About Our Program

Here at Bernedoodle Kennels, our mission is to bring joy to families by establishing a lifelong bond between them and one of our healthy, socialized puppies, while also ensuring that each and every puppy that we raise finds a loving and caring home with their new forever family.

For our parent dogs, we strive to give that same lifelong bond and love that comes with finding their very own forever family!

To ensure that all of our parent dogs have the best possible life and get the attention and love they deserve throughout their lifetime, we like to limit the number of parent dogs living with us at Bernedoodle Kennels.

This is where our Guardian Home Program comes into play!

We are now offering a guardian home program where qualified families will be able to adopt one of our puppies free of charge, while Bernedoodle Kennels retains the breeding rights.

Guardian families are expected to properly care for and raise their new puppy mentally, emotionally, physically and financially. BK covers all costs involved with breeding and care for all the dog’s litters.

We love our dogs so much! So, our screening process for adoption is a bit more extensive, as we must absolutely ensure that we find a great family that meets the right qualifications for adoption. Once the initial application is reviewed, we will meet with the family in their home as a final step.

QUALIFICATIONS

*Guardian families must have*

• A fenced yard
• Previous experience with owning a dog or have adequate knowledge on caring for a dog

*Guardian families must be able to*

• Provide a puppy/dog with proper health care, nutrition, and exercise
• Properly train (both professionally and at home) and socialize a puppy/dog with appropriate tools and methods
• Keep up with grooming (both professionally and at home) including regular brushing/bathing

*Guardian families must live*

• within the state of Nebraska or Iowa & no more than 100 miles outside of Lincoln, NE. If the guardian family moves out of this radius before the dog is retired, he/she will be re-homed somewhere within this range.

*Other Requirements*

• For Doodles: We ask that you let the puppy’s coat grow out until around 6-12 months, although hair around the face, on the belly, and under the tail must be kept trimmed. Brushing and bathing should be done regularly.
• For Standard Poodles: Hair should be trimmed as needed in a maintainable poodle trim. Hair around the face, on the belly, and under the tail must be kept trimmed..
• 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 including feeding our chosen food brand and any required supplements.
• 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).
• Guardian dogs will keep their given name although you may have as many nicknames for them as you like. Guardian dogs must respond to their given name which is not be changed.

Owning a Female Guardian Dog

Once your dog is of age, has passed all of her health testing, and is ready to breed (typically on the second heat cycle), you will be responsible for detecting a heat cycle and keeping her away from intact male dogs during this time. When she is in heat, she must be kept indoors at all times. She must be taken out on a leash to go to the bathroom. Once her heat starts, guardian families are responsible for taking her to our vet in Lincoln, NE. She will stay at the vet until she’s bred, which could be up to a week. Once she’s bred, you will pick her up and take her home and care for her during her pregnancy. She will then come back to our kennel a week before she is due to whelp her litter, and will stay with us until her litter is 3-4 weeks old and the puppies are ready to be weened. Arrangements can be made for guardian families to visit during this time! Females retire approximately around the age of 6. We work closely with our vet to determine exactly when to retire them. After retirement the female will be spayed by our vet, and continue to live the remainder of her life with her guardian family.

Owning a Male Guardian Dog

Once your dog is of age, has passed all of his health testing, and is ready to breed (whenever he has matured) our male dogs will spend a few days at our vet for collection/breeding as needed. Guardians must be able to keep male dogs away from intact female dogs in heat. Males retire at around the age of 7, and after retirement the male will be neutered and continue to live the remainder of his life with his guardian family.

Do you think that you would be a perfect Guardian Home for one of our dogs? For more information, fill out our Guardian Home Application and let us know!