Guardian Homes
AVAILABLE GUARDIAN DOGS
What is a Guardian Home
At Perfect Paw Prints we strive to provide only the best for our adult breeding dogs who are loving members of our family. To ensure we are able to give these dogs the best possible home life while being able to expand and produce the best possible puppies, we have to limit the number of dogs we have living in our home. Not all of our dogs live with us, but that's okay! They have wonderful, loving family's of their own. These families are called a Guardian Home. Although it would be nice to have all of our dogs here with us, it just wouldn't be fair to them. It is incredibly important to us that our ladies and gents are well cared for and experience life the way life should be experienced with lots of human interaction and attention, daily walks, car rides, etc. Happy dogs make happy puppies! Dogs that live a kennel life OR dogs that live a life in a dog pack at a breeder's home (many breeders do not have a "kennel", but they have an over abundance of dogs living with them. It is not possible to properly socialize and train a dog when you have this many). With a few exceptions of course, breeding dogs that live this way are "retired" and sold to adoptive families who now have a dog that lacks social skills, may or may not be house broken and have a completely foreign life to adjust to in their pet home. Being a pet in a family home is VERY different from a kennel or a dog pack situation. Our breeding dogs are placed with their forever families first and never have this upset when they retire. This is a much better option for breeding dogs. So we offer a guardian program where qualified families will receive a FREE puppy/dog while we retain the breeding rights.
How it works
A Guardian Home receives a breeding dog as their forever dog. All of our dogs remain with us until they can be assessed for temperament, be socialized and clear their health testing prior to adoption. The Guardian Home then adopts their puppy and continues on a training and socialization schedule (which should be done with ANY puppy anyways). The Guardian Home agrees to care for a breeding dog and some of the inconveniences that go with it. Dogs stay with their guardians during pregnancy. When the time comes, females come back to Perfect Paw Prints for approximately 6 weeks to whelp their puppies, and care for them. When they are weened momma goes home to her Guardian Family. Males must be accessible on short notice to "Honeymoon".
Payoff to the Guardian
*They get a top quality dog that has undergone health testing, and is essentially free.
*Guardian families get to come over and play with the adorable puppies that their dog has sired/whelped!
*Free boarding while you are out of town! (Depending on if we currently have a litter at the house or not).
But don't get too excited we have some strict requirements (the main ones listed below).
Contact us for a copy of the Guardian Home Contract.
Requirements of the Guardian Home
*Fully fenced and secure yard
*Obedience train the dog to be reliable in the basic commands
*Previous experience with owning a dog or have adequate knowledge on caring for a dog
*Feed a High Quality Diet
*Live within 45 miles from Syracuse, Utah
*Flexibility to allow for breeding times
*Keep the dog groomed to be a good representative of their breed
*For Doodles: We ask that you let the puppy’s coat grow out until around 6 months-1 year of age, although you may groom and trim the dog’s coat around the face and base of tail. Brushing and bathing should be done regularly.
*For Poodles: Hair should be trimmed as needed in a maintainable poodle trim with hair away from eyes.
*For Bernese Mountain Dogs: Brushing and bathing should be done regularly. NO SHAVING!
*We ask that you allow us to make arrangements to pick up the puppy/dog throughout various stages in its life to get photos taken to display on our website/social media channels.
*Guardian dogs are to be kept on a healthy diet at all times and chosen food brands must be approved by us.
*Guardian families are required to take their puppy/dog to the vet for its annual vaccines and whenever else needed (aside from breeding related visits).
Owning a female guardian dog:
We will board your dog for a few days during the breeding process and the duration of whelping a litter. Once old enough, female dogs will spend at least 8 weeks per year or every other year in our care (guardian families are always welcome to visit during this time). Guardians must be able to detect a heat cycle and keep females away from intact male dogs during this time. Females retire at around the age of 4-6, after retirement the female will be spayed and continue to live the remainder of her life with her guardian family.
Owning a male guardian dog:
Male dogs will spend a few days with us at a time when needed during breeding. Guardians must be able to keep male dogs away from intact female dogs in heat. Males retire at around the age of 5-7, after retirement the male will be neutered and continue to live the remainder of his life with his guardian family.
Responsibilities
Guardian families are expected to properly care for their new puppy/dog physically and financially. We will cover all costs associated to breeding and care for/own all litters produced by guardian family dogs. Basically, you will get an adorable dog to add to your family for no cost, and we get to use him/her in our breeding program. Pretty simple! Guardian dogs will remain your forever family pet but will come to us every so often to sire/whelp their litters. By becoming a Guardian Home, the guardian agrees that they are responsible for the "everyday" cost of their dog: feeding, grooming, veterinarian expenses, etc. The dog is the guardian's dog. Perfect Paw Prints retains the breeding rights and all the responsibilities that are associated with breeding. At the end of the dog's breeding career, we will pay to have your dog spayed/neutered.
Fees
If you are selected as a Guardian Home, we ask that you place a $1,000 deposit that you will receive back once the dog has retired. This is done for a couple of reasons:
1. It shows us commitment to the dog you have chosen to add to your life. Our puppies stay with us until they are accessed, have age appropriate health testing, and are socialized. We will commit this dog to you and not seek out a home during the time the dog remains with Perfect Paw Prints. You are more than welcome to come and take your puppy for walks or hang out for the day etc. If you choose to back out of the contract prior to possession of the puppy, you lose your deposit.
2. We screen very, very carefully for our Guardian Homes. We will ask for personal information (where you work, do you own your home, etc.) and we will do a home visit to see where the dog will be living. If, for whatever reason, someone were to decide to "pull a runner", this deposit off-sets the cost of our health testing (not cheap at all) but does not recoup value of our time and the dog. We pray this never happens, we would be devastated to lose contact with one of our dogs!
3. There is a percentage "kick-back" to our Guardian Homes from each litter that their dog produces. We feel that it's only fair for some of the inconveniences we are asking our Guardian Homes to put up with (females in season, males at stud without much notice, etc.)
