Recommended Breeder: Hales Labradoodles

[Jerry Kandel]

If you want a puppy where you aren't allowed to ask questions - where the breeder will not respond to you with proper answers - where the breeder is almost a puppy mill (close to ten litters at any given time) - and where she puts up a difficult front - then if this is the kind of breeder you want to deal with -then be sure to contact Heather Hale.

This became one of the worst experiences of my life - and what should have been a pleasurable experience became anything but! We had lost our Golden Retriever to cancer six months ago - so I waited a while and then began researching puppies - we felt that the Labradoodle was our best bet. After deciding on the dog we decided to buy a puppy from Hales - which is located in Bakersfield and about two hours away. I explained to her immediately what we went through and that we wanted to be very careful on the health of the dog. Yes, in the beginning I asked the type of questions that anyone in our situation would ask - which Ms. Hale became very defensive and seemed to get frustrated with each question I asked. She actually told me that since I asked a lot of questions that she wasn't the breeder for me! But she took my money in October for a litter to be born in November.

About two weeks ago I joined a forum on this site that was on the subject of desexing puppies at six weeks. There are a lot of discussions about this - some favorable and some not so favorable. One person attached a document that spoke against early desexing - so I sent the article to Hale and asked her for a comment. The next I get is a note from her that she was canceling my deposit and informing me if I wanted a Labradoodle Puppy - I needed to look elsewhere. My wife and I were heartbroken - we had plans to go there in a few weeks to select the puppy and we already had begun to buy toys - as well as selecting a name. On top of all this - she chose Thanksgiving eve to send me this note! We are now over this heartbreak and we have plans to look at another future litter - where the breeder lives within an hour of us.

My wife told me not to write anything and to let sleeping dogs lie (so to speak) - but being a terrible experience that we just went through and knowing that this is a Labraddole site - I wanted to make sure that no one else suffers the same heartbreak that we did.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

Jerry - sorry for your loss and your disappointment. The right dog will come along.

Now just a few other thoughts:

We always talk about breeders selling dogs to people that they shouldn't. Here is a breeder that doesn't feel right about where the dog is going and everyone is angry at the breeder. Let's be honest about it which woulld you rather a breeder being overly cautious or a breeder selling dogs to anyone who comes along?

I looked at Heather Hale's website and she meets all of the criteria that most of us look for in a good breeder.

I don't know Heather or Jerry but besides not wanting to sell Jerry a puppy and disappointing him - what did she do wrong?

She is allowed to decide who gets her puppies!!!

This is not meant as an endorsement of Heather as I have said I know nothing about her other than what I have read today. But please let us not discredit her based on this discussion.

[Jerry Kandel]

Here is what she did wrong: she took my deposit (yes, it was returned) and we signed a contract. If you know anything about law then I don't need to spell out to you what a contract means. She sent me a birth announcement on the litter - invited me to visit at the end of December to select the puppy - then cancelled on Thanksgiving Eve (because I asked her to comment on an article I had seen on this site about early de-sexing of puppies) . Yes, she might be a good breeder - but a cold human being! Bob Dylan once wrote - "don't criticize what you don't understand" - I'll leave it at that!

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

Jerry - There was not one bit of criticism intended in my post. I do understand your disappointment but this whole discussion has boiled down to bashing a person based upon your view of the events. There always is more to the story.

Addtionally once you "brand" someone as a puppy mill, it is hard to retract that accusaton no matter what you say.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I feel it's becoming clearer and clearer how this misunderstanding could have occured. I'm actually starting to feel sorry for Heather!!!
I for one think it's time to move on. Not everyone gets along....and poop happens....and the right puppy is out there waiting for you. Basically letting people know of an unpleasant experience is one thing, but enough already.

I say this with the fear of being bashed, but what the heck, I have nothing to loose, and it's just my opinion anyway, just like all this is just yours. Having said that, I think I will "move on" to another post.

And just so you know I'm not a cold human being, I do feel sorry this happened to you and your wife after loosing your previous dog to cancer. And like Forest Gump once said "That's all I have to say about that."

[Ryan]

I've actually heard about Hale's Labradoodles from a few different people in the past. I haven't had any personal interaction with them, but everything that I've heard from other owners has been very positive. I've never read or heard a negative word about Hale's, so I find this very surprising.

As someone who is completely on the outside of this issue: I'd say it's best to just move on and find another breeder. You have every right to choose a breeder you feel totally comfortable with, and who will answer all of your questions to your satisfaction. Just as this breeder has the right to choose who she does business with. Obviously the one thing both parties can agree on is that you shouldn't do business with each other.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I have read through all of the above posts. I do not want to take sides. I merely want to say there are at least two sides to every story. I think it would be best if someone wants to post something like this, that they post the facts, their feeling, etc. However, I do not think we should label people with derogatory terms . I'd also like to think that as readers we are able and willing to try to see all sides of an issue.

[Jerry Kandel]

I totally agree! It was never my intention to paint an ugly portrait of Hales labradoodles; however, as one can imagine we were totally disappointed and hurt because of what occurred and most likely let my feelings out that perhaps were too one-sided. That should not take away from the fact that we felt that Heather Hale acted irrationally and paid no attention to the fact that we had a contract with her and she had our deposit - as it turned out, she later wrote to me and informed me that she was having a bad day and the cancellation resulted from that. However, all's well that ends well: as someone above noted, everything happens for a purpose - a breeder near us has a puppy that we fell madly in love with - so as part of her guardian program we will be taking the puppy home this week. So I am hoping that that ends the discussion on this thread and Heather will go on selling her puppies and we wind up with the cutest Labradoodle (which we named Bailey) that one can imagine.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Good luck!

[Julie B.]

Have you gone over all of the requirements for a guardian puppy? This can be a great situation for you and the breeder but there are usually a number of requirements such as allowing the dog to spend time at the breeders and constant overseeing by the breeder as to how and what you do with your pup. Based on your concerns with Hale's I hope you have gone over all of this thoroughly with the breeder so there are no misunderstandings. Good luck and congrats on your upcoming new doodle.

[Jerry Kandel]

Julie - yes, I went over everything and it works for us. The breeder lives an hour away and will watch our puppy whenever we want to travel (which we want to do more of since we are retired) - she also said that since he is a male dog that he probably wouldn't make more than three breedings a year and that would typically be for about a week each (also, some of those times can be done by going to our local vet who will freeze his semen and then send it to the breeder) - what we're figuring is that we'll try to make some of our vacation trips while Bailey is off with the Breeder. There were requirements - but nothing out of the ordinary - and we wind up with the exact puppy we wanted - we got him for a lot less AND the breeder will allow us to pick out a free puppy from one of his future litters. I call that a win/win situation for everyone. I will post photos within the next week. Thank you for your concern.

[1xar0x2rcx0li]

There are a lot of issues with intact males, do you have experience with them? Did you ask the breeder about an intact male and marking behaviour? Especially after a "visit" with a lovely lady or if their are intact females in your neighbourhood that may trigger his marking when they cycle. Do you have a penalty if he does get out and sires a litter unintentionally? And be sure to ask how to train/not-train mounting behaviour. You dont want him to be shy about mounting because he has been taught it was bad in non-working situations. Also, ask for them to get you a few bellybands if he does start marking in your house.

[Jerry Kandel]

I asked the breeder and I asked our Vet (about an intact dog) - both stated it won't be a problem - as long as we take precautionary and prudent resposnibility over him. Since we don't intend to let him outside on his own - this shouldn't be a problem. We plan on getting him into puppy training - more for socialization - and we're also going to get him private training.