Poodle Puppies * Started Service Dog Training * Train Your Own Service Dog
What we do?
We breed primarily for service and therapy temperaments. Enriching the daily lives of children, adults and veterans with physical and mental disabilities is our goal.
Our dogs are our family members. They are kept in our home, not in a kennel, as beloved pets. They sleep in our beds and go everywhere possible. They are all genetically tested.
Before being bred, lots of time and money are put into our Dams and Sires to prove that they are breed worthy. To show they have both beauty and brains, each are titled in both performance and/or confirmation. Additionally, they are health tested for hips, thyroid, eyes, day blindness, VGL and a complete gene panel by Canine HealthCheck of more than 250 different inherited diseases and traits. Common, inherited diseases include those that affect metabolism, bones, eyes, kidneys and many more. No one is intentionally bred until approximately 2 years of age to guarantee to the best of our ability that all of their hormones are in, hips are fully established and any auto-immune disorders should have been discovered. Their structure, temperament, genetic and health panels are used to match dams and sires to assure we are producing the healthiest dogs possible. All our puppies are raised in our homes, one litter at a time. We raise the puppies on Puppy Culture, and treat every puppy as if they are going to be a service dog (SD). We use multiple temperament tests at 5, 6 and 7 weeks old and see which puppies have the best possibility to make it through a SD training program. Most of our future breeding Dams and Sires go to their forever (guardian) homes at 8 weeks old.
While females can have up to 6 litters safely during their lifetime, they most likely will only have one or two litters with us. Non breeding females should be spayed after their first heat and after 1 year of age to reduce the chances of breast cancer. Boys should be keep intact as long as there are no health or behavioral problems (not due to lack of training).
Poodles are very easy to train. They learn quickly what is allowed and what is not allowed and they like to push the boundaries. Problems occur when a person has too many dogs, or doesn’t set firm house training rules for their poodle from an early age. While poodles thrive on praise, they do need to be told "No" from time to time. Having clearly defined rules will allow the person to train their poodle, not be trained by their poodle.
We breed primarily for service and therapy temperaments. Enriching the daily lives of children, adults and veterans with physical and mental disabilities is our goal.
Our dogs are our family members. They are kept in our home, not in a kennel, as beloved pets. They sleep in our beds and go everywhere possible. They are all genetically tested.
Before being bred, lots of time and money are put into our Dams and Sires to prove that they are breed worthy. To show they have both beauty and brains, each are titled in both performance and/or confirmation. Additionally, they are health tested for hips, thyroid, eyes, day blindness, VGL and a complete gene panel by Canine HealthCheck of more than 250 different inherited diseases and traits. Common, inherited diseases include those that affect metabolism, bones, eyes, kidneys and many more. No one is intentionally bred until approximately 2 years of age to guarantee to the best of our ability that all of their hormones are in, hips are fully established and any auto-immune disorders should have been discovered. Their structure, temperament, genetic and health panels are used to match dams and sires to assure we are producing the healthiest dogs possible. All our puppies are raised in our homes, one litter at a time. We raise the puppies on Puppy Culture, and treat every puppy as if they are going to be a service dog (SD). We use multiple temperament tests at 5, 6 and 7 weeks old and see which puppies have the best possibility to make it through a SD training program. Most of our future breeding Dams and Sires go to their forever (guardian) homes at 8 weeks old.
While females can have up to 6 litters safely during their lifetime, they most likely will only have one or two litters with us. Non breeding females should be spayed after their first heat and after 1 year of age to reduce the chances of breast cancer. Boys should be keep intact as long as there are no health or behavioral problems (not due to lack of training).
Poodles are very easy to train. They learn quickly what is allowed and what is not allowed and they like to push the boundaries. Problems occur when a person has too many dogs, or doesn’t set firm house training rules for their poodle from an early age. While poodles thrive on praise, they do need to be told "No" from time to time. Having clearly defined rules will allow the person to train their poodle, not be trained by their poodle.
FIGZ Poodles Puppy Selection and Placement Policy
We place on temperament first, above color and sex. It is about finding the right home/family for the puppy. Since we breed primarily for service and therapy dog temperaments, after 3 weeks of evaluations and the completion of the Volhard and Avid Dog tests at 7 weeks of age, we select the service dogs from the litter. The remaining dogs are placed in pet homes, first come, first pick, from the temperaments that match the family. There is no additional cost for different colors, sexes or temperaments. All Puppies are priced at $3000.
