The Importance of Collaboration
Lucy & Thor’s “Fauna” - Being Listed April 22, 2024.
Collaboration is of the utmost importance when it comes to our poodle family. Though we’ve been doing this 20+ years, we are always looking for ways to evaluate our dogs’ health, improve our program, work with trustworthy breeders, and help our puppies get adopted!
Collaborating on Health
We’ll be the first to say that nobody’s perfect, and that includes our puppies. Every puppy has its little quirks, whether it be a minor physical flaw, an annoying behavior, or just something we haven’t noticed yet. That’s why we find collaboration to be so important in what we do. Everybody wants a pup as healthy as can be, and the only way that’s possible is for us to collaborate with our vet. For us, we are very hands-on and have a strict procedure as to how puppies are evaluated. We have been breeding and raising poodles for over 20 years now, and while we have a lot of experience, we know that we’re not experts.
Things can change while a puppy grows, and while health problems may arise, we will always have open communication with our vet to discuss the best next steps and how to fairly address things. This is why our puppies have first vet checks at 6 weeks, as well as a final vet check before they leave our care. We simply want to make sure there are no surprises when it comes to your puppy’s health, and the best way to do that is through collaboration with our health care experts!
We are working on putting together a list of trusted and recommended veterinary offices here on our website for our first-time puppy buyers or families. If you’re looking for the best vet who’s in your area, or you have a suggestion, feel free to send us an email or fill out a contact form!
Collaborating on Program Improvement
As a small business, we are constantly working on things we can do to improve our program and customer experiences. One day we may be improving our emailing series, while another we might be editing infographics for the puppies we’ve listed on AKC Marketplace. There can be a lot that goes into the day-to-day work in a dog breeder, especially when it comes to working behind the computer. We take advice from podcasts, seminars, and really just anyone who has inspired us. As a team, we are always asking each other how we can improve the process, and hearing each other out can lead to really amazing ideas. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had a simple suggestion that has led to a complete overhaul of how we do things. Our motto here is “There’s always more to do.”
Junebug & Jett’s “Joy” now owned by Lori
Part of what helps us improve our program is knowing how our puppies from previous litters have turned out. Are there any on-set health issues that need to be addressed? Are there recurring behavior patterns that might not be desirable? Did they make it into their ideal home in a reasonable amount of time? This also brings us back to collaborating on health. We very much value our communication with past puppy buyers, and while we always hope for happy updates, we also welcome feedback on if things needed to be improved. If we’re not told about something, there’s not anything that we can do to improve it. If you see something, say something. Your input matters so much to us, and knowing the history of our lines gives us better insight on helping future families find the perfect puppy.
Collaborating with Fellow Breeders
A lot of people view breeders as competitive entities. Why would we want to help someone when they’re stealing our customers away? As a breeder who’s been doing this for a very long time, we have taken on the role of “mentor” plenty of times within this industry. It’s incredibly important to have new and different blood lines as a breeder, and if you don’t have anyone you can trust, your program can’t flourish like ours has. We have many poodle friends in our network, and work together to trade, introduce new pedigrees, share knowledge, etc.
We have a ton of people who write in about health testing and what color testing means. Because we’re in contact with geneticists, we’re able to help you understand what these things mean and how it may impact the life of your puppy. We have done a ton of research and believe that all of this should be passed down to the next generation of dog breeders, even if they may be our competition in the long-run!
Though we’ve been in that mentor role for a long time now, we also ask for advice or take inspiration from other breeders! It was another breeder who inspired the “momma” pages. It was also another puppy buyer/turned breeder who inspired us to buy an iPhone to improve our picture-taking process! This community greatly benefits from the collaboration, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the breeders who have come to us for advice over the years, as well as the breeders who have inspired our improvements.
Piper & Zion’s “Rusty” now owned by Hawkins Family
Collaborating on Puppy Adoptions
In our last blog post, we talked about How We Make Adoptions Special, and a lot of this comes with collaborating with you guys, our puppy buyers! You guys have really amazing ideas, and we love to help execute them to make “Gotcha Day” as special as it can be! After all, who wouldn’t want a puppy from a loved one? The most stressful and obnoxious part of adoption is waiting, and when you’re surprised with a puppy, you don’t have to wait at all!
Without our loyal families, we would not have the opportunity to work with so many others throughout the United States. It is because of referrals, testimonials, and simple word-of-mouth reviews that we are able to find our puppies such great homes! While we mainly sell to other breeders, this simply wouldn’t be possible without our pet/companion buyers. They are what makes this all worth it, because at the end of the day we want to see our puppies go to the best homes where they can be loved and have all the attention.
Puppy of the Week
Meet Harley & Bruno’s last puppy! By some miracle, 3 out of their litter of 4 puppies got adopted just last week, leaving Milo to be the last pup remaining in the litter. Don’t miss out on your chance to adopt this sweet little boy! He’s ready to go NOW! Who could resist those sweet eyes and cute face?
