Living with a sense of purpose.

IntentionCanine.com

Properly planned Responsibly raised Sensibly socialized Thoughtfully trained Prudently placed

Health Screen Parents

Since many heritable conditions in dogs are the result of the puppy receiving two defective genes, one from each parent (in the case of a double recessive inheritance pattern), out-cross breeding can reduce the chance for a puppy to present with a condition that is only prevalent in one parent’s breed. This is sometimes referred to as hybrid vigor. Of course, some conditions exist in related breeds, or even across most breeds, such as defective hip conformation (hip dysplasia). Not all heritable conditions are caused by a single gene. That said, some defects cannot be controlled, even if they are heritable and diagnostic test exist. For that reason, we expect our puppy buyers to be intelligently informed about the risks of acquiring a living creature, one which will never be fully duplicated again and which will be perfectly imperfect. Our breeding dogs are tested for diseases for which there is a diagostic evaluation for conditions that are prevalent in the two breeds.

Highly Socialized

We come to the table with over 20 + years of breeding dogs for an intended purpose to a specific standard of performance. This experience has provided us significant understanding about how to best care for a dam, how to participate in whelping for the best management of mother and pups, and how to raise puppies with the intention of giving them the best possible start in life. Only then can each puppy reach its true potential.

Hypoallergenic? Not.

In a study published in 2011 out of Henry Ford Hospital, breeds often described as hypoallergenic do not shed any less dog allergen into the homes in which they reside than other breeds. While that work was done several years ago, some breeders of cross-poodle dogs continue to claim that their dogs are “hypoallergenic”. The data do not support this claim and individuals with allergy to dog-specific allergen may not experience any different reaction to a poodle-hybrid dog than any other dog. Fortunately, the actual percentage of people with dog- specific allergy is fairly low.

No / Low Shedding? Yes.

St. Poodles and Old English Sheepdogs have coats which do not routinely shed hair. POSH puppies inherit that quality and do not shed. They require routine brushing to prevent matting, and professional grooming at around 8 - 12 week intervals.

Size

The size of an adult POSH can vary significantly because it is an initial cross between two unrelated breeds, both which have fairly wide size ranges. At eight weeks old, when they go home, puppies weight between 11-14 pounds. Typically, a female will weigh between 50 and 60 pounds and a male will weigh between 60 and 75 pounds.

Care

Puppies will have been routinely wormed and have received their first vaccination (or more if they are placed after 12 weeks of age). Because of our intention to produce highly functional Service Dogs, all puppies in the litter will have been well socialized to a variety of surfaces, noises, textures, toys, grooming and interaction with people. Puppies are raised in our home around routine activity. Parent dogs are house companions. We do not maintain puppies or parent dogs in kennels. Dew Claws: We do not remove dew claws per the most recent veterinary data. Tail Docking: Why?

Puppies

Never a dull moment Training Service Dogs, maintaining our breeding dogs and raising puppies keeps us very busy. We accept visitors by appointment, but only once we have an approved application on file. Puppy visits may be arranged only after the puppies have turned six weeks old. Puppies may go home after 8 weeks of age.

Parent Dogs Our potential breeding dogs are raised as companions in our home. We feel that is the only way that we can assess their character and natural talents, ability to learn and possible shortcomings. Because it is a labor-intensive endeavor, we can only produce a small number of Service Dog every year. So, we do not keep a large kennel nor do we produce more than one or two litters of POSH puppies each year.

sheepadoodle

POSH puppy participates in children’s reading program as part of early socialization.

Children’s reading program at a local library

Dasha at 6 months: Raised and placed as a Service Dog

Daisy at 6 months Raised and placed as a Service Dog

Lacey at 1 year old Photo sent in by her new owners

Oscar’s owner reports that, on a normal day he is a big goofball at best. But, he lives with two chronically ill children. On days that they need him, he instinctively knows how to comfort them.

If you sent me a photo of your POSH puppy and you don’t see it here, please realize it’s not intentional. I may fail to move a photo I receive in email to my POSH folder and then I lose track before I have the time to upload new material to the site. Feel free to send new photos and I will do my best to upload them when I get the opportunity!

POSH puppy owner’s reunion. Boogie (left) Honey & Strudel (right)