The Story of Pinewood Pups

Hello! We’d like to introduce you to our family! Pinewood Pups includes 5 humans (Ingrid, Doug, Logan, Klara and Ian) 2 dogs (Mercedes and River), 1 cat (Angel) and 1 goat (Charley).

Ingrid has a degree in Animal Science, worked for a Small Animal veterinarian both during high school and college, has trained horses, gave riding lessons for many years, and has been a dog owner / trainer since she was 10.

Doug has also been a dog owner / trainer for over 20 years, and is REALLY good at doing all the maintenance projects that go along with having pets.

So why do we raise puppies?

It all started MANY years ago with Ingrid’s first dog – Pepper – a black Lab mix who was in need of rescue, and who brought great joy and many formative life lessons to Ingrid when she was 10 years old. Pepper lived with Ingrid and her parents and sister for over 15 years. Then Ingrid and Doug got married, and they adopted another black Lab mix – Paden – who gave them joy, companionship, training opportunities, Frisbee-catching fun, and property guarding for 14 ½ years. By that time, Ingrid and Doug had had some children, and they decided to continue to have dogs be an important part of their family and help them to teach their children some of those formative life lessons too, just like Pepper had done for Ingrid. So when Logan was 11, he got Mercedes, a purebred AKC black Lab, and a new friendship was born! He showed Mercedes for 2 years in 4H Obedience classes, earning several blue ribbons and a Grand Championship plaque. And then, as a way to help Logan earn some money for college (which is coming up quickly!!) and as a project we could engage in together as a family, we decided to breed Mercedes and raise select, quality litters of puppies who would be loved and cared for in our home from their birth until they went to be with their new owners at about 7-8 weeks old.

Why mini labradoodles?

For various reasons, we decided to expand from raising just purebred Labs to include some litters of the relatively newer cross-breed of mini-Labradoodles. The mini-Labradoodles have some interesting characteristics, like a wavy (or can even be curly) coat that is lower-shedding and can be hypoallergenic (we are not making this claim for our puppies, as this has not been verified for every litter, but it was an original reason for starting this new cross-breed). They also are a smaller size than the typical Lab (which is about 60-70 pounds), as the miniature poodle weighs in at 12-15 pounds; this results in a mini-Labradoodle that can weigh anywhere from 25-40 pounds. So they have a smaller size (more manageable for kids), but still carry the Lab’s most endearing characteristics, including their intelligence, loving personalities, trainability, and being great with families.

That is the story of Pinewood Pups.

If you are looking for a Labrador Retriever OR a mini-Labradoodle to become your newest companion, family member, fitness buddy, 4H obedience / agility partner, hunting partner, property guardian, and so much MORE - we would love to work with you and connect you with that special puppy!