About Us
At Pleasant Meadows we strive to raise quality animals for the purpose of enriching our lives as well as yours! We live in the country, and the health and happiness of our animals is of the utmost importance to us and we expect each of our prospective purchasers to feel the same way! Over the years we have had many animals, both big and small, although in the fall of 2016 we moved back to our Ontario roots after calling Alberta our home for 22 years, where we previously enjoyed raising horses, sheep, goats, pheasants, ducks, chickens, alongside our beloved Cavapoos. Since moving back to Ontario we simply have a few chickens and quail that produce eggs for ourselves and our dogs. Our family has lived rurally all of our lives and we enjoy all of God's wonderful creatures! Out of our love for animals grew the desire to share the joy and goodness that animals can bring to the lives of everyone ~ and for the past decade our focus has been our dogs!
We are a family who loves dogs and we enjoy sharing that love of dogs with others! We have been educated in Animal Sciences and genetics, and we continue to study hard to learn all that we can about our breed/mix of dogs and dogs in general, and we make it our daily aim to raise quality puppies that can, in turn, bring families and individuals many years of enjoyment and companionship.
Our dogs are able to enjoy the refreshing calm of having a woodland that borders their expansive yard space, as well as meadows to oversee while out on walks around our property! Our dogs live with us in our home and with close family members throughout the year which allows our adult dogs to enjoy their life in a family setting instead of a kennel facility, and this reduces stress and allows for a better emotional state of mind in our adult dogs. All of our dogs rotate around with family members so that we can share in the care and responsibilities for our dogs, and the moms give birth and the puppies are raised right within our home. We believe that all animals are to be treated with dignity and respect, and our dogs are loved and valued members of our family. We have specialized in the Cavapoo for over a decade and are committed to only raising puppies from health-screened parents and we support ethical breeding practices and rescue work for the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the Poodle.
CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ROTATE THROUGH THE GALLERY!
Raising Dogs:
We have specialized in the Cavapoo crossbreed for over a decade with Pleasant Meadows being founded in 2009, and we were among the first to start raising the Cavapoo in Canada. Our breeding lines were established on selecting the healthiest dogs from breeders who also kept the health and wellbeing of their dogs in mind, so that we could be confident that our foundation was built on a solid base that would ensure our puppies were healthy for generations to come with continued proper health screening. And we have maintained a health line of Cavapoos for the past 15+ years.
We have loved raising the Cavapoo over the years, and we have been blessed to have a strong, healthy, and trustworthy line of Cavapoos. The health and temperament of our dogs is the most important goal we strive for as we raise puppies for companions and beloved members of your family. And with that in mind, there is a huge responsibility to ensure that we are able to continue to raise healthy puppies. We have found and firmly believe, after innately knowing the Cavapoo for over a decade, that the higher generations of Cavapoos bred from healthy lines is the *most* trustworthy and reliable Cavapoo for their health based solely on the current poor health in the *purebred* Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and our Cavapoos have proven to be among the healthiest in Canada!
Around 10 years into raising the Cavapoo, we started to notice a decline in health of the *purebred* Cavalier King Charles Spaniel from other breeders. An example of this would be a rescue Cavalier we took in that was from very good CKC bloodlines, and the poor sweetheart had a grade 5 heart murmur by age 4, and despite the best and all possible veterinary care available – she passed from heart-related issues by 7 years of age. That is far too young for any dog to pass! And the poor health of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was plastered all over the news and they were often featured in documentaries often citing them as “genetic nightmares”. While, we were not experiencing any health-related issues within our lines, we began to see that the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was heading in a downward spiral, and if you fast forward to 2020 to current – the *purebred* lines of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel are completely in shambles because of inbreeding and all the resulting health issues that come along with such deplorable practices. We have found that with the well-known poor health of the *purebred* Cavalier, many of our customers were asking about other Poodle crosses that could potentially be healthier than the Cavapoo and after immense research we have branched out to include the Brittanypoo alongside our current Cavapoo line to offer a similar Spaniel X Poodle cross-breed with less health concerns. Our Cavapoo line has remained healthy right to current day through dedication of proper health screening and by maintaining a strong family line of Cavapoos and educating ourselves in animal genetics to ensure that we keep a balance of gene diversity in our lines, but many feel more comfortable with the Brittanypoo and it is likewise a wonderful Spaniel-Poodle mix.
