When we are ready to adopt a puppy for our breeding program, we look for many attributes (e.g. Health and breeding of the puppy, genetic diversity, appearance, personality, etc.), almost exactly what people look for with our puppies! We also look for the right people!
In order to have more than one litter of gorgeous puppies per year, we have a number of female dogs we have placed in "Guardian Homes." These are homes full of love who are willing and able to care for a dog. Some homes are "traditional," and some are more "current," and some are just single people. We don't evaluate "families," we look at the home and make sure it is full of love.
When we find the perfect match of available puppy, and available home, we acquire the puppy and then place the puppy into the home to live as their family dog. Some of our homes have multiple dogs in them - sometimes they are all from us, and sometimes they aren't. A couple of our Guardian Homes even have cats! (It hurts to even type that... 😄)
The family treats the puppy as their own and raises her and loves her and cares for her. We maintain the exclusive breeding rights for the dog, which is typically no more than 3 or maybe 4 litters (once per year). After that period of time, we totally relinquish any claim to the puppy and they continue to live with the family "forever."
(If you would like more info on any of this process, drop me a line at info@SherwoodFarms.dog and I would be happy to discuss it with you.)
Our most recent Guardian Home is a family my wife and I have known for years. Their oldest son, and our son were in preschool together! They have 6 children and their youngest boy has some severe special needs. He rides in a wheelchair most of the time. He's a great little guy, and he's fortunate to be in that loving family, but put it all together and it's a busy house!
Anyway, they decided to take in one of our Guardian Puppies last summer. We were so pleased they offered - even though I thought they were crazy! - because they are such a great family.
This would be their first family dog, and we knew she would eventually grow to about 90+ pounds. Oh. And she sheds!
My wife received this picture today and our hearts overflowed! This is exactly how we feel about our Bernese Mountain Dogs. We can't imagine life without them - even though they shed! This is our "Gemma" relaxing near one of her hoomans.
