Can you explain your Partner Home system?

Our family network is comprised of Partner Homes that serve in a variety of ways. We have three kinds of Partner Homes: Guardian Homes, Surrogate Homes and Transition Homes. Every family is unique, and these different roles within our family network allows flexibility for each family in raising and/or caring for our puppies. Many of our Partner Homes hold more than one role in our network. For example, a family may be both a Guardian Home and a Transition Home or a Surrogate Home may also be a Transition Home, etc.

Our parent dogs are privately owned family pets whose families have partnered with Crockett Doodles. Nathan does not have a required breeding schedule for our family network and each family is free to decide when they want to breed their pet. Nathan has two dogs in his home, but most of the Crockett Doodles program parent dogs are raised in Partner Homes - specifically Guardian Homes. We do not have parents dogs that “retire” from our breeding program who need a new home since our parent dogs are already family pets.

Most of our Partner Homes have children and many have other pets. While it is certainly not a prerequisite, the extra attention that a puppy receives being raised around children is a huge plus for their early socialization. Exposure to other animals also helps a puppy learn good canine social manners.

Our Partner Homes are carefully supervised and provided solid, on-going accountability to the high standards required to be a member of the Crockett Doodles’ family network. Raising healthy puppies is hard work and requires a significant level of commitment for the entire family. We are very selective in choosing Partner Homes.

Over the past several years, we've expanded to have Partner Homes in multiple locations: South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Michigan, Texas, Iowa and California.

Guardian Homes: Our Guardian Homes are family or friends for whom Nathan has purchased a high-quality dog. They keep that dog in their home as their beloved pet and have occasional litters for the Crockett Doodles’ program. Their puppies are born, raised and socialized with their family.

We oversee a few litters from each Guardian Home dog, where we take care of finding the exact right stud dog and supervise the breeding process. The puppies will be raised at the Guardian Home or may be raised at a Surrogate Home if the Guardian Home so chooses. We give a monetary gift back to the Guardian Home for allowing us to use their dog. The primary difference between a Guardian Home and a Surrogate Home is that the Guardian Home has the mom as their family pet and raises the puppies, while a Surrogate Home does not own the mom, but can be asked to care for the mom and raise the puppies if the Guardian Home is not able to do this because of family schedules, vacations, etc.

The Crockett Doodles’ Team arranges for each of the puppies to go to Forever Homes, and the Partner Home, who helped raise the pups, gets much of the profit from the litter. Many of our Partner Home families live in beautiful Greenville, SC.

Surrogate Homes: A Surrogate Home is a home that loves raising puppies occasionally. We work closely with these homes and pay these homes to partner with us.  These puppies are raised under strict supervision from Crockett Doodles, and in close harmony with the veterinary team. After raising a litter of pups and caring for mama at their home for 8 weeks, we help the Surrogate Home wean the puppies. The mama dog returns to her Guardian Home where she continues to be a beloved pet, and we take the 8 week old pups to a Crockett Doodles Transition Home to transition into their new life as they meet their Forever Family. At Crockett Doodles, we value family-raised puppies that have been well-socialized so Surrogate Homes are also held to a high level of accountability even though they do not own the mama dog. Surrogate Homes do not have to be close family friends of the Crocketts, are not given access to bank account information, and are not burdened with communication with Forever Families. Surrogate Homes are families who are willing to responsibly raise a few litters a year of pups at their house and are paid well for doing so.

Transition Homes: These homes are family members or friends who specifically care for puppies in the days immediately before Adoption Day and introduce our puppies to their Forever Homes. Crockett Doodles invests a significant amount of time, training and finances into our Transition Homes. They are trusted with the Crockett Doodles’ bank account information and collecting adoption fees from Forever Families on Adoption Day. Transition Homes work in close contact with the Crockett Doodles Team as the pups are matched to their Forever Homes and receive their final vet checks before Adoption Day. Transition Homes help their pups transition into better crate training, begin actively house-training, and help the pups become accustomed to being away from their mom (if the pups have transitioned from a Guardian or Surrogate Home). In our experience, it’s a healthier process for puppies if their transition away from their family to your home is gradual. Many of our Guardian Homes are also Transition Homes because they want to handle their own Adoption Days and take care of this last transition week with their own puppies. If a Guardian or Surrogate Home cannot do this (due to family schedules, conflicts, or just being uncomfortable with strangers coming to their home especially during Covid), they may ask a trained Transition Home to handle this process and their puppies’ Adoption Days.

No matter which type of Partner Home your puppy experiences, you can be sure they are loved and cared for well.