Dave and I have always had pets. Our love of dogs developed as children with our family pets. I had a wonderful miniature poodle growing up. She was high strung, but perfect for our family. Dave had a variety of different dogs throughout his childhood, all with wonderful memories as well.

Our love for the Labradoodle began in 2002 when a close friend first introduced us to this new and wonderful breed. To be honest, I was very skeptical about bringing another dog into our family since two of our young children were very allergic and also had asthma…. we had already been forced to give our beloved golden retriever, True Golden Beau, to a very close friend of ours, and weren’t excited about the possibility of having to endure that heartbreak again. We were strongly advised by our pediatric allergist at the time that there were no non allergenic dogs out there, which of course influenced us greatly. Then came a picture of the most beautiful pup I’d ever seen. He was in a wicker basket with pansies all around…it was love at first sight. We drove down that day to pick up our Bear. Oh my goodness, to have a puppy in my arms again when I thought I’d never ever have one was the most incredible feeling! We were so… in love!

We still had our reservations. My girls did react mildly to Bear when he would lick them, but never with asthma…. Bear quickly learned not to lick. I figured that if it came down to the worst-case scenario and he couldn’t live in the house full time, we would get a second dog and they would have to spend more time outdoors. Interestingly enough, once Bear was out of the puppy stage, neither of my girls reacted to him at all!

Bear is the result of a first generation Labradoodle that was back crossed to a poodle (F1b)…F1 meaning he is a first generation Labradoodle, b meaning back crossed with a poodle to correct the coat type. We fell in love with everything about him. He was attentive, comical, soft, adorable, and incredibly easy to train. It was at this point that I became interested in becoming a part of the development of this wonderful new breed.

Recently Julia, my youngest daughter, has started working with me full time. Though she’s practically worked with Eden Valley since we started (when she was just 8). She and her husband Nick have one of our mini labradoodles Honey. I am so excited to have her on board! She handles a lot of our communication so you are likely to be talking to her often!