The art of raising dogs is an ever-evolving and changing process. What I’m referring to is the rotation of parents as they “age” out and retire, as hopefully young ones are growing up  to step in and “replace” them.

If you’re new here, please don’t think we just “throw” these retired adults under the bus or that placing them in new homes is easy. Some may think it is horrible that I place my adult dogs in loving homes when they retire. I would love to keep each one forever. <3

But if I’m going to continue raising these adorable puppies for potential adopters, I have to raise more adults to be future parents. Obviously, we want our parents to have a nice life and “retire” at a nice age. So we raise some purebred Poodles and Cavaliers or keep a Cavapoo puppy occasionally to step in when those current ones are ready to retire. So there are always more dogs around then just the current parents. All those dogs require attention, grooming, love, medical care, and space. And I only have so much of each. My house is small, so I can only fit so many in here with me at one time. If I could reasonably have all the dogs in the house with me I would! (Of course, my husband would probably move out and the kids would never visit! :P) But it’s just not possible when you have more than a few.

So I would much rather have an adult that is no longer being a parent, be spayed and retired into a home where he or she is the center of attention; a place where they will be doted on and spoiled. Where they can sleep on the couch, be part of the family activities and given all the attention they want. And I screen and place the dog into what I think sounds like the best home for that particular dog. Placing an adult dog is much harder on my heart than saying good-bye to a darling puppy.

We have about a year-three window when a female is in mom-mode as we usually don’t let them have their first litter until they are very mature, about two years of age and let them retire to couch potato life at around five years of age. The boys have a bit longer window as they mature quicker and are happy to provide their “services” for much longer. 😉

Of course every dog is an individual and treated as such. There’s no cookie-cutter mold that every single dog fits into so that “mom/dad” window might be a little different for each dog.

With that being said, we’ve had a couple dogs retire this past year and more will be retiring in the new year. This will be the likely be the last litter for Joy (fingers crossed there are girls baking “in the oven”.) She is the last of the wonderful litter of seven that we got from Faith and Dickens, before Faith retired. All of her sisters has slowly gone off to retirement homes. Hope, our “special” sister will always reside her. As most of you know she was born with a cleft palate and was hand-raised by me (and her adoptive mom, Reba). She of course, was never bred and spayed long ago.

Waiting for Joy to pop out our first litter of 2023!

Sky will likely be retiring sometime in 2023. Which means she will probably not be having any more Cavapoos as I would like to breed her for purebred Poodles for the future. (Now to figure out the best possible father for that litter.)

And our oldest Cavapoos (Sage and Raven) will be retiring this upcoming year sometime. I can’t believe those sweet babies that we decided to keep to start our F1b Cavapoos  are all grown up and ready to retire.

So this is why I always have to plan ahead and either raise or purchase from another reputable breeder, a puppy or two every so often. We always have to have young ones  growing up and ready to step into a retiring dogs shoes (paws).

This year we have a potential for four girls to become new moms. Of course, they don’t always cooperate at first and sometimes it takes a heat cycle or two from when we start trying, before the first pregnancy happens. Those coming of age this year are Poppy (ruby Cavalier), Summer (apricot Poodle), Winter (Blenheim Cavapoo) and Indy (merle parti Cavapoo). It will be exciting to see what they will produce and if they will be good moms to their “someday” babies.

So we will have some retirees looking for great homes this year. And along with those upcoming retirees, we’d still like to find amazing homes for a couple still here and enjoying retirement; Hazel and Amber (both mini Poodles).

And because I can only take care of so many doggos, I want to find new families for a couple of my boys; Rumor and Niko.

Rumor (Poodle) is so devoted just like his mom Reba that it will be hard to let him go, but I just have too many intact males around here. Plus if I’m going keep any puppies to grow out from Joy or Sky, I just need to retire some others.

Rumor completed a basic obedience course and earned his AKC CGC certificate (Good Citizenship Certificate).

I actually bought Niko (Cavalier) as a “back-up” Cavalier in case Asher didn’t turn out as my replacement for the aging Dickens. Asher is doing amazing as a new dad and the Dickens is still healthy as a horse at nine years of age! So I’ve decided to let  Niko move on to a new home.

Sorry, this post has gotten so long, but I needed the words to explain just how things work and what the upcoming year will possibly hold. If you’ve read this far and are interested in any retiring dogs (Poodle, Cavalier, Cavapoo) or a purebred Poodle or Cavalier puppy, please email me (pinewoodcavapoos@gmail.com) and I will add you to my list of interested people. (Please don’t respond on the post if you’re interested. I need an email contact).

Thanks for following our page, for understanding and being kind about the process, and for your interest in our sweet dogs! <3