HOW DID WE GET STARTED?:
We have always been "dog people" and have owned dogs all of our lives! We truly would feel incomplete without dogs in our lives -- they are a huge part of our family! Growing up, we always had Border Collie mixes and so the concept of a cross-breed is not new to us. We saw how a mixed breed could take the best of two breeds and combine them into a wonderful "super dog". We started to raise a few litters, but even though we loved the Border Collie mixes we knew that we eventually wanted to raise a breed of dog that would be suitable for all family types, and all ages. The Border Collie is a working breed, and although we still own (and love!) a Border Collie mix today to help us on the farm, the breed does not fit the criteria of being suitable for most family types. So, we researched extensively for about a year to find a breed that would be suitable and fell in love with the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel for its wonderful temperament, spunky nature, and willingness to please. Our first Cavalier, Dulcie, sealed the deal! At the time of Dulcie's arrival as a doll-eyed 8 week old puppy, our Grandparents were living with us, and we were able to watch how this spunky breed of Spaniel could bring such smiles and laughter to them, and we could clearly see how the Cavalier could fit into a multitude of homes and family types. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a breed that is good with children all the way up to seniors!
Alongside our research for the Cavalier we also knew we wanted to create a mix that would be "allergy-friendly" for allergy sufferers since the Cavalier by itself is not allergy friendly. So we researched the Cavapoo crossbreed and purchased our first Miniature Poodle, Tobi, who was our main stud muffin for 9 years before retiring in 2018! We have found the Cavapoo to bring the best of both breed qualities to the forefront, allowing the Cavapoo to soar into everybody's hearts with its undeniable charm! The Cavapoo is a cross between the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Toy or Miniature Poodle, but at Pleasant Meadows we only used the Miniature and Moyen Poodle as the Miniature is known for being far healthier than the Toy! You can visit our Cavapoos 101 page for details on Cavapoo genetics. Poodles are a non-shedding breed and are considered allergy friendly for most people with reactions towards dogs. We chose to breed and mix the Poodle with the Cavalier to create the Cavapoo for its remarkable intelligence, laid back personality, and their playful, devoted, and loving nature. All 3 breeds are excellent family dogs, and we love being able to share them with you depending on your preference or needs (ie. allergies, or just an incredible friend)! You can also learn more about the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Miniature Poodle, and the Cavapoo on our Breed HISTORY page.
Our step to also consider the Brittanypoo was not taken lightly, and we had our first Brittanypoo litter in 2021 after several years of researching similar Poodle mixes. We also followed a blog of a breeder in the UK who was crossing the Brittany Spaniel with the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel for improved health, and her crosses became quite well known for their better health when compared to the *purebred* Cavalier. And while we wanted to stay within a realm of familiarity with a Poodle mixture, it was an interesting bit of research into Brittany crosses, and we ultimately decided that it was a good mix for us to raise alongside the Cavapoo. The Brittany requires a bit more exercise than the Cavalier, but we found that it worked perfectly for those who live an outdoorsy or active lifestyle and the Brittanypoo has been amazing for those families and filled an area where the Cavapoo can sometimes lack having more of an indoorsy demeanor. And the Brittany, being a spaniel, shares a lot of the same devoted and loving nature that the Cavalier possesses and so we have found ourselves falling in love with the Brittanypoo because of its similarities to the Cavapoo crossbreed. You can also learn more about the Brittany Spaniel, Miniature Poodle, and the Brittanypoo on our Breed HISTORY page.
Goals and future plans:
As responsible breeders, we are always researching and looking for ways to improve. We are proud of the fact that our dogs come from lines that have proven to be exceptionally healthy, and to date, we have not had any life-threatening genetic faults reported in any of our puppies. Specifically in our Cavalier line, we can attribute this to our line originating from a breeder in British Columbia who was raising the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel for over 30 years, conscientiously ensuring that her dogs were never in-bred which has allowed for the gene pool to be as open as possible and to breed away from health issues rather than sealing in problems by breeding related dogs together. This breeder has since retired in 2018 from raising the Cavalier and we have the last of her Cavalier line, which was imported from Texas and at that time, it was one of the few Cavalier lines that were screened for Syringomyelia (too small of a skull) and were being bred for their larger size which resolves the “dome head” often seen in poorly bred Cavaliers. We believe this line to be among the healthiest in Canada based on our findings over the past decade and it remains our goal as we continue to breed healthy puppies for the enrichment of your home as a loyal family companion.