The temperaments right for the families are determined by the information provided by the families via the application and phone interview. For this reason no home/family will be approved nor any puppy reserved until we have a completed application. (Just like obtaining a car, house, boat, loan, credit card, etc.). The questions asked on the application may seem silly or pointless but again are very important to determine which puppy should go where.
Matching a puppy to a family has multiple variables. NEVER are one of those variables the family's race, color, religion, sex, sexual preference, gender identity, familial/marital status, or national origin. Some examples of Family/Puppy placement are: If one puppy tested out shy and showed separation anxiety tendencies, this puppy should be placed with a work-from-home family, or a family with a limited number of hours away from the puppy, as this puppy could get stressed causing it health issues or destructive behaviors. If one puppy is showing strong dominance with its litter mates, this puppy is best placed in a home without small children as the puppy may try to overpower and possibly be aggressive with the young children. A puppy with a high drive and high energy level would do better with a more active family, hiker/runner, or who would do performance sports with the puppy, whereas a puppy with lower drive and energy would do much better with a family that spends more time relaxing, goes on long road trips or would leave the puppy home during work hours.
We have found that most families use our temperament assessment as a guideline to limit their puppy selections down to a few puppies, then pick from those few, based on personality. At about 5 weeks of age their personalities start to show. We can have a variety of personalities within the same litter. There will be the more dominant/pushy one, the goof-ball, the serious worker, the lazy couch potato, and the one that acts like a cat. We encourage our approved families to visit the puppies during the Puppy Party around 6 weeks of age. This is a great time to start getting a feel of what they will be like and which ones stand out to the family.
Additionally puppies go through 2 fear periods when they are young, then again as they mature. The first one, and the strongest one, at about 5 weeks of age, could alter their personality and behaviors for life. While we have seen these changes in personality and behavior happen to the puppies, we have also noted that the temperament of the puppies seems to stay relatively unchanged once set in, at about 7 weeks, through adulthood. For these reasons, we have families wait to select their puppy until the puppies are approximately 7 weeks of age, and after the completion of the Volhard test.
Puppies will go to their new homes around 8 weeks of age. We have found that at 8 weeks of age the puppy is looking to bond with someone, therefore, puppies cannot be held for an extended period of time. It is critical for their social development that they depart within a reasonable timeframe and join their forever family. There may be a time when a puppy from the litter may not have been selected due to family emergencies or the last puppy available not matching the family's need/want. In these cases, we will turn to our waitlist to see, of those who match the temperament, are any of them ready for a puppy now. We also list the puppy on Good Dog's website and social media pages. Again, our goal is to match the puppy to the right family, not simply sell a dog. No deposits are taken on the puppy until the application has been approved and we have confirmed the puppy is a match to the family. Then we will, as before, use a first-come approach for families selecting the puppy. All other approved applicants are given the choice to be added to the waitlist to establish picking order for following litters
We place on temperament first, above color and sex. It is about finding the right home/family for the puppy. Since we breed primarily for service and therapy dog temperaments, after 3 weeks of evaluations and the completion of the Volhard and Avid Dog tests at 7 weeks of age, we select the service dogs from the litter. The remaining dogs are placed in pet homes, first come, first pick, from the temperaments that match the family. There is no additional cost for different colors, sexes or temperaments. All Puppies are priced at $3000.
The temperaments right for the families are determined by the information provided by the families via the application and phone interview. For this reason no home/family will be approved nor any puppy reserved until we have a completed application. (Just like obtaining a car, house, boat, loan, credit card, etc.). The questions asked on the application may seem silly or pointless but again are very important to determine which puppy should go where.
Matching a puppy to a family has multiple variables. NEVER are one of those variables the family's race, color, religion, sex, sexual preference, gender identity, familial/marital status, or national origin. Some examples of Family/Puppy placement are: If one puppy tested out shy and showed separation anxiety tendencies, this puppy should be placed with a work-from-home family, or a family with a limited number of hours away from the puppy, as this puppy could get stressed causing it health issues or destructive behaviors. If one puppy is showing strong dominance with its litter mates, this puppy is best placed in a home without small children as the puppy may try to overpower and possibly be aggressive with the young children. A puppy with a high drive and high energy level would do better with a more active family, hiker/runner, or who would do performance sports with the puppy, whereas a puppy with lower drive and energy would do much better with a family that spends more time relaxing, goes on long road trips or would leave the puppy home during work hours.
