Guardianship Program

What is a Guardianship Program?

A guardianship program involves a guardian and the breeder entering into a contract where the breeder retains breeding rights and ownership of the dog until its retired. The guardian pays a heavily discounted price for the dog. Once the dog is retired, it will be sterilised at the cost of the breeder and the ownership will be transferred to the guardian and they will transition from guardian to owner. The breeder is responsible for all costs associated with breeding & whelping including vet costs, health testing, extra food and nutrition during pregnancy, ultrasounds, collection costs (male dogs), and more. The Guardian is responsible for training, regular vet costs, regular food costs, worming & tick prevention, etc. The dog will undergo health testing around 12 months of age to ensure they are a good candidate for breeding. Females may have up to 3 litters before they retire and males will be retired by 8 years of age. Dogs will be taken to vet appointments by the breeder if the guardian is unable to do so. Females will return to the breeder for approximately 10 weeks (2 weeks pre whelp + 8 weeks post birth) for each litter. Upon completion of the females 3rd litter, the guardian home will be paid a compensation amount listed in their agreement as a thank you for their efforts and their dog’s service to improving the golden retriever line.

Why offer a Guardianship Program?

As a boutique breeder, we put a significant emphasis on ensuring our big adult ‘puppies’ have a wonderful and fulfilled life with us. This is something we feel we can only offer if we limit ourselves to our own 3 big babies, on top of caring for 2 litters per year and other commitments. Whilst we have more than enough space on our property to house more goldies, we do not believe in kennel breeding where these beautiful babies are confined to smaller spaces the majority of their lives and then rehomed once they have retired from their breeding duties. These delightful creatures deserve a home where their owners can give their entire attention and love to them, and not where its divided among 8 other equally deserving beautiful dogs.

Offering a guardianship program means we can have the best of both worlds by finding the right forever family from the very beginning, where the dog will form a connection with their family from 8 weeks old and who will remain with that family their whole lives. It means we can continue offering these perfect little goldies that we have put our heart and soul into without compromising on our ethics and ensuring all the doggies in our breeding program have the very best life we can offer them.

What is expected of a Guardian?

The first 12 months of your puppy’s life will be very normal, as with any puppy you will need to ensure training, socialisation and nutrition are kept on top of. After 12 months old, the puppy will be booked in for in health testing such as hip and elbow scoring, heart clearance and eye clearance (at the breeder’s expense). This is where we will also begin to temperament test and ensure the puppy has blossomed into a great example of the breed.

REQUIREMENTS OF GUARDIAN HOMES

• All the same requirements as our forever families: willingness to train, properly socialise, exercise, and shower in love and attention

• Live within the Sunshine Coast/North Brisbane

• Be willing to feed an exclusive raw food, grain-free diet

• Be accommodating for the Breeder to have access to the puppy for appointments, health testing and ‘doggy dates’

• If your guardian dog is a female, willingness to put the dog into the breeder’s care for 10 weeks whilst she whelps & raises her babies (plenty of visits welcomed, alternatively for the right guardians and extensive training, your girl may be able to stay with you if you are wanting to help raise the puppies)

• Your dog is kept away from other dogs whilst either she is on heat or whilst other dogs around him are on heat

REQUIREMENTS OF BREEDER

• Support the guardian with training, socialisation, diet and exercise needs

• Cover all costs associated with breeding

• Provide the guardian home with reasonable notice for all testing, expected heat dates & appointments

• Whilst the dog is in our care, send regular updates of the dog to the guardian home and respond to the guardian home within a reasonable time frame

• Raising the resulting litters, screening forever families & offering lifelong support + all costs associated

• Desexing/sterilising the dog following retirement