At Dorenlee Darling Doodles, we specialize in therapeutic and emotional support doodles. We are leading the way in breeding and positively imprinting small, medium and standard size doodles.
These amazing pups have a proven track record of excelling as
● emotional support
● pet therapy,
● facility dogs
● family pets
We have achieved this through:
1. Purposeful and Ethical Breeding Practices
Purposeful in that we purposely select our matches ensuring puppies are
healthy, genetically sound and consistently produce gentle natures with an
aptitude for obedience.
Ethical – Our adult dogs (breeding dogs) are in superb health, they are active on
our ranch and in the community.
On the Ranch
Regular grooming, training and exercise routines. Not to mention welcoming
visitors!
In the Community
Through our community connections program – our adult dogs go into the
community to volunteer in: schools, nursing homes, daycares, special needs
groups.
2. Our Five Stage ( Sensory Integration) Puppy Program.
This is the backbone of Dorenlee Darling Doodles training program; it separates us from ‘the
pack ‘ and allows us to produce consistently amazing pups. Our Staff/Handlers are experienced
and educated on canine behavior and puppy’s weekly developmental stages we then use this
knowledge and intentionally match the puppy’s weekly development stages with obedience,
proper etiquette and socialization activities.
Refer to Our Program
We offer: Toy, mini, and standard size doodles.
All our pups come with:
● up to date vaccinations,
● deworming up to date
● Genetic health guarantee,
● microchip ( upon request),
everything you need to get pup started at home ( food ,blanket, toys, sensory items for house
breaking success!)
Hello! My name is Michelle Penner, I am a wife, mother, and puppy breeder-enthusiast. I am excited to share our story and to give some insight into what helped bring about Dorenlee Darling Doodles and update of our last few years.
Growing up, I was fortunate enough to always have a dog, they were my constant companions and friends. I could always count on them as a companion to explore life with and I felt very safe when they were with me. As a schoolgirl, I had a cocker spaniel that would walk me to school and pick me up at the end of the day, back when both dogs and children had more freedom! From then on, wherever life took me, I took my dog. As a college student, I had a summer job at Camp Easter Seal (a camp for children and adults with disabilities). The camp manager allowed me to bring my sheltie collie, Lucky, with me while I was at work. It was an amazing experience for me to see how Lucky provided support for the children and adults that attended.
As life moved on, I settled into my career as a rehab specialist and I took on a rescue, a bull terrier lab cross, named Maverick. After a few months of consistent training, he was ready to accompany me to my place of work and Maverick became a therapy dog for at-risk youth. Once I married my husband, we bought an acreage in central Alberta, and were given an opportunity to buy a Labrador breeding company, it did not take us long to arrive at the decision to breed Labradors. We were thrilled when our puppies went to families and even more thrilled if one of those pups went on to become a service dog, hunting dog, or pet therapy candidate. After three years of breeding our labs, they were ready to retire, so rather than have them move yet again, we lovingly retired them on our property, giving them the best retirement life they could have had until they crossed the rainbow bridge. At that point we opened up a dog boarding business, using the facility that we had built for our beloved labs. My husband and I also welcomed our sons, Ben and Caleb into our lives. We felt that a home is not a home without a dog, and since our Labradors had passed away, we were privileged enough to get a beautiful, sweet, and super smart mini Australian Shepherd, who we named Dixie. Dixie was to be my companion and assistant around our family ranch, instead, she turned out to be the beginning of Dorenlee Darling Doodles.
On Dixie’s second Christmas with us she went into her heat cycle and we just so happened to have a stunning Sheepadoodle boarding with us. I was curious what a Sheepadoodle and an Australian Shepherd cross would result in and thought it would be a good experience for our children to experience raising a litter of puppies. We didn’t intend to begin breeding again, but we did decide to look into breeding Dixie. After careful research and deliberation, we successfully bred Dixie to a fine Sheepadoodle named Raz, the result was five beautiful, calm, hypoallergenic, and super intelligent pups. Two of these lovely puppies went to families with children on the autism spectrum. I was thrilled to see the comfort and safety the puppy provided for not only the child but their parents too. For each family that took a puppy, they sent a friend or family member asking for one of Dixie’s puppies. The next year we bred our Dixie again and we had another five happy families. It was that spring that we embarked on creating a breeding program that would lead the way in breeding specialized therapeutic dogs that will excel as family pets, emotional support animals, or service dogs. We hope this little bit of history shows the intent behind our program and the love, care, and attention that goes into our puppies. This is what we call the Dorenlee Darling Difference.
