Where are you located?
How long have you been breeding Labradoodles?
Are your dogs registered?
Do you raise miniature Labradoodles?
How do you know what color the puppies will be before the litter is born?
What health tests have you done on your breeding dogs?
What is your vaccination and de-worming protocol?
Why are your puppies so expensive.....OR....Why are your puppies so cheap?
What is the temperament of your puppies?
What does F1, F1b, F2, etc mean?
Which is better:  male or female?

Where are you located?

Cedar Hill Labradoodles is located on 30 acres amidst the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois.  Just 30 miles north of the Kentucky border, this region has some of the most scenic areas of the Midwest.   Families living close enough are welcome to visit in person to select and/or pick up their puppy.  For those living in northern Illinois and Indiana, southern Wisconsin and Michigan, we offer delivery service to Champaign, IL.   For other areas of the country, we can ship your puppy to you from the St. Louis airport.  We are centrally located in the US and can offer your puppy non-stop flights with minimal flight times to most areas.  

I have been interested in breeding dogs for many years.  The idea of Cedar Hill Labradoodles became a reality in 2003 as I began to research Labradoodles and study dog breeding in general.  I purchased my first Labradors in February 2004 and began their health testing while searching for the perfect Poodle to sire their puppies.  My first litter was born in August of 2004. 

All of our Standard Poodles and Labrador Retrievers are double registered with both AKC and CKC.     Labradoodles are not eligible to be registered with AKC, but all of our Labradoodles are registered with CKC.  Your puppy will be eligible for registry with CKC and we provide you with a pre-printed application.

By researching the ancestors of our dogs, and doing DNA testing when necessary, we know what color genes our dogs carry.  Once we know each parent's color genes, we can predict the color possibilities of their offspring.

All of our dogs have their hips tested before being considered for breeding.  We use PennHip method, which our vet believes is better than the OFA method.  You can read more about PennHip here:  http://www.pennhip.org/
Our Poodles have been tested for Von Willibrands Disease and are negative.  Individual dogs have also completed other tests, which we list with the details on that dog.   Tests include: CERF, Progressive Retinal Atrophy, Cone degeneration, Retinal Distrophy and Progressive Rod-Cone Degeneration, Hemophilia B, Narcolepsy and Hypothyroidism

We believe in minimal use of chemicals when possible, but not to the extent that it would jeopardize the health of our dogs & puppies.  We give heartworm preventative monthly to all of our adults dogs, except for pregnant and nursing dogs.  We do not routinely treat our dogs with monthly flea/tick preventative.  We have very few problems with fleas but we do have ticks in our area.  Only when we see a tick do we treat all of our adult dogs, except for pregnant and nursing dogs, with Frontline Plus.  Typically this is only once a year in the spring.  We are a tobacco-free and alcohol-free family.

We regularly deworm our adult dogs with Safe-guard. 

For our puppies we use a human grade equivalent to Nemex II.  Although the ingredients are the same, we believe that the product made for human use has passed stricter testing and safety requirements than the product that's made for dogs. 

Our puppies are vaccinated with ProGard 5 and also with NeoPar at 6 weeks of age.  Puppies are kept up-to-date and will receive additional vaccinations as they grow.  

We use human baby shampoo and baby wash for baths, again because we feel that products manufactured for humans pass stricter testing than shampoos made specifically for pet use.

Our vet advised us that the mother's body needs time to recuperate between litters, so we typically only breed our female dogs every other cycle, rather than breeding every cycle like some breeders do.  Our dogs typically have their first litter when they are around 18 months old.

Our puppies are priced higher than some you'll find listed in the newspaper or online.  When you consider the quality of the parent dogs, health testing performed, our commitment to the mental and physical health of our puppies and dogs, our three year health guarantee,  and our lifetime of support, we feel our puppies are reasonably priced.

We offer a complete support system for you and your doodle, from the first day with your new puppy throughout his/her lifetime.  We hope that if you ever have any questions, problems or concerns with your dog that we'll be the first place you turn.  While we don't know all the answers, we'll do our best to help find them.

