Below find a little bit about our purpose and mission as a breeder:
We recently completed our brand-new, state-of-the-art Kennel. Each dog has large inside runs and 20-foot outside runs, thick rubber mats, and plenty of room to run. Fresh, clean water is available 24/7 via the automatic waterers.The kennel is also 100% climate-controlled with a high-tech H-VAC system so our dogs and puppies are in a climate controlled area with a mix of fresh outside air and filtered air circulation constantly. Humidity and odors are also controlled with the new system. Our kennel is completely washed down and sanitized every day with disinfectant and hot water. We have a 'play room' for the puppies to socialize with each other as well as with ourselves and our children. Visitors may play with the puppies there as well. There is also a large outdoor fenced play area for kids and dogs and puppies to interact (in the video below). We have acres and acres for the dogs to run on and our land borders state land with a huge lake. Each mother has a private whelping area with extra heat if needed. You are welcome to come visit our kennel but we do not allow visitors into the actual housing area or whelping area for Bio-Security reasons and visitors may disturb the new mothers. We are not accepting visitors at this time, only puppy pick-ups.
We specialize in just two breeds, the Cavachon and Shichon. Our waiting lists can be long at times, but it's worth the wait to get a quality, healthy puppy! Our dogs are genetically tested and cleared for breeding and we are constantly working to improve our breeds and our policies. We have recently improved our health guarantee. We feel we have one of the best guarantees in the business! (Check it out on the recently updated Guarantee page).
We are lifetime dog owners (and horses, cats, cows, etc...) We really take our role as a breeder very seriously. We recognize the awesome responsibility it is to produce puppies, especially mixes, when it seems the shelters are overrun. However, in our 16 years of breeding professionally, we have learned a few things along the way and one of them is that not everyone has the ability or capacity to adopt. Families or individuals that are looking for companionship deserve to know what they are getting. They deserve a puppy that is going to be as healthy as possible and as trainable as can be. Families should be able to meet and interact with the parents of their puppies. People deserve to know where their puppy came from and to know that it had the absolute best start possible to ensure a healthy, happy future for the dog's lifetime and for it's new family. We strongly believe that a dog should bring joy every day. While pet ownership has it's challenges and there can be unexpected costs, we feel that a dog should not cost a family thousands of dollars in vet bills throughout it's lifetime due to poor breeding practices from uneducated, irresponsible "breeders". We do our absolute best to be sure our breeding dogs are healthy and free of genetic defects and we have been working on our lines for 16 plus years. Health is our number one concern but we also look for breed conformity and temperament of parents and puppies is VERY important to us. If there is ever a problem with any of these things, we retire the breeding pair to a pet home immediately. We feel the result of our diligence to these importance details is now allowing us to produce exactly what our goal was when we started; happy, healthy, trainable puppies that find forever homes. A wise horse trainer once said, "train a horse to be a good citizen and it will always have a home". We feel strongly that this applies to dogs and breeding as well. If we do our due diligence and produce quality puppies to the best of our ability, then socialized them properly and begin their training early, they will have a forever home. We have written in our contract that we will always take back a puppy or dog for any reason in it's lifetime so that it will not end up in a shelter. In 16 years, we've only gotten back 5 dogs and they were all because the owner's situations changed, never because of behavioral or health issues.
We are proud of our dogs and puppies and our facility. We are happy to show customers around when they visit. We work hard every day and take this seriously. It isn't a job to us; it's a mission. I love receiving the texts, emails and phone calls that puppies are adjusting and learning and bringing joy. It's the entire reason we exist. We happily sell our puppies to family, friends and acquaintances against the recommendations of other breeders. We were told when we started never to sell to family or people you know because when something goes wrong with the puppy, people you know will bother you. My parents have two of our dogs, an 11 year old Cavachon and a 1 year old Shichon. My sister that lives close to us has an 8 year old Shih Poo and a 5 month old Cavachon. My sister in Tampa has a Cavachon. My cousin in Stuart, Florida has a Doodle. We personally have two Cavachons and a Shichon. We have sold to several people in our church as well as neighbors. We are proud to sell to friends and family and feel like our customers become our family in many ways. We absolutely love to stay in touch with people after the sale and throughout the lifetime of our puppies. It's never a bother and we are always happy to help with any questions or concerns. But please keep in mind that we are not professional trainers and if you are having issues, please consider hiring a trainer!
