Help finding a mini Labradoodle - worried about red flags

[Elaine Uomini]

Finally, after much reading about Labradoodles, the time has come to choose a breeder and put in a deposit for a Spring puppy.  But I am still hesitant and confused.  I live in Santa Barbara, CA and have yet to find a breeder of mini  Labradoodles very close to us.  Some breeders on my short list live about a day’s drive away, okay for picking up a puppy, but not conducive to many home visits.  However, even some breeders on my short list, in spite of glowing testimonials and photos of puppies that fill my heart with love and joy, seem to have a few red flags.  I need help sorting these out.  Should I eliminate breeders from my short list if they do these things?

1. Spay or neuter at 8 weeks.  Our two rescued kittens, Rosie and Puffin, had this done to them, and they are now 6-year-old healthy cats.  The Rescue cat lady said that the new micro surgical techniques made this possible.   But of course, they are cats, not dogs.
2. I know this is a whole can of worms, but I read a couple of posts from a few years ago on Doodlekisses about Rutland Manor.  If a breeder mentions Rutland Manor as good thing in her “about us” section is that a red flag?   Even though she health tests all current mother and father dogs, is this a problem?
3. Many of the breeders use guardian homes so that every dog gets to have a loving family.  I love this concept.  If a breeder is doing this, and yet still has a few “retired” mother dogs to rehome, is this a red flag?  It seems to me that the guardian homes would still love them, even though retired or am I misunderstanding something?  Certainly the dogs would love their guardian families and want to be with them after bonding with them for 5 or 6 years.

I appreciate  your help in sorting all of this out.  I understand we can’t rate individual breeders here, but if anyone has any suggestions about mini Labradoodles close to Santa Barbara, CA, feel free to write to me personally.  Thank you in advance.  I love coming to Doodlekisses and reading everyone’s stories and seeing all the cute Doodle pictures!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I loved your story and the pre-story of the rescue doodle you didn't end up getting.  I love following your stories.

[Ginny Nightingale]

I think you have gotten excellent info and would just add that Guardian homes should be forever homes--I can not imagine why they would have retired moms to re-home unless they kept a few with them--not that common though to do that.
I like the idea of being able to visit the breeder at least once. good luck!

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

Our breeder does early neuter/spay as well now. We got our first doodle from her 3.5 years ago and we were responsible for the neuter at that time. Even though "fixing" the dog was in the breeder's contract, I think some people just didn't do it. There is no way for the breeder to know. To prevent this, she started with early neuter/spay, so when we got our second doodle from her, he was already fixed at 8 weeks.

Our breeder also uses guardian homes and I think it's a good thing. Instead of keeping all the dogs in her house, the chosen few live in their forever families in the vicinity of the breeder and she uses them for up to 3 years for new litters. The female dogs live with their families except for the time they are pregnant. At that time, they are with the breeder. The boys, of course, just do their thing and are back with their families.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Riley's Breeder does exactly the same thing with the guardian homes and when the Mums are retired, also three years, they stay with their guardians for the rest of their lives.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Just reading through this again I would say that this breeder does keep some of her Mommy dogs with her and others are in guardian homes and this is why she/he has some retired breeders for sale. It is not that dogs that were in guardian homes are now being sold. The ones being sold are others who have lived with the breeder.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

There are some breeders who do health testing etc in the San Luis Obisbo area and north areas. In fact we met a mini red doodle at a dog park in Morro Bay a couple of weeks ago.  We lived 250 miles from our breeder which is 500 miles round trip.  We met puppies and chose Ned on one trip, and picked him up on a second one.

[Marie Dennen]

What are guardian homes? Sounds like a made up nice word for puppy brokers who sell puppy miller's dogs. Just curious.Sorry I am very, very cynical when it comes to doodle breeders. I own one, got it from a client, but I will never ever buy one.

[Elaine Uomini]

Thank you all for your reassurance and helpful advice.  My mind is at rest now about the early spay operation and about having Rutland Manor in the background.  Your own dogs are all so cute and adorable!

My short list includes the following: California Labradoodles in Woodside, CA;

Sutter Buttes Labradoodles in Yuba, CA; Loveable Labradoodles in Atascadero, CA (closest to us, but not sure if they have minis);

Moo Cow Labradoodles in Bakersfield, CA;

Seashore Labradoodles in Santa Monica, CA;

ASD Companion Doodles in Lincoln, CA;

and Whispering Winds Labradoodles in Washington state.  The last one would mean shipping the puppy which I would so much rather not do, but their Moon Pie and others are so cute and I like their selection process.  I'm open to suggestions about other breeders, especially close to me.  I love Morro Bay and SLO and that would be a short trip, easy to visit the parents.

Also, I'm not an expert at all, but the guardian home concept is where a breeder doesn't want to have too many dogs at her own home and finds a responsible family to take the mother dogs into their homes so that they can be raised in a loving family and not a big kennel.  All dogs should be the center of a loving family so this is a plus for the dogs.  There are benefits to this for the guardians too, such as sometimes not having to pay or pay as much and maybe getting to pick another puppy in addition to the mama.  I was interested in doing this, but decided not to because we are too far away from most of the breeders and I woudn't want to give the mama dog back for a few weeks once a year or so.  But oh how lovely to have a mama dog and puppies in the house! 

If you have any suggestions about any breeders on my short list, or additons to it, please email me.  I guess it is against the rules to talk about the breeders on the forum?  Thank you for all your help.

[Marie Dennen]

Why does the breeder have too many dogs in their home? Are they having multiple litters? Shouldn't the breeder be caring for ALL thier dogs? Sounds like the breeder is benefiting by not doing the work. I am going research this more. But that is big red flag to me. Shipping is out of the question for me personally. I have a really good article about choosing a breeder I will try to post it later.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Many reputable breeders of doodles have a guardian home program, which in my opinion, is a good way for dogs to have long term permanent homes from the time they are puppies. These dogs are fully health tested and well cared for. It has nothing to do with being puppy mills or anything remotely like that.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Many reputable breeder are running a business, an ethical business unlike BYB's or worse, Puppy Farms. I think there needs to be a clearer understanding of how these things work and it is not a Red Flag to me at all that a breeder would use Guardian Homes. In fact it makes perfect sense and gives the breeding Moms a proper family home. In order to make sure that you are not breeding mothers to sons, grandsons and close relatives a breeder would need several females. There are of course many breeders who do not operate ethical business 'caveat emptor' and in this case it is not a product you are buying but a live puppy.

[Marie Dennen]

Some breeders make the argument it is unethical to breed doodles in the first place. There is a person running standard poodle rescue in MN who also does doodle rescue who has info about this on their site.