Welcome to the DDD Family Care Home Program information page. This page is to introduce a new program we are putting in place to help individuals and families to be part of our extended DDD family.

 Here at DDD we have proven that to in order to excel as breeders and develop lines we need to have a broad base of readily available quality dogs with unique proven bloodlines. To date we have done this well and now can safely state DDD have the most advanced proven  lines in Australia.

Being the most advanced in Australia is nice but it is by no means the best we can be.

Until now we have been keeping up a hectic pace with all of our dogs living on our acreage with us. This had to be done in the start to closely monitor the health, temperament and performance of the dogs we were breeding. Now that we know 100% that our lines are rock solid we can take a slightly different approach regarding the lifestyle of dogs in our breeding program. 

This program has been devised to ensure all our breeding dogs are happy as well as healthy we believe they should live in a family environment. We have found that the Family Care Program also known as “Care Homes” is the best way to accomplish this. This is a very unique program that allows our breeding dogs to live their lives out as much loved family pets with our locally selected families while participating in our breeding program.

DDD selects only the very best pups’  for our breeding program so anything kept  back is a guaranteed "pick of the litter" puppy. This means anything placed in our Care Home Program will have met our strict criteria we use for scrutinizing pups to keep back.

What Criteria must a dog meet before making it into the DDD Care Program?

Like anything in life if you want to succeed you have to truly understand what tools are needed to get you there. In our case success is measured by happy families that own happy, healthy good looking DDD dogs. Knowledge gained from over 30 years’ experience in breeding and working with Pedigree dogs is our main tool and it serves us well.

 Our criteria is rather strict but to remain consistent and ensure that each generation is better than the last it needs to be. Being cute alone isn’t enough to make our program. Colour and bloodlines don’t do it either.

 Temperament, health and structure is all we look at when keeping back a pup. We list all its attributes to ensure they hold the potential to not only be a stunning happy dog but can reproduce that in their own pups’. Near enough simply isn’t good enough when choosing a breeding dog.

What is available under the DDD Care Program?

DDD places both males & female puppies along with older dogs in the Care Program. Obviously for us, colour is of less importance than the temperament, type and health of our breeding dogs, so for this reason DDD has a policy of listing what puppies/dogs we have selected for our Care Program and then match families with the selected dog/puppy.

What are the requirements of becoming a DDD Family Care home?

Firstly the program is only available to families and individuals who live within a 2.5 hour drive of DDD (Lewiston, SA).

We ask that you honestly assess your life style. You must have a safe and secure environment for a Care Home dog to ensure their safety and health. We require you to have safe reliable transportation and permanency in the area

While having previous dog ownership experience is sometimes preferred we are happy to work closely with families and individuals who are new to dog ownership. Our Care dogs are there for life so we expect them to be an important part of your family unit.

If you have another dog, provided it is NOT an entire male, it is still an option to be a DDD Care Home.

What initial costs am I looking to incur when applying for a Care Dog?

We do not give our Carr Home dogs away. We have found that a reduced price Deposit has worked very well. Regardless of the colour of the Care Dog we require Care Homes to pay a reduced price as a deposit for their puppy/dog. At the end of the Care Program we then return 50% of the deposit back to the Care as a thank you for participating.

What happens in the first 12 months of the Care Program?

If you take a puppy or young adolescent in for the Care Program the first 12 months are fairly basic. You will pick puppy up from us and puppy will live with you until their second season (heat cycle). We expect the first season to arrive between 7 - 9 months of age and the second by 18 months of age.  Upon the start of their first season you will contact us directly; if you do not have a suitably safe location for them during their season you will need to bring your puppy to DDD to stay protected with us during their season, this is to ensure that no unwanted boys come to call. The first season is usually between 14-21 days (2-3 weeks) depending on the maturity and ovulation cycle of your dog. We do not breed any dogs until their second season at the earliest so once their season is done we then contact you to come and collect your puppy. You can then expect that your puppy will come into season about 6-9 months from the start of their last season.

During their first year sometime around 12 months of age we will request the dog to come and have a photo session done, usually we try and coincide this with an already planned visit, like when they are brought for their health testing. We tend to ask that you bring your puppy back to us for a second photo shoot, we also request that you keep us updated with Photos and updates on your puppy and we love to see you and your puppy as often as possible.

By 12 months of age we require you to bring your puppy to DDD for assessment for the breeding program. If we decide not to breed with them we will then desex them at our expense and transfer ownership over to the Care home.

If we do assess them and wish to proceed, we will then pay for a range of health testing to be done. Once we get the results from all testing done, we then make a second assessment for the consideration of adding the dog into the breeding program. If we do not add the dog into the program, we will then desex them at our expense and transfer ownership to the Care Home. This is our way of being able to keep the best males & females from each litter and then have the ability to only select the best of the best to continue on with the breed’s development.

