Guardian Homes

Abby is looking for a guardian home on Vancouver Island.  She is a purebred Bernese Mountain Dog expected to be around 80lbs as an adult.  She is a very happy, confident, sweet girl with a loving, goofy personality... very stereotypical Bernese temperament. Abby knows basic obedience, is crate trained, is working on house breaking, walks well on leash and is very socialized.  She would do really well with kids. 
If you are interested in Abby and understand the parameters of being a guardian home, give us an email: MoonstruckBernedoodles@gmail.com Subject: Abby. 
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. It is incredibly important to me that my ladies and gents are well cared for and experience life the way life should be experienced: lots of human 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" operation, but they have 8, 9, 12, 14 dogs living with them.  It is not possible to properly socialize and train a dog when you have this many).  With some 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 places with their forever families first and never have this upset when they retire.  This is a much fairer option for breeding dogs.

How it works

A Guardian Home receives a breeding dog as their forever dog.  All of our dogs remain with me until the age of 5/6 months old.  This way they can be assessed for temperament, be socialized and trained by a professional 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.  When the time comes, females come back to Moonstruck for approx. 6 weeks to whelp their puppies, care for them.  When they are weened momma goes home (dogs stay with their guardians during pregnancy).  Males must be accessible on short notice to "get lucky". 

The payoff to the guardian? They get a top quality dog that has undergone training and health testing, and is essentially free.  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

Feed a Raw Diet

Live on Vancouver Island

Flexibility to allow for breeding times

Keep the dog groomed to be a good representative of their breed

Responsibilities

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.  Moonstruck Bernedoodles 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 (or before - once we have gotten to know you well!).  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 5/6 months of age while they are professionally trained and socialized.  We will commit this dog to you and not seek out a home during the time the dog remains with Moonstruck Bernedoodles.  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.  This has never happened (and we would be devastated to lose contact with one of our dogs), but you never know!


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, raw food diets, males at stud without much notice, etc.)