All of our breeding poodles live with us or are placed in carefully selected guardian homes.  We strongly feel that dogs need to live in a home, so that they understand that they are part of the family.  
Puppies newborn to three weeks old are kept in our bathroom where I can keep the heat turned up for them. Our puppies are held several times a day by myself and my children, so that by the time they leave they are used to kid noises and household noises. 
After three weeks of age, puppies are transitioned into a puppy play pen. They have a play area, sleeping area, and eliminating tray set up in the playpen.  During this time they start potty training. At seven weeks of age, the pups start crate training at night with each puppy sleeping alone in its own crate.
Puppies get their nails trimmed every two weeks and have had two to three trims with the clippers by the time they are ready to go to their new homes. Worming medicine is also given regularly during their nine weeks with us. Shots and a wellness exam are done by us. The Volhard puppy aptitude test is done after seven weeks of age by my teacher friend and her daughter. Scores will be provided at the time of pick up.
​DEPOSITS ON PUPPIES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE
Pictured above: Keira, Willow, and Pipi for size comparison

Buy two puppies and get $200.00 off.

We believe that puppies do better with another pup. When you buy two at the same time, you will get $200.00 off the second one.  Another discount we offer is on Life's Abundance Dog food. Look it up under the page. 
Puppies can be shipped to approved homes. Shipping can happen via flight nanny or ground transport. You will need to call for a quote.

Thoughts on the CDDY gene...

Please Note:   A large number of miniature and toy poodles carry one or two copies of CDDY--here in the US and Europe.
Please do not be alarmed!  Poodles have not shown to be affected by CDDY/ IVDD like other breeds such as the Beagle, Corgi or Dachshund.
Geneticists are not recommending we remove carriers and those with two copies from our breeding programs
because it could result in bottlenecking the miniature poodle breed.
Click on the button below to view UC Davis article on CDDY/IVDD
In some breeds such as Beagles, Cocker Spaniels, and Dachshunds (among others–the CDDY gene is found in nearly all dogs) the variant can cause IVDD. While those breeds listed are known to have an elevated risk of IVDD, many dogs in those breeds never develop IVDD. For purebreds of other breeds the CDDY gene does not lead to IVDD.  In poodles,  the CDDY gene is said to affect 2% of the population with IVDD.  I have not been able to locate an affected poodle with IVDD.  In sharing this information with a vet that came to us from Chicago to buy her clinic dog, she asked me why I am bothering to test my dogs.  I replied that it affects two percent of the population to which she replied, “It affects two percent of the entire dog population.  In my thirty years of working in the emergency room in Chicago, I have never seen a poodle come in with IVDD–it’s mostly beagles.”
Here at Great Lakes Poodles we are still breeding our poodles that have one copy as it is not considered a high risk.  There is a greater risk in only breeding the poodles that do not carry it as they are few and you could bottleneck the breed by lowering the diversity genetic pool.