If we have succeeded to provide a family with a happy, healthy, quality puppy to love for it's lifetime, then our goal has been accomplished. Feel free to send an email or call us to chat. I think you will find we are not like any other breeders you have come across. We will be glad to help answer any questions you may have about purchasing a puppy, whether you buy one from us or not. We would love for you to join the Shade Mountain Kennel family! We have many happy customers who have returned for two (or more!) puppies. Many people send their family and friends and many, many of our sales are through word-of-mouth. We don't do a lot of advertising at all. Our puppies and our service speak for themselves. Our puppies are in high demand so the waiting lists are long but I promise, our puppies are worth the wait!!
We are lifetime dog owners (and horses, cats, cows, etc...) We really take our role as a breeder very seriously. We recognize the awesome responsibility it is to produce puppies, especially mixes, when it seems the shelters are overrun. However, in our 16 years of breeding professionally, we have learned a few things along the way and one of them is that not everyone has the ability or capacity to adopt. Families or individuals that are looking for companionship deserve to know what they are getting. They deserve a puppy that is going to be as healthy as possible and as trainable as can be. Families should be able to meet and interact with the parents of their puppies. People deserve to know where their puppy came from and to know that it had the absolute best start possible to ensure a healthy, happy future for the dog's lifetime and for it's new family. We strongly believe that a dog should bring joy every day. While pet ownership has it's challenges and there can be unexpected costs, we feel that a dog should not cost a family thousands of dollars in vet bills throughout it's lifetime due to poor breeding practices from uneducated, irresponsible "breeders". We do our absolute best to be sure our breeding dogs are healthy and free of genetic defects and we have been working on our lines for 16 plus years. Health is our number one concern but we also look for breed conformity and temperament of parents and puppies is VERY important to us. If there is ever a problem with any of these things, we retire the breeding pair to a pet home immediately. We feel the result of our diligence to these importance details is now allowing us to produce exactly what our goal was when we started; happy, healthy, trainable puppies that find forever homes. A wise horse trainer once said, "train a horse to be a good citizen and it will always have a home". We feel strongly that this applies to dogs and breeding as well. If we do our due diligence and produce quality puppies to the best of our ability, then socialized them properly and begin their training early, they will have a forever home. We have written in our contract that we will always take back a puppy or dog for any reason in it's lifetime so that it will not end up in a shelter. In 16 years, we've only gotten back 5 dogs and they were all because the owner's situations changed, never because of behavioral or health issues.
We are proud of our dogs and puppies and our facility. We are happy to show customers around when they visit. We work hard every day and take this seriously. It isn't a job to us; it's a mission. I love receiving the texts, emails and phone calls that puppies are adjusting and learning and bringing joy. It's the entire reason we exist. We happily sell our puppies to family, friends and acquaintances against the recommendations of other breeders. We were told when we started never to sell to family or people you know because when something goes wrong with the puppy, people you know will bother you. My parents have two of our dogs, an 11 year old Cavachon and a 1 year old Shichon. My sister that lives close to us has an 8 year old Shih Poo and a 5 month old Cavachon. My sister in Tampa has a Cavachon. My cousin in Stuart, Florida has a Doodle. We personally have two Cavachons and a Shichon. We have sold to several people in our church as well as neighbors. We are proud to sell to friends and family and feel like our customers become our family in many ways. We absolutely love to stay in touch with people after the sale and throughout the lifetime of our puppies. It's never a bother and we are always happy to help with any questions or concerns. But please keep in mind that we are not professional trainers and if you are having issues, please consider hiring a trainer!
If we have succeeded to provide a family with a happy, healthy, quality puppy to love for it's lifetime, then our goal has been accomplished. Feel free to send an email or call us to chat. I think you will find we are not like any other breeders you have come across. We will be glad to help answer any questions you may have about purchasing a puppy, whether you buy one from us or not. We would love for you to join the Shade Mountain Kennel family! We have many happy customers who have returned for two (or more!) puppies. Many people send their family and friends and many, many of our sales are through word-of-mouth. We don't do a lot of advertising at all. Our puppies and our service speak for themselves. Our puppies are in high demand so the waiting lists are long but I promise, our puppies are worth the wait!!
A text message received Monday April 20, 2020 from a Cavachon puppy picked up Saturday:
Hi. Dylan again. Thanks again for everything! Harper (her new name) has been nothing but amazing since I got her! She's already almost potty trained, and is learning commands. She's such a smarty! She didn't even take 24 hours before warming up, she went straight to full happy puppy!