answer this just as well or better actually.  Thanks for ALL your help!!!

[lyn cederholm]

Our breeder told us to expect her to be gone about 7 weeks.  She'll go back a week or two before giving birth and then stay for about 6 weeks after giving birth.  I hope our Annie will be anxious to get back to us after she is there.  She had a good home with the breeder too (inside the house, not in a kennel), so I hope she'll be happy to see us and come home.  She's comin' home whether she likes it or not...we love her.  :) Lyn

[Kami Allen]

We are Guardian parents to Meggie and she had her first litter this Spring.  The only downfall about being a Guardian parent is that you are without your dog or family member for 2 months :(  When we did this, we never imagined falling in love the way we did with Meggie.....it was extremly tough having her gone and dreading the next time.  However, the breeders are wonderful, wonderful people - very easy to work with.  We were welcome anytime to visit Meggie, but they are over an hour away so we would go every other week to see her.  We brought her to the breeders a week before she was due, and she came back when her puppies were 5 weeks old - she was a great mother in the beginning but then was annoyed and ready to come home at 5 weeks.  Her puppies were eating food by then and there was another nursing mom that they could feed off of for comfort, we were SO happy to bring her home! 

Our deal was we paid $500 for her but get $100 for every puppy she has from her litters, and after a couple litters they will spay her and she will be legally ours. 

[lyn cederholm]

This is a little off the usual topic...We boarded Annie over the weekend (she's not in heat or pregnant) and the day after we got home (Monday), she had diarrhea several times (even once in the house, which isn't like her).  The diarrhea seems to be gone this morning, as she had a normal looking stool just now.  She did throw up her breakfast this morning too!  I'm taking her to see the vet at 1:00 just for peace of mind.  Anyone else have this happen after boarding or any other time?  I'm pretty new to the dog ownership thing, so any advice or reassurances would be great.  :) Lyn

[lyn cederholm]

Thank you! Hoping she'll be back to full strength soon!!