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ABOUT US

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My name is Sheri Rouse and my husband is Carl. We’ve been where you are right now. A few years ago, we had to decide between adopting from a shelter or purchasing an intentionally bred, health guaranteed puppy from a breeder.

That’s when I discovered the benefits of early neural stimulation beginning on the third day of a puppy’s life. Early neural stimulation (ENS) was first developed by the military. You can read more about it here. Then I learned adding Early Scent Introduction (ESI) added to the abilities of a dog's nose and sense of confidence. We're lifetime students who enjoy learning. So, our journey continues as we're adding puppy curriculums along with our own life experience in training your puppy from day 3 to 8 weeks.

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We are a military family with the three youngest children all Navy veterans or still active duty. Our family has benefited from a service dog named Harley over the past 10 years. She saved a life three times and lived to serve.

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In 2012, my family required a service dog with the capabilities I saw in highly trained police K9s. That’s when our beloved Harley joined our family. I trained Harley as a service dog for search and alert, physical disabilities, personal protection, and emotional support. Everyone who knew Harley wanted a “Harley Dog” but Embark revealed she was a combination of nine breeds. A “Harley dog” could not be re-created. As Harley aged we researched all breeds for our next service dog. We wanted Harley to help us train the next dog.
 

Harley’s success story is statistically 1 out of 1000’s of the accidental bred pups placed for adoption. We couldn’t test 1000+ pups hoping to find our next service dog. We studied all AKC breeds.
 

Goldendoodles rose to the top of our research. The combination of two of the top dog breeds in intelligence, gentle nature with children, and low to no shed hair offered a higher probability of a successful service dog training. Adding ENS, ESI, puppy curriculums and holding therapy (my own puppy snuggle training) increases training success in this designer breed. We fell in love with Goldendoodles!

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I’ve had 35 years experience with AKC and have participated with Elle in an AKC show where Elle earned two awards at her first year. She loves to perform dog tricks, comfort anyone crying, and work as a service dog.

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GANA gained our respect as it requires breeders to submit strict health testing. LEARN MORE ABOUT GANA. I value GANA because of their rigorous processes to validate health testing, genetic assessment and lineage. Yes, it costs much more to health test and follow the upkeep with testing throughout breeding years of a dog's life but buying a GANA dog is worth the extra investment. It will save you money in the long run and potential heartbreak of genetic diseases and congenital problems.
 

After contacting numerous blue ribbon breeders on the GANA list my hopes for a puppy in the next few weeks sank. The wait list for our puppy was more than a year back then. The more I learned, the more specific my criteria became. Additionally, I had more requests to train service dogs for others. When out with Harley a week didn’t pass without someone asking where they could buy a "Harley Dog" or say, “Wow! What breed is she?" Harley is one in a lifetime. She has a gene causing a few health problems GANA tests for and if she was intentionally bred then this could have been avoided.
 

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The more we learned about Goldendoodles we knew they would bring joy to families and likely spare many heartbreaks with intentional breeding. Although we originally passed over the "Badass Breeder" program due to the seemingly offensive name, we found merit in this updated approach to training, complementing ENS & holding AKC breeders to health standards. We’re completing the steps to be certified "Badass Breeder" dog temperament tester". We test our litters at 7 weeks.

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Over twenty years ago, I bred AKC dogs with a field trial champion and other show champion lines. My father and grandfather taught me to have patience searching and sometimes traveling far for the best dog.

I had my litter at the age of 12 thanks to a loan from my parents. My dogs were always family pets first and bred on a small scale. I took a break from breeding while raising our children. During this time science available to breeders exploded. I love continuing education, teaching, training dogs, and helping a family find the best dog for them. Much of dog training success is training the humans in the household. I have a BS in K-8 education and obtained my doctorate at the age of 40. Although, at this time, we're not able to train dogs other than our puppies beginning on day 3 to through about age 8 weeks when they transition to your home. We're here to guide you. What we recommend will set you on a path for success. Many Goldendoodles work as emotional support service dogs. It's in their 

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nature. Research suggests selecting a dog with a pedigree of service improves training outcomes. Although our puppies have service dog in their pedigree they are not sold with any guarantee they will become a qualified service dog. The BAB temperament testing we perform is helpful if you are looking for dog to train for emotional or disability service.

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Carl has fallen in love with Goldendoodles. After retiring early from a long corporate consulting career, he enjoys being the favorite human in our dogs’ eyes. Carl’s secret is extra treats and being the ball throwing king. He’s everything I can’t be. Carl is completing the same training as I have. He’s excited about his participation in our early training program. Thank you for visiting Sugar Bay Doodles! We’re happy to answer your questions.

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