IS BURKHART KENNELS IN ONTARIO A PUPPY MILL?

[Daina Kerbel]

I was doing some research into purchasing a labradodle or aussiedoodle and came across this information... does anyone have a comment about this?

"My partner and I just bought a dog from Burkhart Kennels in Wallenstein, ON and we would not recommend them at all!!! The pictures on the website were nothing like the real experience. Most importantly, we did buy a puppy from these people at a hot discount because we were going to walk away at a price of 1500 (800 instead of 1500). Our puppy came home with an awful PARASITE that had him severely ill (intestinal hemorrhaging, vomiting, losing weight) for over a week, and only after a few hundred dollars at the vet did we figure out what was wrong with him. Turns out this parasite is from CONTAMINATED WATER (fecal matter in water). It's no wonder the water was contaminated though given that high number of puppies in such a small area. When we called to let her know that at least one of her puppies were ill (and likely more) the best she could say was "good luck with that". We also had to treat our older dog for this. Despite spending a long time picking a "calm" puppy, our puppy cried and yelped when he was fed....which seemed to go away after a few days of being in our home (you can draw your own conclusion about what this was about).

While at the "Kennel" (aka puppy mill), puppies were being 'temporarily housed' on the lawn in an enclosure without ANY water. We felt pressured the entire time by this scam artist woman who always seemed to have a trick up her sleeve for getting rid of puppies fast (e.g., after being there for 15 mins, she said to us to hurry up and choose one because another family was waiting for us to leave so they could see the puppies at 9pm on a rainy monday night (yah right), etc.). There were probably 20 adult dogs, all of which were housed in this old barn with no room to run or play. As soon as the puppies or the adult dogs saw anyone, they freaked out with panic barking. When we finally agreed on a puppy and were ready to talk pricing, we said we wouldn't pay 1500 for him, she got very angry and left us to 'talk about it' slamming the door behind her.

This woman is very good at making a sale, she has to be because she has so many litters of pups at once. It's no wonder she didn't realize our little guy was so ill, how could you notice with so many dogs? If you want a golden or labradoodle, there are plenty of family homes who breed them. This is where we got our first goldendoodle from, and the experience was 100% better than this one. If you want an Aussiedoodle, there ARE other people who breed them in the area, they just don't advertise as much. Track them down, because this experience has made me wish we had!"

[Jen St. Louis]

When I was researching Doodle breeders in the Fall of 2010, I took at look at Burkhart Kennels' website, and quickly crossed it off the list. It looked puppymill-ish, just from the pictures, and I wanted a home breeder. We found a home breeder just outside of Kitchener-Waterloo that we were really happy with, and that's where we got our Mindy.

When we started puppy classes in January, we met another couple with a Doodle Mindy's age. Oliver was a Burkhart pup, and despite being painfully shy of people and terrified of the other pups (Mindy was afraid of other dogs at first, too, but socialization classes cured her of that in a hurry, and now she's the most ridiculously friendly pup - with both people and other dogs), he was a sweet, healthy little guy. After a couple of conversations, though, Ollie's mom admitted that they probably shouldn't have bought from Burkhart because of the puppymill feel, and wouldn't again. That said, Ollie is now 16 months old and healthy and happy, and he and Mindy have been inseparable from that first puppy class.We also see one of Oliver's full brothers at the dog park fairly regularly, and he's also a lovely dog.

I do hope the OSPCA is going to investigate Burkhart, though. Even if it's not an official puppymill, it sounds like it's heading that way, and it would be good if they were at least on the OSPCA's radar.

[Daina Kerbel]

i also dont know how she manages to take care of 3 litters of goldendoodles, 2 aussiedoodles and 2 labradoodle litters all at one time... plus have older dogs for sale.. it seemed a bit much for me

[shelly]

But from what I have learned from her and others....she has MANY children grown and young who help out at the farm...

[shelly]

Oh my goodness! I hope NOT!   This is where we got Tori from!  We never went up there due to the distance and we - at the time- did not find another breeder.  We always thoroughly research everything, and thought we had.  We spoke to her on the phone many times, and she seemed most helpful.   Tori does have some issues with fear and strangers - and a trainer suggested this could be a result of her experience before she came to us - I know one person who also has a sibling of Tori with the same issues, who did see the mother and said she was not the most caring of her pups. I can NOT blame the breeder, the mother.... it could very well be Tori's personality or MY naive training as a new puppy owner (that was BEFORE DK of course!)   Lovina shipped Tori to us - which now, I'm not so sure was the best thing, but she was clean and aside from being a little scared, seemed fine....  I know there are a few more people on here with Burkhart doodles, one who definitely does not have any issues with their dog,  and has been to their farm and did not mention any problems like the ones you mentioned.

[Ed]

I purchased a Goldendoodle from Burkhardts a couple of days before Christmas 2011. Tess is our second Goldendoodle but the first from Burkhardts. I found the kennels to be very clean and the owners forthcoming, sterile shoe wash before entering nursery etc. The mom was very affectionate to both us and the pups. I think mom starts to lose interest once they are weaned anyways. Tess is healthy, thriving, well adjusted and immediately bonded with our older resident dog. Our previous dood was put to sleep as she had cancer around her heart. She was purchased from a "home" breeder but that didn't seem to make a difference. IMHO nature plays a big part in how these animals turn out even with careful selection and testing. There are bound to be issues and as stated by a previous poster, their money was refunded.  Face it, they are in business to sell pets, I never felt that it was a puppymill but a business being run like a business. BTW, I insisted in buying some home canned goods and they were fantastic, wish I had purchased more. Your mileage may vary.