Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your family.
Thank you for your puppy inquiry. We appreciate the time you spent completing our puppy application. The information below will outline a little bit about our breeding program. Please let me know if you have any questions. Our website is updated daily. Our current litter page will outline for you which litters if any have puppies available and what gender is available. It will also tell you the date of birth and the go home date. We have found the most efficient way to operate our reservations list is with the use of what we call a Master List. Once someone has completed the puppy application, telephone interview and placed a deposit upon approval then the family is placed on our reservations list. Once we have a litter of puppies we create a webpage for the new litter. We then draft an email that will go out to the families on our reservations list. We send the email out to the first few families at the top of our list and work our way down the list until we have the litter fully allocated. The email that we send out to our families will show photos of the mom and dad and puppies from our newest litter. It will also tell you the go home date for this litter. The email will also list all of our upcoming confirmed pregnant litters, their go home dates and projected sizes and colors. When we are assigning families to go on a particular litter we do not do puppy allocation until the puppies are 8 weeks of age. So, we usually ask everyone to have a strong like for nearly every puppy in the litter. We do prefer to assign families to a particular gender at the time of litter allocation. But not the specific puppy. We like to give the puppies time to develop and mature prior to assigning puppies to family. There is no way to know at birth what the disposition of a puppy is going to be. We do not place puppies with families strictly based on color or patterns. We need to ensure that we have a good mental fit as well as the look that each family is looking for. We want all of our families to have the complete package when they are adopting a puppy from us. I would like to elaborate so that parameters are clearly defined and everyone has a clear expectation of how puppy allocation works. I've always found it to be most helpful when everyone is on the same page.
Here is how puppy allocation works:
Families are given options of a litter. Once you are offered a position for a litter that you want to be placed on you will be placed on that litter in the order in which your deposit was received. The only thing we ask at that time is what gender are you most interested in.
When the puppies reach 7.5 weeks of age we will take the litter to the vet for their well baby exams, microchip installation and first vaccination.
+/- 3 days of 8 weeks of age we have an AKC judge come to our home to evaluate each puppy for structural integrity. We have been doing this for at least the last 3.5 years. In doing this it helps us to pick the right puppies to continue on with. As a breeder we should only be breeding the puppies with the best structure, bite, coat and the best disposition. It's very common that we will keep 1-3 puppies back from each litter as breeding prospects for both ourselves and to share with other breeders. I come from an AKC Golden Retriever show background. I think one of the things that is missing most within this breed is structure. Many breeders breed for the cute factor. I love breeding for the cute factor. But it's imparative that the structure of the dog & mental stability comes first.
The way we work our program does delay the selection process of the puppies to each family. But it ensures that we are retaining only breeding quality puppies for ourselves and other breeders. How does this impacts all future puppy families? As breeders we can do everything that we can do with health testing, training and working with our dogs to ensure that we are bringing the best possible puppies into this world. But if we are not concerned with structure we could be bringing a lot of heartache into the world. Which in turn is handed down to the pet families. When a puppy does not have proper structure they have increased risk of injury and long term joint issues, torn ACL's, hip issues and all of this can come with prolonged pain. Lots of this could be avoided if breeders are breeding with structure in mind. The only time that you can evaluate a puppy for structure is 3 day +/- 8 weeks of age or once they are fully developed. Immediately after the whelping of a litter I email Pat Hastings to get our structural evaluation booked. She flies all over the world evaluating puppies. She can be difficult to get booked and there is only a 6 day window of opportunity to have this completed. Otherwise you have to wait until the dogs are about 18 months old.
After the structural evaluation is completed we take a few minutes to review the information and then we start calling each family to discuss dispositions of the various puppies and the lifestyle and home dynamics of each family to see which puppies would be best suited for which families. This is always completed in the order in which deposits are received. We speak to everyone prior to place puppies. Almost always everyone has a different favorite puppy. I've only had it not work out the way everyone wanted a couple of times.
The main thing we want to make sure of is we really want everyone to love 99% of the puppies from a litter prior to accepting a position on that litter. We strive to have all of our puppies go to their new families all on the same day. We do not want a puppy left behind waiting for a family to come along. It's too hard on the puppy. So, someone changing their mind at the last minute because they are not getting the ONLY puppy in the litter that they like is highly avoidable. It's not fair to the puppy. If you only like 1 out of 10 puppies in a litter please just say, "pass". You can pass as many times as you want until you see a litter of puppies that gets you jazzed! If you continually pass on litters, you will simply move up the list as others above you take a puppy from a litter.
The one thing that I would like to ask of everyone... once you are on our reservations list and we send you a notice that we had a litter please take 2 seconds and respond back to me as soon as possible to let us know if you would like to go on that list or if you would like to pass. f you want to wait because the timing is not great, the color or patterns is not what you are looking for or the size is not right PLEASE just respond back with a quick note: PASS. It helps speed up the process so much and is very much greatly appreciated. Otherwise we have to wait for 24 hours before we can go to the next family.
