Every POSH puppy is Socialized & Loved Not every pup in a litter can become a Service Dog. Once you fill out an application, we will put you on our waiting list for one of our puppies that is not selected for Service Dog work. Every puppy receives our exceptional socialization from the day it is born, and will have been raised with great care and lots of love.

Our Intention at Intention Canine As professional Service Dog trainers, we are often asked to provide our clients with a low- shedding breed of dog. Most folks suggest a “doodle.” For years we anguished over the prospect of finding such a dog for our clients. While the original Australian Labradoodle was created as just that, a low-shedding Service Dog, my experience tells me that most “doodle” breeders in the USA are simply thowing a poodle with a retriever (Labrador or Golden) and creating lots of puppies. Even the US breeders who have imported the “true” Australian Labradoodle do not necessarily breed with a motive other than to make money. They often practice what is referred to as “guardianship” arrangements which places high priced puppies into homes for a lower cost with the intention of taking back that pet to breed it. If a breeder cannot properly care for all of the dogs she wants to breed, she needs to limit the number of dogs she owns. That’s how we feel. Many of the “in it for the quick cash” breeders do not routinely check for heritable defects in their breeding stock. Those that do may consider it a positive attibute, but they cannot explain why they are producing puppies, except to sell them. Few concern themselves with breeding to a defined standard since, well, “designer” dogs don’t typically have a breed standard. Finding a quality “doodle” is quite an undertaking when one approaches it with traditional values. All breeds of dogs were originally created with intention and a distinct purpose. People who acquired a dog took into consideration the breed character in order to best utilize the dog’s inherent aptitudes and trainable skills. Sadly, today most people purchase a dog based on the cuteness of its name, regardless of whether it has qualities that mesh well with their own lifestyle. This can lead to a serious mismatch of the pet’s disposition relative to the person’s expectations for the dog. With thirty years of experience training dogs, we know a little bit about what characteristics are desirable in a Service Dog. Outside of the Service Dog realm, we have specialized in knowing, training, exhibiting and breeding herding dogs to a herding-working standard (breeding for and training for herding trial work as well as daily ranch work). The herding breeds are known for their intelligence, trainability, desire to please, stick-to-it- ness, loyalty and desire to partner. Those are all great qualities for a Service Dog. However, in general, the herding breeds can be a bit “too much” dog for a typical Service Dog handler. The reason that the retrievers are often chosen as Service Dog candidates is because they are less inclined to take advantage of a person who lacks strong leadership skills. Yet, training a herding dog is so much easier for us, most of the time, because we understand their minds and we prize their strong work ethic. They are typically very interested in performing at very high standards to please their person. With those concepts in mind and our experience working with dozens of breeds (and mixes), we have embarked on a mission. When a client requests a low-shedding breed, we do not want to have to sift through the hundreds of “doodle” breeders for an appropriate dog. We have done that over and over again, only to be disappointed. Curiously, many of our clients are not interested in having a St. Poodle as their Service Dog for a variety of reasons, sometimes it’s just a personal perference that we cannot over-ride with data. Having trained a number of St. Poodles, we find their high center-of-gravity to be a plus for mobility work, and they can posess a sensitivity that is valuable for Service Dog work, especially with psychiatric disabilities. However, we do not find them as gifted at problem solving as many of the herding breeds, but they are rarely considered stubborn or sharp. We want to satisfy the need for a low-shed Service Dog that is highly trainable, loyal and dedicated to the job that has a good disposition and can fit well into most homes. We prefer working with the herding-dog mind. The Old English Sheepdog has a low- shedding coat, is of substantial size, but not too large. It is known to be a bit of a clown, rather than expressing the more intense traits that many of the other herding breeds posess. However, it can also be described as a bit stubborn. The St. Poodle - Old English Sheepdog cross provides the sort of disposition, trainability, size and drive to meet many of our Service Dog client’s needs. And, so, with this intention we embark on our mission.