We have found that most families use our temperament assessment as a guideline to limit their puppy selections down to a few puppies, then pick from those few, based on personality. At about 5 weeks of age their personalities start to show. We can have a variety of personalities within the same litter. There will be the more dominant/pushy one, the goof-ball, the serious worker, the lazy couch potato, and the one that acts like a cat. We encourage our approved families to visit the puppies during the Puppy Party around 6 weeks of age. This is a great time to start getting a feel of what they will be like and which ones stand out to the family.
Additionally puppies go through 2 fear periods when they are young, then again as they mature. The first one, and the strongest one, at about 5 weeks of age, could alter their personality and behaviors for life. While we have seen these changes in personality and behavior happen to the puppies, we have also noted that the temperament of the puppies seems to stay relatively unchanged once set in, at about 7 weeks, through adulthood. For these reasons, we have families wait to select their puppy until the puppies are approximately 7 weeks of age, and after the completion of the Volhard test.
Puppies will go to their new homes around 8 weeks of age. We have found that at 8 weeks of age the puppy is looking to bond with someone, therefore, puppies cannot be held for an extended period of time. It is critical for their social development that they depart within a reasonable timeframe and join their forever family. There may be a time when a puppy from the litter may not have been selected due to family emergencies or the last puppy available not matching the family's need/want. In these cases, we will turn to our waitlist to see, of those who match the temperament, are any of them ready for a puppy now. We also list the puppy on Good Dog's website and social media pages. Again, our goal is to match the puppy to the right family, not simply sell a dog. No deposits are taken on the puppy until the application has been approved and we have confirmed the puppy is a match to the family. Then we will, as before, use a first-come approach for families selecting the puppy. All other approved applicants are given the choice to be added to the waitlist to establish picking order for following litters
What is a Guardian Home?
As you have visited our Girls/Boys pages, you might have noticed most of our breeding dogs are living with other families in what we call our “Guardian Program”. Our best dogs are placed in their forever home right away as beloved pets and are not kept as kennel dogs. The homes we select have the time and energy to devote to our pups. This allows us to keep our own dog population down to less than 4 dogs per house; rescued and re-homing older dogs not included.
To show they have both beauty and brains, each of our Guardian Dogs are titled in both performance and/or confirmation. Guardian Dogs owners are required to get at least one performance title, issued through AKC or UKC, on their pup before the age of 2. We take care of the confirmation title. Examples of titles include: therapy/service, agility, dock diving, obedience, nose work, barn hunt, hunting (yes, they hunt), squirreling (yes, this exists), etc.
Guardian Home Requirements
- Ideally, lives less than 1 hour drive from Austin, TX area. The guardian pup will need to be dropped off for show weekends and in between showing for show haircuts. Bathing and blow-outs are the responsibility of the guardian home and may require special equipment or addition costs.
- Willing to go classes and shows/exam sites to get at least one performance title, issued through AKC or UKC, on their pup before the age of 2.
- Willing to bring and leave their pup with us for shows and breeding. Breeding is selected by us. Females will be required to stay with us from the start of their heat cycle through breeding, whelping and birth and until puppies are 6-8 weeks old. Please really soul search on this!!!
- You get our pick of the litter. Our best dog to further our service dog program.
- You help better the breed! By you willing to keep our best dog intact in a loving home, not in large kennels, helps reduce inbreeding and passes on good genes to future service dogs.
- You are able to select a pet puppy from your beloved guardian pup once he/she has been bred. We have noticed most people fall deeply in love with their dog and want its baby.
Since here is a chance a dog will not make it through and become part of the breeding program, with health, hip, temperament tests, titles in both performance and/or confirmation, all of our puppies are $3000. Therefore, you have gotten our pick of the litter for only a pet price.
Meet Dylan!
Dylan, son of Raffi, was in our Guardian Program with Tim and Alana. Much time and money was spent to get him a Champion Show title. He was half way to his Grand Champion title when an unforeseen testosterone level, giving him chronic urinary tract infections arose. Because his safety and well-being is most important thing to us, he was neutered. He still lives with Tim and Alana as an adored pet and big brother to Teddy and his human sisters, Aria and Camille, but unfortunately will not be able to be bred.
Dylan, son of Raffi, was in our Guardian Program with Tim and Alana. Much time and money was spent to get him a Champion Show title. He was half way to his Grand Champion title when an unforeseen testosterone level, giving him chronic urinary tract infections arose. Because his safety and well-being is most important thing to us, he was neutered. He still lives with Tim and Alana as an adored pet and big brother to Teddy and his human sisters, Aria and Camille, but unfortunately will not be able to be bred.