What happens after the Care Dog is 12 months old and has had their testing and final assessments completed for addition to the breeding program?

If we do add the dog to our Breeding Program we will require you to bring the Care dog to us at the start of every season that we plan to breed. During the off seasons, any season we choose not to breed during you may keep and house her with you if you have a suitably safe location for them during their season to ensure protection against unwanted matings, if it is deemed that the location is not secure they will need to come back to DDD where we can protect them from unwanted attention. Please note we do not mate our Care Home dogs on every season but we may choose to breed them on a back to back basis depending on the health of the dog. After each season they spend with us the dog returns home with you. If we have mated them while here, they will go back home with you during their gestation and we will then give you details as to when they need to return to have their litter.

We require that all pregnant Care Home Dogs to return to us 1 week prior to their due date. This ensures them time to settle in and start nesting in preparation for the birth. Once the puppies are born and Mum is settled in, her Care Home is welcome to come and visit her and the new babies while she is with us. Once the puppies are weaned sometime between 5-6 weeks of age the Care Home dog is then ready to go back home with her family. By this time the Mum is usually more than ready to have the puppies weaned and go back to her family as the puppies usually have their teeth in by 6 weeks of age!

If you decide on a DDD Male; We require him to be returned to us (with appropriate notice) for any matings we plan for them. The will stay with us for up to 4-7 days after which time He can then go Home again, until next time DDD requires him. Or if you are happy to bring the dog back and pick him up each day this is also an option. Once His puppies have arrived we will ring his family to announce the arrival of his puppies, His family is then able to visit their dogs puppies.

How Many litters will my Care Home dog be required to produce?

We require between 2-4 litters for females or 3-6 years for males from our Care Home dogs once they are in the Care Program. Each dog is individually assessed prior to entering the Care Home to determine the required litters. DDD takes the health and wellbeing of all our breeding dogs as a priority, and based on our vets assessments we will only breed our Care dogs if they are in optimum condition for each litter. If we have accomplished our goals in development from one of our Care Home dogs we may select to early retire them. We have on a number of occasions early retired our Care girls prior to completing the required litter numbers. BUT it is only DDD’s right to make that decision to desex and early retire the Care Home dog. Once your Care Home dog is retired from the breeding Program and desexed, ownership is transferred to you and they remain your family pet.

Who covers the cost of breeding and any medical costs related to breeding?

Any medical costs resulting in or related to breeding and any stud fee costs required to produce the litter are DDD’s sole responsibility.

What are the Care Home responsibilities?

Even though you are only paying a reduced price deposit on your Care Dog we require that you take top notch care of them. This means, including but not limited to: a high quality diet as outlined by us, routine veterinary care, annual vaccinations, worming and flea treatments as outlined by us, puppy and obedience training, love, exercise, care and attention, etc.. These are our babies that we place with you and we want to be assured that they will become your baby.

What are the advantages to the dog in the Care Home Program?

Our Care Home girls and boys are able to live in a family pet home environment rather than a kennel situation. Once they are retired from breeding and desexed they don’t need to be placed in a new home at an age when it could be more difficult for adjustment as they are already in their permanent home!

What are the benefits of being a Care Home?

You are getting the best that DDD has to offer as long as the dog is continued to be cared for as required. This means that in the litter the care puppy possess the best qualities as outlined in our breed standard not only for type, conformation, colour and movement but also for temperament, soundness..

If assessed for addition to our breeding program, you get a health tested dog without having to pay for any of the testing yourself.

You can potentially get a top quality DDD dog for a quarter of the going pet price.

You become part of the DDD Care Homes, where the future development of the breed worldwide is ensured for future generations to enjoy. You enjoy being part of the breeding program and seeing your dog’s puppies go across Australian and around the world.

What are the negatives of being a Care Home?

You must have reliable transport to ensure you can bring your dog to us when required for their season, which is usually about every 9 months. Along with drop off prior to whelping, any visitation during her stay with us and pick up once puppies are weaned.

Your “pet” girl would leave you for a few weeks several times during her participation in our Breeding Program. Of course they are loved and have the best of care while here but they are absent from your life during this time.

There is time involved with bringing them to and from DDD during their time in our breeding program. Arrival of seasons is in Mother Nature’s hands and it is important if we are breeding them that you are able to bring them to us within the first couple of days of the start of their season.

You may fall in love with the puppies and end up becoming a 2+ dog household! All our Care Homes have the first right to purchase a desexed pet puppy, with notice, or have first right, if a puppy is assessed as breeding quality, to taking on that puppy from their girl as a second Care Dog in the program. BUT maybe this should be under the Positives!! As they are one of the most wonderful breeds in the world!