Puppy Rearing Techniques and Philosophies
We follow a combination of Avidog, Puppy Culture, and Empowered Breeders programs that we feel best suits our puppies and set them up for a life of success no matter where their paths may take them.
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Puppy Culture : We love the Puppy Culture program and how it helps to set the puppies up for success.
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Avidog is like an online college for breeders and all dog owners. It's an amazing resource for everyone involved in a dogs life. Different courses can be purchased depending on what the needs are.
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For Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS), When you take the time to expose puppies to as many things as possible at a young age versus an older dog you have a blank template to work with and grow from. When the puppies are with us, we can help guide our puppies through these experiences and through their fear stages as baby puppies. We also use these experiences to help learn about our puppies' temperament and how they deal with new experiences and challenges, which helps us place them in their best new homes.
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The empowered breeder is another platform that we like to pull from to help us raise well rounded puppies.
About Our Puppies
Astyanax Poodle puppies are only available to pre approved, screen homes. Our puppies are sold on limited AKC registration with a contract all parties sign. No puppies are sold outright, any sold with full registration are only available to approved and trusted breeders on co-ownership contracts.
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Astyanax Poodles will not sell to any doodle mix breeders, merle mix breeders, puppy mills, puppy brokers, pet stores, or any other situation we deem unethical.
For vaccinations, we follow the Dr. Jean Dodd's and our reproductive vet at Virginia Tech for vaccinations. We do a show length dock on tails, we no not remove dew claws. When puppies reach 7 weeks of age they have a full examination and vaccines at our vet. Miniature puppies also have a CERF eye exam at 9 weeks.
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Astyanax puppies are handled daily, and live in our house with us. Our puppies experience all sorts of new sights, sounds & people. They will also meet all the adult dogs in the house. We have a large very diverse selection of toys that offer different noises and textures! We begin potty training and grooming training at 3 weeks of age, at 6 weeks we start with short car rides nd introducing crate and leash training.
What Your Puppy Comes Home With
We send your Astyanax puppy home with:
A Week of Food
Personal Customized Gift from Brenda's Designs
Pre Paid limited AKC registration
Pre Paid AKC Reunite Microchip
Treats, Toys, a blanket filled with mom and siblings scent
Contract with health guarantee
Lifetime Breeder Support
Binder with all relevant information
Vet appointment Information
A Closed Facebook Group for Astyanax Puppy Owners
Extras That Change with Each Litter!
Shipping Information
We are located in Wytheville VA but have placed puppies all over the US. You can come to us and pick up your puppy or we can arrange for transport all the way to your front door or we can meet you n the middle.
Prices for ground shipment are subject to change due to gas prices
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Trips under 2 hours round trip are of no cost to the puppy family
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Trips 3-5 hours are $350+
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Trips 6-8 hours are $550+
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Trips 9-10 hours are $950+
If ground transportation is not an option, puppy buyers have the option of flying into Charlotte International Airport or Roanoke Virginia Airport to pick up your puppy to fly as carry on with you home. We also offer flight nanny services where we fly with the puppy to your local airport and pick the puppy up there- you will be responsible for the cost of the carry on, and the price of the plane ticket along with a $500 fee for nanny's time and expenses.
Cost
Astyanax Poodles start at $2600 for Standards, $2800 for Miniatures, and $3000 for toys for limited registration and can go up from there depending on pedigree, emergency costs, and any expenses related to getting the litter on the ground. Breeding rights are only granted to trusted breeders, please do not ask to buy full registration because it will not be granted.
We require a non-refundable (but transferrable) $500 deposit after being approved for a puppy. The deposit will be put towards the price of your puppy.
Spay and Neuter
It is in our contract that our puppies must be altered by two years of age. We absolutely insist that our puppies not be altered before 18 months of age unless medically necessary and we require veterinary proof. There have been numerous studies done on early spay and neuter and the impacts it has on the dogs' orthopedic structure and hormonal and temperamental health. We understand that spay and neuter is a controversial topic these days, but we firmly believe that science has proven that waiting is the best thing we can do for our dogs.
Do you charge more for "rare" colors?
Absolutely not. All of our puppies from our solids to our multis are the same price. The same amount of time, effort, and love have been invested into each puppy, and coat color does not change that.
Why do you charge that?
We here at Astyanax Poodles charge what our puppies are worth and we believe the quality of our dogs, our puppies, and our program speak for itself. However, let us take a moment to break down why some breeders charge less than us.
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Lack of genetic and orthopedic testing. There are some who do not health test to CHIC standards or those who pick and chose which testing to do. We test all our dogs to a minimum of recommended testing by our parent club Poodle Club of America.
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Lesser quality parents. There are breeders who do not care what kind of stud they use beyond color or convience. We chose our studs carefully and only chose studs who have had a minimum of CHIC testing and are finished AKC/UKC Champions or higher with healthy pedigrees and lines behind them. We do not just use our in house male. We do not do what is convenient and cheap for us. This does not include transport costs to the stud or cost of AI shipment and testing.
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Lack of proper vet care and high quality diet. We spare no expensive for our dogs' vet care from puppyhood to adulthood and anything in between. We do not buy cheap food to save on bills. We do not send our puppies home early to skip some vet bills. We do not feed cheap puppy food.
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Lack of socialization. We do not let our girls give birth somewhere out of the way and leave them to do their own thing. We are heavily invested in the emotional and physical growth and development of our puppies as well as our mommas. We believe the work we put into our puppies speaks for itself.
Vaccinations
We follow a vaccine protocol recommended by Dr. Jean Dodds. We ask that you discuss any vaccination additions with your vet and us; some areas will need a Lymes vaccine, others may not. So please speak to your vet and see what they suggest you do. We urge you to consider three-year boosters instead of yearly. We also support titer testing if available.
Returning Astyanax Poodle Puppy Owners
We offer our returning puppy buyers a discount of $250 to show our love and appreciation for those families who decide to return for another family member. If you've accomplished a title in AKC or UKC, we discount your next puppy by $500!