Have you ever thought about becoming a guardian home? Guardianship is a situation where a breeder trusts an owner with a show quality puppy, sometimes even the pick puppy, sometimes at a reduced price. Except for showing and possibly breeding, the pup would be your family pet all the way!
By placing an intact, quality pup in a guardian home, the breeder is able to keep more genetic diversity available in the breed without keeping more dogs than is best for the dogs or the breeder in her home. This amazing breed has a smaller gene pool than many other breeds, so keeping as many healthy, genetically diverse dogs available to contribute their genes is vitally important to the overall health of the breed.
Beyond the usual loving home that she wants for all her puppies, the breeder trusts the pup’s new owner to keep the dog safely intact (no accidental or unauthorized breeding!) and to allow the breeder to show the pup if the owner doesn’t want to do it themselves. The breeder also retains reproductive rights and might choose to breed the pup when they’re mature, so the pup’s owner would need to agree that the breeder would be able to take the dog when needed, with the assurance that it would only be temporary. As an added bonus, often guardian homes are first on the list if they’re interested in adding another pup to their home, since they have already proven to the breeder that they can be trusted!
If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please let me know! While I always place puppies in the home that’s right for *them* (not first come first serve), if all things are equal I will give preference to show/guardian/performance homes with the pups who look like they could go on to make wonderful contributions to this breed that we love.
Edited to add: In some breeds “guardian home” is viewed as a BYB term. In those breeds it’s almost exclusively used by people who want to mass produce puppies for money. *NOT ALL BREEDERS WHO OFFER GUARDIANSHIP ARE EQUAL!* If someone offers this to you, be sure to make sure the breeder has a good reputation in the breed and has the breed’s best interests at heart. Always, always do your homework!
Meet some of the pups we’ve placed in guardian homes in the past!
Esme lives with and is co-owned by Marie Hillary Dwyer
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Zero lives with and is co-owned by Korynn and Nathan Harper
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Selkie lives with and is co-owned by DeeAnn and John Ritter
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Wisp lives with and is co-owned by Jillian Ashdowne
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Rayna lives with Jillian Ashdowne and is co-owned by Layle Griffioen (Voici IGs)
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