Guardian Dogs
Here at Welcome Acres, our breeding program is designed around placing our breeding dogs in guardian homes with their own forever families. Our program is designed this way to benefit everyone involved: the dog, the breeder, and the forever family. We are not a kennel breeder and believe every dog deserves a loving family they can call their own!
Meet our available Guardian Dogs
Benefits to Guardian Families
Our guardian homes afford local families an opportunity to have a top quality “pick of the litter puppy” or adolescent/adult breeding dog for a family pet. However you must meet all requirements and follow our contract.
Welcome Acres Guardian Home Requirements
We typically place our puppies with guardian homes when the puppy is between 8 – 12 weeks of age.
In order to be considered as a guardian family, you must be able to meet these minimum requirements and provide the following for the dog:
- You must be a homeowner, not a renter. Your home must have a physical fenced yard. No underground electronic fencing. Occasionally we will consider a home that does not have a fenced yard but only if the Guardian family agrees to keep the dog on a leash at all times when out of a physically fenced area.
- Feed the food and supplement we require and recommend.
- Training. Families must enroll in the Baxter and Bella online training Program (use discount code WELCOMEACRES to receive 25% off a lifetime membership) and provide proof of training to us. These are basic level classes that provide socialization, manners, and basic commands necessary for a well-behaved dog, not just for one of our future breeding dogs. The time you put in with training will be well appreciated by anyone who comes in contact with your dog. For families who test for the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) and the dog successfully passes, we will honor you with a special gift for a job well done with one of our babies!
- Vaccinations per our vaccine protocol.
- Professional grooming every 4-5 weeks adhering to the approved cut and look at Bark of the Town Pet Spa.
- Monthly photos. We need to see how our dogs are maturing in between the visits they make to our home, plus we just simply want to see them! Photos taken with a phone are fine. We do not need high quality pictures.
- A work schedule that does not leave puppy home alone more than 6 hours a day. If one or both adults in the household work full time, then arrangements must be made so that puppy receives necessary socialization and proper energy outlet opportunities.
- Transporting the puppy/dog to us when needed for health testing and breeding.
The above requirements are simple and look out for the well-being of each of our dogs. They are likely not much more than you’d be doing for your own puppy, if you purchased one outright. If you feel you can meet the above requirements, please complete our application and we will contact you regarding the program.
Guardian Dog FAQ’s
About every 6-8 months.
A female’s heat cycle typically lasts 18 days.
Anywhere from 6 – 24 months. Every dog is different and can vary depending on size.
At first, vaginal discharge is blood-tinged (you’ll notice a drop of blood on your floor) and the vulva is swollen.
Typically you may notice a drop of blood on the floor here or there. For tile or wood floors, this is easy to clean up. All of our females wear a reusable cloth doggie diaper with a feminine panty liner to keep clean up to a minimum. Each female is different but most keep themselves quite clean.
No. She will likely have a bloody discharge for the first week but then when the female is receptive to males, her vaginal discharge decreases in amount and is straw-colored.
A female in heat can attract male dogs by her scent so, it’s important to not let her outside alone unsupervised while she’s in heat, even if you have a fenced yard.
While mama dogs are very attached to their puppies when they’re born, and rarely leave their whelping pen, they start to wean them naturally when the puppies are about 6 weeks old. Slowly they nurse them less and less and start to become more and more interested in getting out and about for periods of time away from their puppies. By the time the puppies are 8 weeks old, the mama dog is ready to see them go! She’s happy to be back home with her family again.
Our guardian dogs love people and are happy to be here with us and also having the opportunity to play with the other dogs here. We stay familiar to them by seeing them for vet appointments, and seeing them at Bark of Town Pet Spa. We make sure she feels as at home here as possible and has a comfortable, relaxing setting to have her puppies. Once they’re born, her puppies are all she will think about and will want to be with them constantly. So, no she won’t be sitting around feeling sad about where she’s at.
Being part of the guardian program is an exciting way to be part of our breeding program. At this time, we are not allowing visits to our home due to COVID-19.
All of our females are retired at 6 years of age, so could have about 4 litters.
Usually the male is picked up and returned the same day.