Hello!
Thanks for stopping by to learn more about us and our adorable Cavapoos! (We occasionally have purebred Cavaliers and Poodles available too), but Cavapoos are our specialty!
We are the Wood family. Which consists of me, (mom-Jennifer), dad (Duane) and our three grown sons which I had the privilege of home schooling. And I’m happy to say they all went into service/health occupations. Our two oldest sons are twins. One is now married and working in another state as a Cardio Vascular Invasive Technician. The other is working as an RN a couple hours from us, and newly engaged to his RN fiancé. And our youngest still lives here as he is an EMT/Firefighter for the tribe (yes, we live on the reservation) and there are not a lot of housing options in our little town. He is also a recovery diver on the local sheriff’s dive team.
So the dog “operation” is mainly up to my husband and I now.
We live in the beautiful wooded mountains of NE Washington with a view of the Columbia River, also known as Lake Roosevelt. Many people vacation in our area, so we feel blessed to be able to live here year round and enjoy the four seasons and God’s beautiful nature. There is much wildlife that inhabit our area. We’ve been privileged to observe mountain lions, black bears, bobcat, whitetail deer, moose, wild turkeys, bald eagles and many other creatures.
Our “kennel” is really a little family farm. We garden, have horses, chickens and raise our dogs on our seven acres. Our dogs are mostly indoor/outdoor. We do have a dog “house” with some kennels, and three big fenced-in yards for their comfort and safety. So they can either be with us or out in the yard.
I am the main dog person and manage the dogs with a little help from the guys. I’ve been involved with dogs in various ways all my life. We always had a family dog when I was growing up, but when I was in high school I got my “own” dog, a Aussie mix which drew me into obedience classes. From there I wanted to try obedience trials, which lead me to my first purebred, a Shetland Sheepdog or Sheltie as they’re affectionately called. So off I went full force into confirmation and obedience showing and also doing Sheltie rescue. During that time I also worked as a veterinary assistant, and also at a boarding kennel. After the loss of my larger mixed breed, I obtained two Belgian Sheepdogs for show also.
The dogs kind of took a back seat as the kids arrived and kept us busy for a few years. In 1998 we moved to our current WA location. And being a herding dog person (I love their intelligence and train-ability), when my last Belgian died, we brought home our new “watch” dog, an Australian Cattle Dog. Two years later came the first German Shepherd. Even though we raise Cavapoos, there will always be big dogs around here too. Someone has to watch out for the little guys!
As the last of the Shelties passed away I started thinking of getting another smaller dog, but with less hair to manage. A friend suggested the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and so my research began. Later our first Cavalier, sweet Lizzy came to live with us. She had some health issues, so we weren’t able to start our Cavapoo adventure until later, but she got the ball rolling in the right direction. Not too much time passed and Pooh, our first Poodle was added along with a couple other Cavaliers, and voila’, then came the adorable Cavapoos!
One more dog adventure came about while researching small dog breeds. I became a puppy raiser for Dogs For The Deaf Inc. (No, I did not raise puppies for DFD). This service organization rescues shelter dogs for their program. A puppy raiser gets the puppy or dog from DFD and keeps it for about a year, housebreaking, socializing and teaching basic obedience skills before the dog is returned to DFD for its sound training. It was fun and DFD is a wonderful organization. Check them out!
Along with the dogs, I keep busy around the farm with our other animals (goats, rabbits, chickens, horses, cats and a crazy parrot!). We also usually have a nice garden going, put up our on hay in the summertime, plus I spend time riding my horse and I love to cook yummy, (mostly) vegan food. And our family is very involved in our little country church just a few miles down the road.
Well, that kind of gives you a little glimpse of us and our lives with dogs. I hope you enjoyed getting to know us a bit better.