Pre-Covid puppy orientation used to take 60-90 minutes and was completed prior to meeting the puppies in our living room. Now puppy orientation is done via a PDF file that everyone is given prior to coming to pick up their puppies. For the first time in nearly 15 years we are having to work with families via pictures and a telephone conversation for the puppy selection process. At this time, we are not allowing groups of families into our home. Contracts, payments and puppy selection will be completed prior to coming to pick up your puppy. We have a well stocked online store. You can order everything you need from a dog bowl to a kennel. My grandkids love pulling the orders and getting all the puppy packs ready to go for each family. Our pricing is the same as you can get things for on Amazon but it's here and ready for you when you pick up your puppy.
I’m happy to say that we have everything you will need to take your puppy home. Everything from dog kennels, to toys and food bowls, beds, grooming supplies..... We have created an online store on our website for you to review. You can shop online before you arrive, and we will have everything boxed up for you and ready to go upon your arrival. Each family will have their own designated time for pickup and only one family will be here at a time. After you read through this email please feel free to reach out and call me with any questions. Thanks!
A bit about our program:
Our breeding program is centered around producing intelligent, structurally correct conformation, well-tempered dogs. We work with several therapy agencies that have enjoyed working with and training our dogs for various lines of service work.
We do not operate a facility. All of our puppies are raised in our home. We actively socialize the puppies on a daily basis. We do participate in early sensory development stimulation exercises with the puppies starting at day 3. Here is a YouTube video of the exercises being completed on puppies: Bio-Sensory Link. As well we implement Puppy Culture method of raising confident, well-adjusted puppies.
I have three grandkids that live just down the street that are usually here as the puppies are being born and here nearly every day to help socialize the puppies. The puppies are very well socialized by small children. And receive lots of snuggle time! Also, our guardian families tend to LOVE puppies! One of the benefits of being a guardian family with us is they get endless opportunities for puppy snuggles. Usually during the week, we have at least 4-5 of our different families that come in for puppy snuggles. Seems like there is a different family here nearly every day of the week. Everyone knows the routine and they dig in and help out with everything from bio-sensory stimulation to washing puppies and nail trims and best of all puppy snuggles! It takes a village to raise a well-balanced, well socialized litter of puppies. The more we can expose our puppies in a safe, clean environment the better the puppy/dog will be when you take them home.
Current Litters:
If you like us on Facebook, you will have the opportunity to get to know our dogs and will have access to the most up to date information and puppy photos… We post photos on FB usually several times per week. Check us on our FB page: https://www.facebook.com/moonlitacreslabradoodles/ for the most up to date photos. Most of our puppies are in the 20-35# range. We update facebook several times a week. We also update each litters webpage weekly with new photos to document birth - eight weeks of age.
Available Puppies:
At this time, we have puppies available from our current litters. I think this is the first time in 15 years that I've been able to say that! We usually have a steady flow of gorgeous litters. Let us know if you see something that is of interest to you. It is common to have to place a deposit down prior to being allocated to a litter especially since COVID.
Here is a link to our current litters… our page is updated daily: https://www.moonlitacres.com/current-litters-puppies-available At the bottom of this page you can scroll down to a button that will take you to our up and coming litters.
Here is a link to our upcoming litters that have already honeymooned... If you click on each of the pairings it will show you additional photos of the mom and dad. Enjoy!
Here is a sneak peek at our upcoming litters:
https://www.moonlitacres.com/planned-australian-labradoodle-pups
We’ve had many people that thought they wanted a puppy from one particular litter and then as we begun posting photos of the different girls people are piquing an interest in a different litter. So, we’ve decided to add everyone to one big list and after a litter of puppies is born, we will contact individuals in the order in which the deposits were received. Everyone will then be given an opportunity to pick which litter they would like a puppy from. This takes the pressure off and allows everyone a lot more options as well as additional time to get to know the dogs through photos that we are posting online.
We do not accept reservations based on a specific litter until the litter is born and we have worked our way through our current reservations list. The reason behind this is, because sometimes girls don't get pregnant. Or they have a gender heavy litter. A couple of weeks ago one of my girls had a litter of 9 girls and 1 boy. I had some disappointed boy families.
We currently have about 35 families that have placed a deposit down. Some are wanting a large medium, some a micro mini, some what a red/white parti while others may want a chocolate tuxedo with blue eyes. Each litter is so unique just like the personal preferences of each family that is adopting a puppy. It pretty much makes it impossible to have a litter specific reservation with so many moving parts. So, a long time ago we decided to have one master reservations list in the order in which deposits are received. And it's worked out so much better! At this time since COVID restrictions have lessened, many of the families that have placed deposits with us are not ready for a puppy at this time and have decided to travel first and then get a puppy. This is creating opportunities for families that may not have been expecting to get a puppy quite so soon.
