Hi There!
A lot has changed in the “Doodle World” in the past year, so I would like to explain how SCP is adapting and the exciting litters we have upcoming!
The Declining Market
In the past, I would say about 18 months, the puppy market, in general, has completely flipped. Covid led to a huge spike of demand, then new breeders popped up everywhere increasing the supply, and now the supply is outweighing the demand. You can now see AKC papered purebreds going for $500 or less. I even see some people giving away AKC labs. How has this affected what we are doing at SCP?
First of all, I do not want to create puppies if it will be difficult to find them homes. Because of this, we have recently retired about 40% of our females and are skipping many heat cycles. The alternative would be to cut prices drastically, but then have to produce a lot more puppies, which is what some breeders are doing, but that is not what I want to do. We are only breeding our most popular breeds, and still having to cut 2022 prices by around 25% just to be competitive.
Our Philosophy- Inside the Head of the Breeder
My #1 concern is creating the highest quality puppy, with a sound temperament, that can fit into any family, and will live a long, healthy life. Your daily expenses are going up, and ours have skyrocketed as well. Our average cost to raise a puppy (with us working for 100% free) is over $2000 per puppy. I could easily decrease this by: feeding our dogs and puppies a low quality food, skipping vet exams, skipping vaccines or doing them myself, making the moms breed more litters before retiring, using the cheapest bloodlines I can find, raising the puppies in kennels outside instead of our home, skipping all health testing on the parents, and the list goes on and on. We have invested a lot of time and money into our puppies to make them the highest quality and to give them the best life. This is the difference in a $500 and a $3000 puppy.
Advertising
Over the past 3 years or so, Facebook and Instagram have stopped putting our posts in newsfeeds, even in our followers feeds. This is the case for the majority of business pages because they are wanting businesses to pay for exposure and advertising. We used to find around 30% of our customers through social media, and now that has dropped to about 5%. We are 95% word of mouth/ referral today. As a thank you, we are now offering $100 Visa Virtual Gift Cards to the referrer, as long as they are mentioned in the application, after the deposit is paid.
Discounts
We have 2 new discounts we are excited to offer! Only one discount per puppy.
$250 off for repeat SCP Customers
$250 off for military/ veterans
Upcoming Litters
We are expecting Heidi and Jay’s mini Golden Mountain Doodles October 7th! This litter was just confirmed via ultrasound! Yay! I would describe these puppies as the best all-around. Not too lazy, not too hyper. Not too outgoing, not too shy. I expect them to be middle of the road, level-headed puppies that will fit into 95% of families’ lifestyles.
We just finished breeding Cardi and Argo for mini Golden Mountain Doodles that will be due in November and ready by Jan 6, 2024. The color combinations they can produce are simply breath-taking. Argo is younger than I like to breed males, but his genetics are simply perfect for Cardi. For this reason I also let Ollie, Argo’s dad, breed Cardi at the end of her cycle just to increase our odds of a successful pregnancy. I recommend these puppies for families that are more home than away. Very loving puppies that need attention.
Golden Mountain Doodles… Why?
A GMD is a combination of poodle, Bernese mountain dog, and golden retriever. The first answer as to why is because I do not want to be limited on the availability of genetics I can use, aka Goldendoodles should only breed to Goldendoodles. Each of the dogs in our breeding program has strengths and weaknesses. Other than JellyBean, who is perfect. Let’s say I have a goldendoodle who is too high energy for my liking, but is perfect in every other way. If I have a super calm bernedoodle stud, then I could breed them together. More than likely, some may get the higher energy from the mom, but I could keep back the calmest puppy to continue the bloodline. This is why we have Australian Labradoodle in a lot of our bloodlines because they are naturally calmer and have amazing coats. Another example is bernedoodles tend to have more hip laxity than other doodles, leading to higher odds of hip dysplasia as they age. If I have a goldendoodle with very strong, tight hips then I want to have him as an option. I am looking at over 50 factors/ traits when deciding who breeds and who does not, and who gets paired with whom.
Other Upcoming Breedings
I feel like I have to state this all the time, but I do not have the control on when a female is going to ovulate. Some females cycle every 6 months and others go beyond 12 months! Dogs do not cycle monthly like humans, cows, horses, etc.
We should have 3 goldendoodle litters coming in the next 6 months. One medium, one small mini, and one petite sized litter! All of these are open for deposit.
We are also hoping for Zoey to come in heat soon for a Small Standard sized Golden Mountain Dog litter. Stay tuned to our Facebook and/or IG for when this breeding takes place.
Fall 2023 Doodle Romp
The weather should be cooling down soon, and we hope to have another Doodle Romp/ Reunion. Date and Time TBD. Location: I am looking at the Dream Dog Park in Alabaster or Remy’s Dog Park at Red Mountain. If you have a better location, please let me know!
SPAM Bots on our FB Page
If you comment on our facebook posts, and then someone replies to your comment with a link, do not click it! I don’t know why Facebook is not doing something about this, but I delete and ban the account every time this happens. Still they have thousands of accounts and spam me every day.