A “few years ago” I met a girl with beautiful red hair that caught my eye and my thoughts constantly.   

Little did I know how much my life would change in a few short years and the family that we would form would be influenced so much my wife’s love of all kinds of animals.  I should have foreseen how that would come  about when we were dating and she “found” a pure bred Golden Retriever that she named Harley.  Despite my teasing her and asking if she really found Harley she ran several classified ad’s and when we could not find his rightful owner we ended up with Harley as our first family pet.  

Harley graced our family for more than a decade with so many good times and slobbery tennis balls and times at the lake that we never forgot how great a breed the Golden Retriever really is.   

As time went on Tanya and I had a few children and had a opportunity to buy the home that she was raised in and the small acreage that came along with it and her love for animals continued to grow and the experiences and knowledge she had gained from many years caring for the animals on the family farm lent itself to having horses, cows, sheep and all the other farm animals that you would expect in a small family farm.  After a few years as the farm grew my wife introduced our children to the world of 4H  and FFA and all the lessons one could learn there in animal husbandry, grooming and showing animals.

Years of  equestrian events  on the weekends by my wife and daughter  showing their horses  and the value of learning to guide and lead a animal much larger than you have been invaluable in growing confidence.  The girls also  have a  marked affinity for finding animals that needed a helping hand as diverse as a juvenile great horned owl to baby squirrels needed to be bottle fed due to their age.  It never ceases to amaze me!!

One of the things that comes with a family farm and a love of dogs is the cleaning!  When it came time for a new dog for the family farm we turned our attention to our first family pet and our Golden retriever Harley and the good times we enjoyed with him.  We also knew from our experience raising cattle and other livestock that the science of heterosis or Hybrid Vigor when done properly greatly improved everything we did including what we saw with our lambs and speaking to people for decades from cattle ranchers to people that raise rodeo horses that sell for tens of thousands of dollars.  The idea that we could have a four legged family friend that also didn’t make all the messes that we experienced with Harley and always looking for a lint brush and a vacuum cleaner for clean up in a hurry was extremely appealing.  The love of the doodle was born in our family!  

One of the things that we firmly believe and our intention is to provide a family friend, a family member, that will give many years of great companionship and health. To that end we don’t unlike some breeders believe that Hybrid Vigor makes up for poor initial genetics and testing.   Our goal and our intention is to start with the best possible dogs and genetics, and to that end we practice extensive testing including testing for genetics, hip dysplasia, eye and cardiac health.  If after doing this testing we have found that a prospective dog doesn’t meet our rigorous standards we wont allow them to be including in our breeding program.  

This has been a natural evolution for our family and the love of all animals and the ability to pass on those decades of experience is providing us with such a valuable experience as we help raise these fantastic four legged family friends that are being so loved and appreciated by those who are fortunate enough to enjoy them with us.  

We named our dog breeding operation Funny farm doodles for all these reasons and more.   The dogs are a tremendous source of joy for our family and are a phenomenal addition to the family farm.   We hope you enjoy them as much as we do and come to appreciate the Doodles for the fantastic pets they are!   From our family to yours we know you will!

By Michael Papp