you have questions
We have answers.
How are puppies raised?
Puppies will begin their lives with me sleeping RIGHT next to their whelping area. Intensive care is given around the clock to ensure both mama and babies are well cared for. At 3 days old, we begin (ENS) Early Neurological Stimulation, a series of specific short exercises designed to improve cardiovascular performance, stronger heartbeats, adrenal glands and immune system. Puppies exposed to ENS have also been proven to have better stress responses.
At around 3-4 weeks of age, puppies graduate to a developmentally structured play pen area set up for Puppy Culture training. We believe the old saying that “you are what you eat” so we feed our puppies a combination of a high quality kibble, goats milk and fresh raw food from a locally sourced pet food store and supplement with holistic probiotics and Pawtree supplements as needed.
What type of health guarantee do you have?
We place a high value on client satisfaction and buying confidence. With proper care (raised inside a home), diet and basic obedience training, we guarantee your dog will have a pleasing disposition and even temperament. We also feel these measures prevent unwanted behaviors if proper nutrition, socialization, exercise and training are given early. If for any reason, you are unable to care for your puppy or adult dog – PLEASE contact us immediately. VonDoodles offers lifetime support for all puppies sold. We will assist in relocating your puppy into a new ‘approved’ home. Approved homes are strictly determined by the breeder. Although we will not reimburse you for the original purchase price of the puppy/dog – we guarantee to assist you in placing them into a new loving home.
Prior to being bred, all our parent dogs are genetically health tested through Paw Prints Genetics. We also certify elbows, patella’s, eyes and heart through OFA and hips though Pennhip. Occasionally we will use OFA, the Orthopedic Foundation For Animals, for Hip testing performed by our canine reproductive veterinarian. Pennhip is a scientific and reliable diagnostic imaging test to predict whether a dog will have Osteoarthritis which leads to Hip Dysplasia. We feel confident that the results based upon PennHip reporting are a reliable and trustworthy diagnostic testing method. Sometimes can be more indicative of future problems verses more traditional methods like OFA.
Prior to being transferred to the puppy’s new owner, they have been taken into our Licensed Veterinarian for a complete physical and first round of vaccinations. It is your responsibility to take the puppy to your personal vet in order to evaluate whether the puppy has a good “baseline” from the beginning. Therefore, to validate your health guarantee, families MUST take their new puppy to a veterinarian within 48 hours of purchase. If you pick your dog up on a Friday, we will honor our guarantee if the puppy is seen by your vet within 72 hours. Be certain to schedule this first vet appointment, prior to receiving your puppy. If your vet finds your puppy to be in unacceptable health condition, the buyer must notify VonDoodles within 7 days of receiving the puppy & receiving a diagnosis. The vet must make a written and verifiable statement that the puppy is unhealthy and not suitable for purchase, and VonDoodles will retake ownership of the puppy and refund in full (transportation costs/arrangements are not included).
It is necessary to protect your puppy from contagious diseases until an entire series of four vaccines has been given. Your puppy shouldn’t be exposed to other puppies or taken to public places until fully protected by the entire series. At 8 weeks of age, your puppy has had only one vaccine, as is the proper vaccine protocol. Until receiving 4 vaccines, your puppy is NOT fully protected against deadly contagious diseases such as Parvovirus and distemper. Precaution also needs to be taken at your vet’s office; people take sick animals there! Do not let your puppy touch the floor at the vet’s office. We do NOT guarantee that your puppy won’t catch contagious diseases.
This health guarantee is contingent upon the owner spaying or neutering the puppy by age 12 months, feeding high quality dog food and vaccinating/worming/vet care according to the proper protocol established by a licensed vet. Please keep records of the above items to verify conditions were met. If above conditions are met, VonDoodles provides a 2 year guarantee that is explicitly for the following medical/genetic conditions: cancer, genetic eye conditions, epilepsy, heart disorders and any other disorder that is genetic in nature. A necropsy will be require for all puppies/dogs who die prematurely.
ALL puppies are born with parasites and worms, and stress can also bring them out again; although our puppies receive Pyrantal worming medicine at 2, 4, 6 weeks of age, Tolturizuril for 2 days to prevent coccidiosis (at age 5 weeks), and then 5 days of Panacur at age 8 weeks of age, they may still have a few parasites that resisted treatment. Your vet should provide a routine worming or fecal test. We do NOT make any real or implied guarantee against normal puppy parasites, such as coccidiosis, giardia, viral or any bacterial infections that puppies can contract (such as ear infections or UTIs, which puppies do contract sometimes).
