Guardianship Opportunities
Being a Guardian Home for a Heartland Australian Labradoodle can be an excellent way to have a top quality dog for a family pet. We are a small, home based breeding program dedicated to producing great companion animals. Our dogs are part of our family and live in our home and enjoy our daily life. We believe that all of our breeding dogs deserve this luxury, and so we’ve implemented our Guardian Home Program, where we place our upcoming breeders as puppies in forever homes with suitable families. The guardians have the role of “parent and owner” while we retain breeding rights for the dog.
A Guardian family agrees to raise, train and care for a Heartland Labradoodle throughout his/her breeding career. In exchange for providing a home for one of our breeding dogs, Heartland will spay or neuter said dog when it is retired from his or her breeding career at our expense. Again, the Guardian family has ownership and we have breeding rights.
We, as breeders pay for all veterinary costs related to breeding. Once their breeding career is under way, I will come to whelp the puppies at their home, and the guardian will raise the puppies in their home. When the pups are weaned by the mother, they will come to us for training and spay/neutering at our veterinarian before going to their forever homes. Our guardians will be compensated for raising the pups until they are weaned. When the dog reaches it’s age of retirement (determined on an individual basis), she/he is spayed/neutered for you, and the dog enjoys the comfort of the home it has always known. Males are generally retained for siring litters a bit longer than females.
Guardian Families Must:
- Live within a 100 mile radius of Iowa City, IA and No anticipated job transfers that will remove the dog beyond this area while the Guardian Agreement is in effect.
- Own a home with a fenced in yard, or have written approval of your landlord.
- Have prior experience owning, raising, and training a dog
- Primary caregiver cannot work FULL time outside the home causing the dog to be left home alone for long periods, or be able to take the dog to work.
- Attend 2 sessions of obedience classes
- Understand the issues involved with caring for an intact male or female and be willing to assume those responsibilities
- Be willing to have the dog available to us as needed throughout the year for various reasons, including veterinary appointments and “honeymoons”.
- Be willing to communicate with us when needed regarding the general health and well being of the dog, and let us know of vacation plans and where dog will be if we need to “borrow” him/her for breeding purposes while you are unavailable.
- Be willing to accept and follow breeders recommendations for the dogs basic health care, feeding, and veterinarian care, such as vaccine schedules and the use of various medications.
September 2019…Our guardianship program is now being phased out, as we anticipate retiring in the near future. Many thanks to our wonderful guardian parents, it has been a pleasure working with you!