2023 update From the beginning when we first discussed creating a breeding/training program our motivation was to have those who would choose our pups to have increased quality of life through a working relationship with there pup and have our pups well started so the transition to home would be as stress free as possible. We have been amazed at how much we have grown in the process. To date we have five committed staff, two trainers/consultants plus our family of four and numerous volunteers that make this program possible. It is no understatement to say we learn something new everyday, these amazing dogs and pups have been our teachers.
We are very delighted to report to date that we are: Recognized service dog breeders in both Alberta and B.C. We are ranked as one of the top premiere breeders in Alberta Most importantly we have many direct references of happy individuals, families, facilities that have taken on our service dogs.
We feel extremely blessed to be the breeders to these incredible dogs and to have the opportunity to build relationships with our future owners in matching the ideal dog to their family or facility. The Dorenlee Darling Difference is all about our dedication to being intentional in breeding and raising amazing dogs. Not only do we nurture and love all our adult dogs and puppies but we incorporate the Dorenlee Darling Difference that separates us from the pack, (so to speak ) .
Our team (family and staff) are experienced and understand canine behavior and early puppy development. We intentionally match the puppy’s development stages and introduce commands, proper etiquette and socialization activities. For example at three weeks of age the pup’s sensory system is starting to further develop beyond smell (eyes and ears);we take the opportunity of feeding them individually and focus on incorporating verbal commands (auditory), smells, and hand signals (visual) at that three week mark which integrates it better into their memory. Thus building confidence into the pup , establishing communication and obedience , this then sets the pup up to excel.
Our program has been proven in producing calm, intelligent obedient dogs. Our pups excel at mastering obedient commands and at very young ages, they are able to tolerate higher levels of stress as well as have confidence in many situations. Our dedication to being intentional in every facet of our program allows the pup to achieve this and allows us to claim that we are leading the way in therapeutic breeding. Furthermore the new families can build upon the amazing foundation the Dorenlee Darling Doodle pups have to achieve their goals.
At Dorenlee Darling Doodles we believe and strive to breed our puppies for a purpose. We all know, or have people in our life, that struggle with mental health, emotional upsets, physical limitations, and/or just want the joy of an unconditional bond that only a dog can provide. Our philosophy to breeding is that dogs are extremely capable to meet all of the needs of a person with the aforementioned struggles. There are just amazing things that dogs can achieve, being a guard dog, an emotional support animal for a teen with anxiety, or a service dog for a child who has autism spectrum disorder. Dogs give people comfort, they can be an addition that can bring a family together with just its presence.
We believe dogs can, and should, have a purpose and that should be the purpose the owner has for it. Our philosophy concerning our puppies is that we firmly believe that giving a puppy a good start in life, with sound nutrition, low stress, and early intervention training, will not only enhance their purpose but create a seamless transition for their new owners. Our philosophy around our adult dogs is really quite simple. Our adult dogs are our family!! They come to us as puppies and stay with us. We know them, we love them, we are aware of their health, their behaviors and their abilities, at ALL times.
Dorenlee Darling Doodles understands the unique relationships parents have with their puppies, we ensure we maintain our breeding dog’s health. In addition we have our adult dogs volunteer in the community at schools, nursing homes, and community projects whenever possible. We do not offer a guardianship program. We like to know and be aware of our breeding dogs’ health and activities at all times. Once our dogs are retired from breeding we keep them engaged and active by participating in local community programs that benefit from emotional support and pet therapy dogs.
Finally, our philosophy around our owners. We have an open door policy, which means we encourage people to visit and meet our family (human and dog). We also encourage a future relationship, as you take the pup home we will be here to answer your questions, help you establish routines and assist you in your journey. Additionally, as part of taking home one of our puppies, we have a training consultant who is available to assist you with things we may not be unable to. Our approach is simply summed up by the words relationship, and dedication. This applies to our adult dogs, our puppies , community and our future owners.
At Dorenlee Darling Doodles we value the importance of giving back and creating strong community connections. We truly want people to experience the joy a dog can bring.
When appropriate, we invite special needs groups, preschoolers, and grade school children, to our property to meet and play with our puppies and adult dogs. Our adult dogs will also visits nursing homes, day cares, and shut-ins.
Finally, a part of our community connections program focuses solely on individuals with special needs, such as families with a child or immediate family member who is neurodiverse, or disabled. We set aside one puppy from each of our larger breed litters and after careful consideration we select a candidate from a pool of applicants to receive a puppy at no cost! If you are interested in this program, please head over to our applications section and fill out our application form.
We will contact selected applicants and schedule a telephone interview where we will share more details about this program and learn more about YOU.
