Basic training, including (sit, stay, come to name, leave it, down, basic leash skills and house training) Based on your experience you may need to complete a puppy training course with a local training group or individual trainer. Remember, a happy owner equals a happy dog. If your dog does not understand what you want or need it is stressed and often unhappy.

Properly socializing your puppy, while a component of training, is key to helping them develop the confidence and demeanor of a stable adult dog. We spend countless hours providing every opportunity for socialization and training with each puppy prior to them coming to you, but this is something that must be continued once home. We will provide further suggestions and instructions on how to continue this training to reap the benefits of the work we have already put in for you. Prior to your puppy being fully vaccinated all socializing will need to be within the safety of your home or other pet free environments. Once fully vaccinated all sorts of fun options become available from Home Depot visits to puppy socialization groups! Training and socialization are not work, it’s so much fun! It presents opportunities to learn the body language of your fur-baby, discover their unique interests and quirks, find their favorite friends and those hilarious traits that make your dog special to you.

Guardian Families are expected to take their dog to annual vet appointments to check the overall health of the dog. They are expected to provide annual wormings and vaccinations as well as other general recommendations from your vet like dental cleanings.

Grooming must be maintained as it can affect the health of your dog if not upkept. We are happy to help find a professional groomer close to you or you may send us the information for whom you would like to use. Regular brushing and baths should be done at home by the Guardian Family, but we do require a professional to cut or in any way alter the coat of the Guardian dog. We will provide an outline of what cuts are appropriate for what age. When the dog is above 2 years of age the cut requirements become more flexible but there still may be needs for a specific cut at a certain time. Once retired though, the choice is freely yours!

Transportation for the dog too and from our facility or to the reproductive vet is the responsibility of the Guardian Family. We will occasionally be able to help if we don’t have other obligations with other dogs, but generally this will be something that you are in charge of. We ask that this be something that’s taken into consideration when deciding to become a part of our Guardian Families. For females the transportation is much less often but a male we will at times need once a month. We try to give as much notice as possible, but heats can sometimes be tricky and a last second jump in progesterone will require a much shorter timeframe. If we are not able to provide at least 24hrs notice, we will pick up and drop off the dog ourselves.

We request that Guardian Families check in with us at least monthly. We love to receive photos and hear of anything going on in your lives! We will send out monthly texts or emails checking in but love other updates outside of that. We really do love and care for our Guardian Dog’s people!

If you are leaving town, we ask that we be notified in case we have breeding’s planned. You may board the Guardian Dog at an approved licensed kennel or make other arrangements, but we ask that we be left with information regarding their stay and its duration. We are occasionally available to board your dog with us but can not while we have other litters scheduled.