If a licensed Vet determines that your dog has a genetic health defect, as outlined above, a statement outlining the defect from the vet needs to be submitted for the health guarantee to be valid. VonDoodles reserves the right to have the dog examined by a veterinarian of their choice, at their expense, to verify the dog’s diagnosis. The ownership of the affected puppy/dog must then be transferred back to VonDoodles and a refund of the original cost of the puppy will be given to the buyer. Transportation costs are not the responsibility of VonDoodles. This health guarantee does not include a refund of any vet bills incurred by the owner.
If a dog or puppy dies, a necropsy must be done to determine an official cause of death.
How does your wait list work? How do I make a deposit?
After you submit your application, we will reply within 2-3 business days to discuss litter options and availability. If you would like to be added to one of the master lists, we will plan a time to speak over the phone. This is a wonderful opportunity to ask questions and determine whether one of our puppies is a good fit for you!
Once we have a verbal or written response stating you would like to be added to our “reservation list” and you have completed the steps above, you may send the $500 *****NON-REFUNDABLE***** reservation list fee. The total $500 reservation fee goes towards the price of your puppy but can not be refunded should you chose not to move forward. It can however be applied to a future litter.
Example:
Master Bernedoodle reservation list (Breeder reserves the right to first and second pick of every litter)
Breeder
Breeder
Smith
Adams
A bernedoodle litter is born and after going down the master list, Smith passes to wait for the next litter.
The Master Bernedoodle reservation list would then be:
Breeder
Breeder
Smith
the next person who placed a reservation fee after Smith and based on the order in which the fee is placed.
The current Bernedoodle litter list would be:
Breeder
Breeder
Adams
The next person who placed a reservation fee after Adams and based on the order in which the fee is placed.
If you are on the list for a future litter, we will send updates via email and Facebook once the dam (mom) has been bred, once we have confirmed the pregnancy via ultrasound and when the puppies have been born. Full pricing information can be found on our policies page.
I’d like to fill out an application. Where do I apply?
In order to fill out an application, please go to our Application page.
What is your visitation policy?
Our puppies are raised in our home and not in a kennel. We have chosen to do this because we feel it provides the best possible results. Our puppies are exposed to a variety of people, surfaces, noises and so much more! Unfortunately, the downside to this is that we don’t have an office/kennel outside of our home for people to visit.
Unfortunately, the dangers of inviting strangers into our home are too risky not only for our family but the welfare of our dogs. As a parent first, my number one priority is to protect and serve my family. Here are some of the reasons we do not allow visits from people who are not yet on our reservation list.
Significant harm has happened to people like breeders or real estate agents who work in home-type environments where unknown people are routinely invited in. Click here for details.
We have health concerns for the puppies, who are still developing their little immune systems and have not yet been protected by vaccinations and maturity. (People can unknowingly-or even intentionally-carry diseases in on their shoes, hands, and clothing.) Click here for details.
We have health concerns for our mothers. New people and an increase in activity in the home are a significant source of stress for nursing moms. Stress produces cortisol and other stress hormones, and those hormones go into mom’s milk and directly into the puppies. This is not healthy for moms or pups. Stressed moms can also get very frantic and accidentally roll on or step on puppies if they panic. This is not an acceptable option for us.
Puppy theft has become a prevalent occurrence, so unknown traffic in our home endangers the safety of our puppies due to theft. This means that seeing us or our parent dogs means that you are also seeing our home and any puppies we have. Click here for details.
We are a real family, with a real life. It is important that we protect our family time and home responsibilities. This is something that helps create a safe, secure and strong home for not only our family but our puppies too! Happy breeder=happy puppies!
These puppies are also not ours to risk-they belong to the families that are taking them home and we are just their caretakers for a brief period of time.
We are happy to have committed buyers visit, provided we don’t have concerns regarding current disease outbreaks or any other similar biosafety or puppy/dog health concern.
The safety of our puppies, dogs, and family will always be placed above a potential sale.
We also understand the importance of being able to see where the puppies are raised! It is completely understandable why someone would need the assurances of knowing all about the breeder and their environment in order to ascertain whether it is a legitimate safe home environment and not a puppy mill. Luckily, modern technology provides the much-needed transparency necessary to alleviate any such concerns. We have nothing to hide, which is why videos and facetime sessions will be given to anyone who is on our reservation list or a serious client considering one of our puppies. So, although we aren’t able to allow the general public to visit, we do provide a significant number of opportunities for you to see videos of where and how our puppies are raised. More information on our visitation policies for families with Reservations can be found on the Policies page.