Guardian Home Program
A meaningful partnership. A family dog of your own.
Our Guardian Home Program gives a carefully selected local family the opportunity to welcome one of our puppies into their home for a $500 placement fee, rather than paying the traditional purchase price.
She is your family dog in every way that matters — growing up in your home, joining your family's adventures, and being loved as your own. The difference is that, during her breeding years, we remain connected and work together when she's needed as part of the Macaroonadoodles breeding program.
For the right family, it's a pretty special arrangement: you get to welcome an exceptional, thoughtfully raised puppy into your family at a significantly lower upfront cost, and we get to know that one of the dogs in our program is growing up exactly where we want her — in a loving home of her own.
Guardian Home placement fee: $500
We cover her initial puppy vaccinations before she goes home, along with expenses specifically related to breeding. Guardian families simply cover the everyday costs of caring for their dog — food, grooming, routine veterinary care, future vaccinations and boosters, preventatives, and any care unrelated to breeding — just as they would with any family pet.
What It Actually Looks Like
Mostly, it looks like being a great dog owner
Day to day, life with a guardian dog looks like life with any well-loved family dog. Here's the everyday part — and then the small handful of things that are a little different.
The everyday part
We ask guardian families to give her the same wonderful life they'd give any dog of their own:
- A loving, stable home where she's part of the family
- A safely fenced yard
- Potty training and crate training
- Professional grooming approximately every 6–8 weeks
- Appropriate exercise and socialization
- Routine veterinary care and vaccinations
- Quality nutrition and everyday preventative care
The part that's a little different is simply being willing to work with us during her breeding years.
Managing normal heat cycles
Because guardian dogs remain intact until they retire from our program, families need to be comfortable managing normal heat cycles and carefully preventing an accidental breeding.
In practice this is very manageable at home with a few added precautions — dog diapers indoors when helpful, and a little extra care about where she goes for a short stretch of time. Just let us know when a cycle begins.
About a week away for breeding
When it's time for breeding, she may need to be away for approximately one week, either with us or with our breeding partner.
These dates are planned well in advance and communicated with you every step of the way.
About eight weeks away for a litter
When it's time for her to have puppies, she returns to Macaroonadoodles for approximately eight weeks while she delivers and raises her litter.
We're upfront about this because it matters — it's the biggest difference between guardian life and ordinary dog life, and we want families to picture it honestly before applying.
And then she's simply home
When her breeding career is complete, Macaroonadoodles has her spayed according to our Guardian Home Agreement, our breeding involvement ends, and she stays right where she belongs — with her family, for the rest of her life.
Those are the primary ways life with a guardian dog differs from life with any other family dog. Guardian dogs also don't attend doggy daycare or traditional boarding facilities — a trusted family member or friend is ideal, and you're always welcome to check whether we're free to keep her while you're away.
Who We're Looking For
The right family matters more to us than anything
We're not looking for someone who simply wants a puppy at a lower cost. We're hoping to find a family who wants her — wholeheartedly, permanently, as one of their own. If the description below sounds like yours, we'd truly love to hear from you.
Our ideal guardian family:
- ✓Lives locally enough to make the partnership practical
- ✓Has a securely fenced yard
- ✓Is committed to crate training and potty training
- ✓Will maintain regular professional grooming
- ✓Provides excellent everyday care and routine veterinary care
- ✓Is comfortable managing an intact female and her heat cycles
- ✓Is comfortable with the planned times she'll be with us for breeding and raising puppies
- ✓Communicates well, and is flexible and easy to work with
- ✓Most importantly, wants this dog because they genuinely want her to be part of their family
Why we do it this way
It's really pretty simple: we want our dogs to have wonderful lives.
A Guardian Home allows one of our breeding dogs to grow up in a loving family, where she is cared for as their own and gets to enjoy all the normal things that come with being a family dog. At the same time, she remains an important part of our family and our breeding program.
That's also why the relationship we have with our Guardian families matters so much to us. There will be times when their dog comes back to stay with us, and we want her to feel completely comfortable here, too. When she's with us, she'll be welcomed into our home and loved and cared for just like one of our own dogs.
Ultimately, we're looking for a family who feels the same way we do: that her happiness, health, and quality of life come first. When that's the foundation, the rest of the partnership tends to come pretty naturally.
Interested in becoming a guardian family?
Because this is such an important relationship, we ask prospective guardian families to complete a short application so we can learn a little about your family, home, lifestyle, and what you're looking for in a dog.
If it seems like we may be a good fit for one another, we'll reach out personally to talk through the program, answer your questions, and make sure everyone feels comfortable before moving forward.