The future is exciting as we plan to continue with our goal to only breed healthy puppies for the enrichment of your home as a loyal family companion. And as you will have read above, we have already started, as of 2021, to raise the Brittanypoo alongside our Cavapoos. And we have followed in line with some of the now recommended breeding practices from resource material based on trials and studies done on minimizing the genetic defects in dogs through breeding strategies from the scientists at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute from their recommendations which have reviewed the various approaches that are being taken to minimize potential defects in pedigree animals. The Roslin Institute's review is published in Canine Genetics and Epidemiology. This study outlines the necessity to out-cross the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with other breeds in order to improve the health and gene diversity in the Cavalier and how proper health screening and maintaining family lines by retaining health tested dogs is very important for the future of the Cavalier and Cavalier crosses. In our commitment is to raising healthy puppies, we have become the whistle blowers of sorts in the last 6+ years and trying to spread the word that the *purebred* Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is no longer healthy to breed pure anymore. Thankfully the Kennel Clubs and other breeders are starting to recognize and acknowledge the demise of the *purebred* Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and they are trying to fix it, but it will take a lot of time and commitment from dedicated breeders and the Kennel Clubs to rectify! The health issues in the purebred Cavalier cannot be rectified without an intervention from the Kennel Clubs to allow other breeds to be mixed in to rebuild the Cavalier from the ground up! They have done this with the Dalmatian (look up "LUA Dalmatians") and fixed the chronic uric acid issues in the breed by mixing in the Pointer and the Kennel Clubs are now registering these dogs as purebred. Countries like Norway have banned the breeding of *purebred* Cavalier King Charles Spaniels because of the multiple health issues caused by inbreeding and popularity breeding (it is illegal and considered unethical in Norway), and the Kennel Clubs in Finland and Sweden have teamed up together in starting a cross-breeding program to breed different breeds without shared health concerns that also have similar temperament to the Cavalier in order to hopefully restore and breed health and gene diversity back into the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. We fully support this movement and want to see the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel restored and improved to be healthy once again. We have found that the F2B to F3+ Cavapoo is the healthiest of all Cavapoos because of their diversity of new blood added in through the Poodle and with proper health screening you can have the security of 3 or more generations of health clear dogs in their lineage. Our dogs have up to 5 generations of health-cleared dogs behind them and we maintain our family line of Cavapoo’s gene diversity by maintaining a balance between the Cavalier and Poodle in gene percentages and by only selecting healthy and unrelated breeding lines for out-crossing! Over the next few years, we will continue to raise the higher generation of Cavapoo with our remaining healthy and trusted lines alongside the Brittanypoo for those who want a similar Spaniel-Poodle mix (not mixing the Cavapoo with the Brittanypoo). We have (as of Nov. 2022) also seen a few Cavapoo litters pop up across Canada as other breeders begin to follow suit and realize the importance of health and that the health screened higher-generation Cavapoo is the safest Cavapoo. Some breeders have even started to produce "Double Doodle" Cavapoos (often a Cavapoo X Cockapoo or Cavapoo X Cockachon) which is a huge step in the right direction to continue to ensure and improve the health of the Cavapoo!
At Pleasant Meadows, we will ONLY raise the higher-generation Cavapoos as the prior generations are simply too close to the purebred Cavalier to guarantee them to be healthy. We have a 15+ year history of health-cleared dogs which gives us complete trust of our lines and we offer a 3-year health guarantee when your puppy is fed a balanced raw species appropriate diet. We too, will be continuing to move forward with raising the Cavapoo from health screened lines alongside the Brittanypoo to offer a similar Spaniel-like mix. And we may have a limited number of Springalierpoo litters, which is a Springer Spaniel and Cavalier mix crossed with a Poodle, as that has been proven to be another breed with strong enough diversity to improve the health of the *purebred* Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. We are not setting out to be trend setters or to create some fancy mix – we simply want to see the health of the *purebred* Cavalier restored, and also maintain the Cavapoos health. You can read more about the studies mentioned to improve the health of the Cavalier, the cross-breeding program started overseas, and the need for health screening instead of relying on “hybrid vigor” by clicking on the link box below:
ENSURING REST:
Our waiting lists are designed so that each one of our females completely skips over one whole heat cycle to allow rest. Taking into account each female's natural fluctuations of their heat cycles, our females will only be bred ONCE per year or will typically have a minimum of 10-12 months between litters after skipping one cycle.