Each time a litter is born I send an email with a link to the newest litter puppy page that includes photos of the new babies. The email will have the go home dates the gender availability of the current new litter as well, as much information that we have at the time about our next upcoming litters that have already been bred and or are confirmed pregnant. I will ask each person if they are interested in our current litter or if they would like to wait for one of our upcoming litters. Usually if we have a litter of 10 puppies I will have to reach out to at least 20-25 families on our list until the litter is fully allocated.
After a litter is born and we have reached out to everyone if we have puppies available after then we will take litter specific reservations from new puppy families. I hope this clarifies how our reservations process works.
If after reading all of this you are interested in getting on our reservations list please message me at dana@moonlitacres.com and let me know when you are available to schedule a telephone call.
Puppy selection process:
Puppy allocation recently has been completed the day before puppies are picked up by their new families. It's actually gone so much better than I ever thought possible. In addition having to have individual pick up times has given us the individual time with each family to teach the families some of the commands that the puppies already know. Puppy pick up days are the best! They are always LOTS of fun!
We have started doing puppy orientation online via a PDF. There is no way for me to do individual puppy orientations so we put it all into a PDF document and ask everyone to read it prior to puppy pick up. It's going pretty well. Every time someone comes up with a question we go back and modify the document to include that question. I keep thinking that we will stop adding questions but they keep coming 😍
We do have a page setup on our website called the Family Page. Once you have selected a litter to receive a puppy from you will be sent a link to the Family Page. This page is a hidden page on our website that is setup only for the families that are on a litter reservation. Once you are assigned to a litter I will send you a link to the hidden page and you will be given a TON of information to pour through. We usually have this link to all the families by the time the puppies are 2 weeks old along with contracts and invoices.
Order selection….
On occasion I will have someone who is adopting a puppy that has concerns over having last pick in the puppy selection process. We just had a litter of puppies go home just a bit ago and the way that it always just works out the way that it’s supposed to just amazes me. So, I’m adding this blurb to my intro letter to share a bit about the puppy selection process.
Years ago, we had a litter that went home. It was a litter of 5, 3 boys and 2 girls. One of the families that was coming to pick up their puppy that had last pick male was VERY concerned that they were not going to get Bronco. They had two children, their son really liked Aqua Man and their younger daughter REALLY liked Bronco. Throughout the last week that the puppies were with us there was quite a bit of communication between the family and myself. They were extremely concerned that they were not going to get the puppy that they wanted. I asked them to trust me and to trust the process. The first family came in to pick their male puppy and they took Aqua Man… he was the one that had really been hoping for and they had a fabulous connection. Next family comes in, sits down and plays with the puppies and the kids want Grinch. The last family comes in… and I had taken the collar off of the puppy and replaced it with his Moonlit Acres puppy collar that we provide. I did not want the family to know which puppy they were playing with. The family came in, played with the puppy… the little girl was in love and finally said, “I don’t care which one he is… I LOVE him!” When I told her that it was Bronco she almost started crying.
The reason for this story is to explain that every puppy is VERY special in their own way. Puppies are attracted to certain people, which in turn causes people to fall in love and be attracted to that particular puppy… Puppies will pick their right family when given a chance. I am always amazed by this process and how well it works. At week 8 – day of puppy take home, every single family ended up with their 1st choice puppy that they had at week 7 with zero outside influences.
How our reservations list works….
We have found that keeping a master reservations list in the order in which deposits come in has worked better for us rather than having a reservations list based off of a specific litter. Sometimes a girl doesn’t get pregnant, sometimes they miscarry, sometimes they have a one sided gender litter. We recently had a litter of 10 puppies, 9 girls and 1 boy. I had some disappointed male families that had been waiting. Years ago we switched to a master reservations list.
Each time a litter is born, I take photos of the puppies and set up a webpage for the litter. I send out an email to the families on our reservations list stating at the top of the list and I work my way down the list until the litter is fully allocated. In my letter that I send out to the families I offer a link to preview our current litter that I am emailing about and I also send a spreadsheet showing all of our upcoming litters that have already been bred. In that information I also include information regarding due dates, go home dates, approximate size and colors in applicable.
If we have a litter of 10 we usually have to contact 20-25 families in order to have the litter fully allocated. We had a litter of 5 babies born this spring. We went through 23 families on our list before I finally got to new families that were ready for a puppy. We cleaned up our reservations list and moved some people to a different list where they will need to reach out to us when they are ready.