We are concerned for the mental and emotional health, as well as physical health, of our dogs.  There are many breeders who take excellent physical care of their dogs, but ignore their basic needs and instincts.  We believe that a dog needs to be with other dogs and have room to run, romp and play.  We don't believe in keeping them locked in individual cement and wire cells.  Our adult dogs have full access to large grassy yards, and are kept in pairs so they always have a buddy to play with.  

If you are in the " puppy shopping stage", we are happy to provide you with a copy of our three year health guarantee.  Please get a copy from all breeders you are considering, and read each guarantee carefully.   Our health guarantee is somewhat like an insurance policy, which will reimburse you up to the cost of your puppy (or, if you prefer, provide you with another puppy of equal value)  should any unlikely event happen.   Some breeders have guarantees that requires you to return your puppy or have it euthanized in order to collect!  Would you be willing to give up your beloved pet?   The breeder who gives such a guarantee is banking on the fact that you will not want to return it, and therefore the breeder will not have to stand behind his guarantee at all.

Our puppies tend to be friendly, happy and outgoing individuals.  We attribute this to our daily handling of the puppies from birth through the day they join their new families.   Our puppies receive a lot of attention from our family on a daily basis.  Play time, snuggle time and providing health care are all beneficial by increasing the puppy's socialization skills.  Our puppy playground gives the puppies  opportunities to learn and gain self-confidence through play. Even simple things like "the sun is hot, and the shade is cool" must be learned, and the puppy playground teaches these things.

From day 3 to day 16 we use Early Neurological Stimulation in addition to regular socializing.  We also use the "Rules of Seven" which claim that by the time a puppy is seven weeks old he/she should have:
1. Been on 7 different surfaces
2. Played with 7 different types of objects
3. Been in 7 different locations
4. Been exposed to 7 physical challenges
5. Eaten from 7 different containers
6. Eaten in 7 different locations
7. Met and played with 7 new people

Both neutered male and spayed female Labradoodles make gentle, easy to train companions. We feel gender is mostly a personal preference, and you'll get a variety of answers if you ask for people's opinions.   However, there are natural instincts that affect how dogs interact with the pack (your family).  Female dogs may have an instinct to be the 'leader', while male dogs may be more likely to be followers.   If you are adding a puppy to a household that already has dogs in it, we will recommend a gender based on your existing dogs.

An F1 is a puppy who has one parent that is a Standard Poodle and one parent that is a Labrador Retriever.  It doesn't matter if it is the mother or father who is the Poodle or Labrador.  These are also called 'first generation' puppies.

An F1b is a puppy who has one parent that is a Standard Poodle and one parent that is an F1 Labradoodle.  These are sometimes called 'second generation' puppies.

An F2 can be one of three things:
A puppy who has one parent that is an F1 Labradoodle and one parent that is an F1b Labradoodle
OR a puppy with both parents being F1b Labradoodles
OR a puppy with both parents being F1 Labradoodles

A multi-generational (mutli-gen for short)  A puppy whose both mother and father are Labradoodles.  This term is usually used for puppies beyond the F2 level. 

Australian Labradoodle is a multi-gen puppy with ancestors originating in Australia.  Australian Labradoodles have breeds other than Labrador and Poodle in their background.  They may have any combination of  Irish Water Spaniel, Curly Coat Retriever, American Cocker Spaniel, English Cocker Spaniel, Wheaten Terrier, or other breeds mixed in.    If you prefer a dog who is ONLY a mixture of Labrador and Poodle,  an Australian Labradoodle is not for you.

American multi-gen puppies often only have Poodle and Labrador in their bloodlines, but more breeders are mixing in Cocker Spaniels and other breeds. It's important to ask about the bloodlines of any multi-gen puppy if you want a mixture of ONLY Labrador and Poodle.

I see horses in some of your photos.  Do you raise horses too?

We don't raise or show horses but we do have a few that we ride just for fun.  We live in a rural area with many miles of horse trails available right next door to us in the Shawnee National Forest.   Horseback riding, hiking, and fishing are some of our neighborhood's most popular activities.