Breeder Spotlight with Brooke Dent of Dent's Doodles

Brooke was kind enough to sit down and answer some questions for us for our very first Breeder Spotlight! Take a look at what she had to say!

***Please know this is not an endorsement of the breeder, their program, or their dogs. If you are looking to purchase a puppy/dog do your due diligence and research your breeder.

Photo Cred: Dent's Doodles

What do you breed and how long have you been breeding? We breed primarily Goldendoodles and Standard Poodles with an occasional litter of Saint Berdoodle or Toy Aussiedoodle litter. We started breeding in 2017.

What made you choose that breed/s? I had poodles growing up and fell in love with doodles when I got my foundation Goldendoodle, Presley. She just had the best mix of both breeds for our family.

What drew you to breeding in general? My grandmother and aunt bred full time growing up. My mother bred Westies for a short period of time while I was in middle school. I had no interest in showing at that time but did in agility so she stopped to take me to events.

What’s everyday life like for you? My everyday life revolves around my home, dogs, and kids. I am up early feeding and cleaning the dog room. Brushing is a must, especially because my poodles think they need to pull hair when they play fight. My kids are old enough to help out so it’s a huge plus.

Do you work full time? No, I’m retired from the Army.

Do you have a support system? Yes, I have several breeders and my family is great. Husband gets frustrated more often then not but when I get overwhelmed and talk about just stopping he says no (also he is the puppy whisperer).

Do you live in the city or have land? I have an acre in the city right now and in the process of buying a bigger house with 4 acres in the country.

What’s one thing you wish you knew before you started breeding? Invest in good equipment the first time and you’ll save hundreds if not thousands in constantly replacing cheap stuff.

If you could go back in time to right before your first litter, what would you tell yourself? Study genetics more and buy exactly what I want. Don’t get me wrong starting out I did want to do solid poodles BUT I didn’t have any understanding of how parti or how the K locus worked.

What are you most proud of in your program? Temperament and structure is always important in my opinion but I’m super proud of the service dogs that come from our program.

What makes you keep coming back for more....what’s the best part about breeding for you? One of my greatest joys is seeing how happy their families are to meet their puppies and also the delivery.

What’s the easiest part of breeding for you? Pairing males with females is easy for me now that I know more about genetics.

What’s the best thing you’ve purchased for your program? Ultrasound machine

What’s one thing you’ve discovered that saves you the most time and energy when you have a litter? Having a utility sink to bath them.

What’s one thing that just grinds your gears in the breeding community? Honestly I hate when people try to argue science. Or you the excuse, “well I didn’t get DNA tested to have children”. I feel like with dogs it is cheap enough and too easy to obtain not to do it.

What’s your biggest pet peeve in regards to breeding? People who think you just throw two dogs together and then sell puppies. A lot more work goes into raising puppies.

What do you stress over most? Emergency csection and fading puppies.

What’s one mistake you’ve made in your program that you wish you could go back and change? When I first started I liked red Goldendoodles, but they were really hard to find, so I settled for a cream with perfect structure (I did just breed her to a deep red tuxedo and I’m keeping a male back) but I’ve learned to never settle!

What has been your biggest failure? I lost a girl. I’m still devastated and always on my toes. Had a flawless labor, but developed horrible diarrhea and vomiting. I took her temperature and it was 104. We went straight to the 24/7 animal hospital. They kept her there for five days giving fluids and nausea medicine. I finally took her to my vet for a second opinion because everything was coming back fine. She had a hernia in her colon that had a small tear. We had to put her down. I hand raised her litter. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

What’s the most difficult part of breeding for you? Loss, any loss is hard.

What’s something you keep doing because you think you have to in order to be taken seriously by other breeders, but deep down really want to stop? Live Facebook videos! I hate them. I always have brain fog and I am COVERED in tattoos so people are taken aback when their breeder has sleeves.

If someone reading this is just starting out, what do you want them to know is the worst part of what you do? Poop. You’ll hear it time and time again but it’s the poop. Who knows if pee pads, turf, or litter are your right answer but they will walk in it and you will have to keep up with potty trims! If poop makes you gag this is a very unforgiving job.

What’s your goal for the next couple of years? My goals are to produce deep red parti Goldendoodles.

What’s one thing you wish you knew more about in regards to breeding? GUARDIAN HOMES.

How long have you been breeding with color in mind? Since mid 2018 but didn’t fully grasp it until 2019.

What’s one thing you just don’t understand about genetics? Mh, more importantly my Merle Goldendoodle that’s lengths are 273 and if I should stay away from spsp and Ssp she is SS.

If you could shout one thing at the top of your lungs to all breeders...what would it be? So having to bottle feed an entire litter I will ALWAYS and forever use Natures Farmacy probiotics, formulas, supplements, AI kits or just about ANYTHING!

What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen so far when it comes to breeding? I have one female that refuses to lay in her whelping box without my old pregnancy body pillow predelivery.

Parting words from Brooke:

ALWAYS go with your gut. If you ask groups for advice remember it’s just advice and it’s ultimately up to you. Not everyone has your program's best interest in mind and sadly that can include your veterinarian (that does not mean do not go to one but do not let them belittle you about having a litter of puppies). You CAN pass on a family you feel isn’t a good fit and deposits can be returned anytime you get a bad vibe. Never bite off more than you can chew. Multiple litters can be done and done well but are time consuming and require a great deal of work. Breed what YOU like not what is popular, you’ll never be happy breeding Bernedoodles if you prefer Goldendoodles.

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