Our females are not bred past their 6th year, and many retire much earlier, each female is different and needs to be treated accordingly. All breeding is done under veterinarian advice, there are NO exceptions on this matter! We will skip a cycle between litters to allow 10-12 months rest for the well-being of each of our females! It is very important to us that our girls are able to rest and rejuvenate between litters and to simply have time to "be a dog"! And we reserve the right to not breed a particular female even if a litter is planned if we don't feel that a female has COMPLETELY recovered from her previous pregnancy in weight and overall health.
For those who cannot visit Pleasant Meadows, or for anyone simply wanting to see where our puppies are raised -- you can watch our Pleasant Meadows Puppy Room Tour Video which is updated yearly! And there are tons of videos that you can see of our puppies in our home on the Puppy Update Videos page! We also now offer Skype Video Calls for families choosing their puppies at 5-6 weeks of age!
~ Proverbs 12:10 ~
We believe that God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them -- as told in Genesis. Animals are valued by God Himself and He left the responsibility to man, to rule over all of His creation. Let us be good stewards of that trust, and be kind to all His creatures great and small.
"A righteous man regards the life of his animal ..."
Where did the name
"Pleasant Meadows"
come from?
Our Grandparents were a huge part of our lives and during our founding years in 2009 and beyond to 2016 they immensely enjoyed the puppies we raised while they lived with us on our farm so that we could care for them as they aged and still enable them to have some independence. My Grandfather (who was English through and through) had a dream that our farm was called "Pleasant Meadows" just like the farms and cottages are named over in England in the home of his childhood. He took great pride in tending gardens and making our property the scene of perfection and beauty. It was his complete joy to stay active and take care of our property that bore the name "Pleasant Meadows" as he had dreamed. Our name honours him and the immense influence that our Grandparents had in our lives as they supported our dreams and helped us achieve them! Our Border Collie mix "Meadow" was thus named by my Grandfather to match our name, and he often referred to her endearingly in his later days as "Meadows" like our name. Meadow and our rescue shepherd, Sebastian, were much loved by our grandparents. Below is a photo of Meadow and her companion Sebastian who are now both senior citizens around here -- we cherish every day we have with them. Both still take their "job" seriously as guardians for our horses, although they spend most of their days in our air conditioned/heated garage due to their age. Some day, their torch will be passed on, but for now, our name and their lives are a reminder of our beloved Grandparents.
Summer 2018 Update: Sebastian and Meadow have aged significantly in the last year and are now both unable to protect our horses and our other dogs from dangerous predators! They both have a strong work ethic and loved to "work" well into their old age, and by "work" we mean bark at anything suspicious on our property like a coyote or bear! Sebastian is the eldest, and because he was a rescue, we don't know his exact age but he is well over 10 years old and he now spends most of his time lounging around! Both he and Meadow have earned that right and they are considered retired and "off duty" but you'll still likely hear their thundering barks when you roll up to our home! We hope and pray that we still have some more time left with them in our lives, but we can see that age is catching up to them faster than our hearts can handle!
Winter 2019 Update: Sebastian passed away peacefully in his sleep on December 1st -- we originally had rescued Sebastian 11 years earlier in December, and so the fact that he also left us in December brought back many bittersweet memories of when he was first came into our home! We will always love and dearly miss Sebastian as he was such a huge part of our founding years as Pleasant Meadows! Sebastian is likely walking through beautiful flowered gardens in Heaven with my Grandfather who adored Sebastian for his beauty and bravery!
Winter 2022 Update: Meadow has enjoyed the life of a pampered house pet for the past 5 years, but her guard dog spirit is still very strong and she is often seen watching over our younger generations when they are outside. Meadow is perhaps the heart and soul of Pleasant Meadows being our namesake and we are enjoying every day that we have with Meadow who truly is a guardian angel.
Fall 2023 Update: Meadow has joined her Beloved Sebastian and our Grandparents in Heaven -- she passed quickly and peacefully Thanksgiving 2023 after a heart attack. She was 14 years old and her presence will forever be missed in our home and lives -- she was irreplaceable beyond any measure, but we are so thankful to have been blessed so tremendously by her simply being in our lives! We love you sweet darling Meadow!