Testing:
All of our adult dogs are tested and certified for:
* Hips
* Elbows
* Eyes – every 12-18 months
* Heart
* Temperament
* PawPrints Genetic Panel
All of our puppies are adopted at 8 weeks of age and have the following:
• 1st round of immunizations
• 3 de-wormings: 3, 5 & 7 weeks of age
• Fecal exam by vet at week 6.5
• Micro-chipped
• ALAA registration or WALA Registration
• Very well socialized and loved by small children and adults as well as other dogs
that live with me.
• We start the potty-training process at week three with the use of pee pads. We then graduate to a combination of outside play & potty time as well as indoor potty stations. When our puppies go home, they are usually 90% potty trained for potty stations when indoor. Which makes the next step-in potty-training supper easy. I do highly recommend getting potty bells for the door and using potty bells it will make your life so much easier in the long run. For what ever
reason you can hear those things throughout the house!
The families that have our puppies are our best source of referral. We welcome and encourage communication and a continued relationship long after you’ve received your puppy! I find it extremely difficult when one of our puppies leave and we never hear from them again. These puppies are a huge part of our lives for the first 8 weeks of their lives. The imprinting done on these puppies is invaluable. It’s not uncommon for me to see one of our puppies 12-24 months after they’ve left our home and the puppies will recognize my voice and smell. It always gives a warm, fuzzy feeling when they are excited to see us again. We very much want communication after the puppy has left our home. Feedback on how smart the puppies are, how responsive, their overall health and longevity and their temperament is vital to our breeding program. Receiving feedback is the only way we can improve our breeding program and ensure that we are producing sound, healthy, SMART puppies.
Guardian Program:
At this time, we only have one doodle that live with us full time, Ruby. We are very lucky to have a large extended Moonlit Acres family across Oregon and Washington. Most of our dogs live in what is called a guardian home. A guardian family basically shares our breeding dogs with us. The dog is placed in their forever home at a very young age and is later incorporated into our breeding program after passing all health certifications. Raising our breeding dogs in this fashion allows us to be confident that all of our dogs are loved “family” dogs, that do not live in kennels. They have their very own family that will walk them, play with them, love on them and care for them. There are some strong benefits to participating in a guardian program.
· The initial adoption fee is $1750 which is half price. As you complete training you can earn $500 cash back.
· You get the best of the best. 1st pick female from our litters are usually placed with guardian families. We pick for structure and disposition.
· You get unlimited puppy snuggles when your girl has puppies – guardian families are encouraged to come for puppy visits throughout the time your girl is with us for puppies.
· Private training classes are available at a fraction of the price. All of our guardian dogs go through private/group training lessons together. We host private group lessons just for our dogs that are taught through Man’s Best Friend in Battle Ground WA. The classes are always on a Saturday. Usually every other Saturday. There are times that we skip two weeks. Classes start when the puppies are at least 4 months of age. The classes are 90 minutes. Here is a link to our training page to give you an example of some of the training that we do: https://www.moonlitacreslabradoodles.com/training The classes are limited to 10 dogs per class but usually have 6-8. The classes run $450 and take you from basic obedience through the Good Canine Citizen testing. The classes are amazing, and the families LOVE the classes. The classes also help the girls to stay in touch with us which makes it easier when they come home to have babies. It also helps the guardian families to develop bonds with other families and they end up having a built-in support group for dog care if they are leaving town and or puppy romps.
· We cover all breeding vet bills and genetic testing… our guardian families cover everyday vet care and food.
At times we will have junior adult dogs available that are trained and other times we have 8-week-old puppies available. We are always looking for great guardian families that will provide a loving, supportive, safe home for our breeding dogs. Male guardians must live within 30 minutes of our home. Female guardians can live up to 3 hours away.
· We whelp & raise the puppies in our home. The girls stay with us until their puppies are weaned & their milk has dried up and then they return to their guardian homes to be with their family.
For more information regarding our guardian program please click here: Guardian Family Information
The adoption fee for our puppies is $3500 with limited ALAA or WALA registration. We are located about 25 minutes north of the Portland, OR airport. In situations where you are unable to travel to pick up your puppy, we can arrange to have myself (if available) or one of our puppy socializers bring you a puppy to the airport in your city. There is an additional fee for this. The fees are the cost of the ticket for the person bringing the puppy to you and the puppy ticket plus a fee of $300-$400 depending upon your location. We have several young adults that get a kick out of visiting various airports and having a meal in a strange city. :-) May there always be a never-ending supply of young adults that like to travel to see strange airports and give puppy snuggles along the way.
If you haven’t already done so and you are interested in making an application for one of our upcoming puppies, please visit our application page and complete our online application. Application form
What’s the next step?
If you are interested in one of our puppies we would love the opportunity to talk with you for a few minutes. Please feel free to reach out and schedule a call. Please do not place a deposit until we've talked on the phone. We are located in Vancouver, WA and are on Pacific Standard Time.
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Thanks!
Dana Logan
Moonlit Acres
360-980-1926