Bear Lake Bearded Retrievers

24/06/2024

Happy 2nd Birthday to Lebo, Shiloh, Sunny, Rosie, Fofa, and Taro Root Omelette!!!!

25/04/2024

Happy first birthday to Pickles, Jin, Dune, Birdie, Chippie, Scout, and Brambleberry Butterfluff!!!!

17/12/2023

I have an announcement to make.

I've decided to retire from dog breeding. It's just not a good fit for my family and my life right now. It's been immeasurably rewarding to raise these puppies for their first 8-10 weeks. They've grown to be the best dogs I've ever met and I absolutely adore each and every one of them. Everyone who has taken one home has become like family to me and I love you all. I'm still here to support you and I can't wait to see more pictures and stories of them as the years go on.

Love always,

Alicia

16/12/2023

***Update: After many, many, many tears, Brambleberry has found her forever home and is no longer available. She's staying here. I thought I could let her go, but I cannot. I'm sorry, guys. ***

Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, I need to place Brambleberry Butterfluff in a pet home. I'm really sad, because I absolutely adore her, but my house is just too small and I have too many dogs. She's completely potty trained. She's crate trained. She's started some basic obedience training. I would estimate she's around 25 lbs. She's almost 8 months old, so she's about done growing, but she's still a puppy. She's the most affectionate and playful pup you'll ever find. She's wonderful for grooming.

Message me if you're interested.

As you may have seen, I'm also looking for a fantastic pet home for Sailor. Sailor is turning 4 years old on New Years Eve and is spayed. She's potty trained, crate trained, and obedience trained. She just retired from my program.

16/12/2023

Sailor has retired from Bear Lake Bearded Retrievers. She would love to have a family that adores her and showers her with love and affection. She's the sweetest dog and a very good girl. She's almost 4 years old and weighs around 50lbs at 20" tall. She's had basic obedience training. She's great with kids and other dogs. She's never been around cats, but is a gentle girl, so she may do well with a slow introduction.

She's very good for grooming, but has always been groomed at home. I brought her home a week or two before Covid shut everything down, so taking her to a salon wasn't an option during her habituation period as a puppy. I will give priority to any family who does their own grooming at home, because that's what she's most comfortable with. She has a thick coat of tight curls that is as low shedding as a poodle. Her coat is fun to put in different styles, because it has so much volume. If long, it requires frequent brushing and combing. She looks really cute in poodle cuts if you want a lower maintenance style. The first pic is how she looks currently.

Please send me a message if you are interested in adding Sailor to your family.

11/12/2023

Timber. 5 years old.

04/12/2023

Caption this!

22/11/2023

Jin is the life of the party!!!

Photos by her wonderful mom, Hailey Sobania!

20/11/2023

Brambleberry Butterfluff sends her love! ❤️😘

20/11/2023

Chippie is so handsome!

20/11/2023

Look at this cute boy! Dune is adorable!

07/11/2023

DOODLES ARE HEALTHIER THAN PUREBRED PARENTS

You know who has REALLY good data on canine health?

Pet insurance companies.

The have big samples, operationalized by breed, age, type of health issue, cost.

And guess what?

Mutts and mixed breeds are mostly HEALTHIER than their pure-bred parents.

Example: Doodles. Nationwide Pet Insurance writes
( see >>https://assets.ctfassets.net/440y9b545yd9/2xKSYWnUkxhb0tJGDLNdoI/fe9b401da2d73c6fef7c2a4bd4b8a49e/Nationwide_Oodles_of_Doodles_and_Cancer_Cross_Breed_White_Paper_2022.pdf ):

“As the first part of a larger analysis of the cancer claims of 1.61 million Nationwide®-insured dogs over a six-year period, the leading U.S. pet health insurer reviewed both the popularity of these “designer dogs” as well as their risk for cancer claims relative to the purebreds that make up these crossbreds.

▪️Doodle popularity is up, and Doodle parent breed popularity is down. Poodle crosses increased as a relative share of Nationwide’s pet health insurance policies, while the relative share of the parent breeds fell.

▪️Doodle owners are considerably less likely to have submitted a claim for cancer diagnosis or treatment. Relative risk for cancer claims is dramatically lower in Labradoodles and Goldendoodles in comparison with their contributing breeds — Standard Poodles, Golden Retrievers, and Labrador Retrievers.”

The Nationwide team found that market economics and public information both seem to be working.

For instance, while Goldendoodles, Labradoodles, and various other Poodle crosses were up from 160 to 340 percent, the demand for purebred Standard Poodles, Labrador Retrievers, and Golden Retrievers declined from 4 to 32 percent.

The market phenomenon seen with pure-breeds and doodles is replicated generally. While the relative percentage of all non-purebreds grew from 2013 to 2021 (by 131 percent for cross-breeds and 45 percent for mixed breeds), purebred dogs insured by Nationwide declined 18.6 percent.

Another bit of good news is that Doodle breeders and pet buyers seems to get it -- closed registries and closed gene pools are THE problem.

“Breeders and pet owners seem satisfied with the offspring of two different parent breeds (often referred to as an “F1” generation) in contrast to breeding Labradoodles with other Labradoodles. This potentially avoids reduction of genetic diversity by ensuring that the breeding pool can be kept wider.”

What about cancer -- the focus of the study?

▪️Goldendoodles are 75.0% less likely to have a claim submitted for cancer, compared with Golden Retrievers and Standard Poodles combined.

▪️Labradoodles are 62.0% less likely to have a claim submitted for cancer, compared with Labrador Retrievers and Standard Poodles combined.
Put another way, the combined relative risk for parent breeds of Goldendoodles having submitted a cancer claim is four times that of their crossbred offspring, and for the parent breeds of Labradoodles it is 2.6 times.

▪️When the focus is broadened to look at purebred versus non-purebred dogs, a similar overall trend emerges. When compared with crossbred and mixed-breed dogs, purebreds as a group are almost twice as likely (188.5%) to have submitted a claim for cancer.

06/11/2023

It's our very own Brambleberry Butterfluff!

31/10/2023

31/10/2023

Happy 5th Birthday to Moose (Totoro), Oona (Kiki), Piper (Ponyo), Teddy (Howl), Dani (Marnie), and Duke (Haku)!!!!

04/09/2023

😏
(Clockwise from left: Jin, Lebo, Sullivan, Bernadette, and Jake)

24/08/2023

Congratulations to our very own good boy, Lebo!!!! He got second place in the Zoom Room DogTraining Agility League!!! He's making us proud!

09/08/2023

Jin (formerly Honeydew) is having a blast at 15 weeks old! She's 17 lbs

09/08/2023

Chippie (formerly Razzleberry) and his best friend, Stella!

08/08/2023

Birdie (formerly Blueberry) is 15 weeks old and 11.5 lbs!

08/08/2023

Brambleberry Butterfluff is 15 weeks old and 14 lbs.

23/07/2023

Brambleberry Butterfluff had her first trip to the beach yesterday!

(Photos by my sister, Krista Loni )

17/07/2023

What kind of animal is that? Is it even house trained?!?

-Brambleberry Butterfluff probably

15/07/2023

She's growing!

03/07/2023

Brambleberry Butterfluff at 10 weeks old

03/07/2023

Honeydew was relaxing and soaking up the summer before going to her new home.

23/06/2023

Happy 1st Birthday to Fofa, Shiloh, Rosie, Taro, Sunny, and Lebo!!!!

22/06/2023

The puppies are relaxing while I work from home. 😎

21/06/2023

Sailor's puppies had their vet check up yesterday and everyone is in tip top shape! They got vaccinations and health certificates. They are ready to start going home to their new families!