Hello! My name is Krista LaRocque. I began Kansas Doodles after realizing 2 of my dogs - Lady Liberty (a wonderful Golden Retriever) and my male Great Pyrenees, Ranger - were naturally providing emotional support for our family.
We have built our family through adoption and as a result my children have faced various traumas in their lives. Not only the separation from their first families (which is trauma enough), but also many have lost their first countries, language, other siblings. When we began Kansas Doodles in 2020 our 14 children ranged in ages from 29 down to 8. We had "only" 6 children living at home (which would take another whole website to explain since it is also an old high school). Our children have an alphabet soup of dx such as FASD, ADHD, PTSD, ODD, RAD and various other diagnosed conditions.
In the adoption community I became aware there was a need for more service dogs- particularly large ones. Our family works together to provide the most well rounded puppy you could find.
Here at Kansas Doodles we pride ourselves on being ethical and caring for each parent dog as well as the puppies. While our site is called Kansas Doodles and different types of doodles is the backbone of our program, we do occasionally have non-doodle dogs. The reason we feel this is best is because no one dog fits all and it is my goal to turn into a facility that also trains and places service dogs in the future. Some of my dogs live here with us, but some also live in guardian homes where they can be raised and eventually retire as a forever pet to the family who has raised them.
My parent dogs are up to date on all veterinary care. I currently work with 3 different vets. Dr Nikki Larson comes to my house and primarily cares for my young puppies by providing vaccines and routine check ups. Heartland Vet generally provides any OFA checks, blood work, emergency care, fecal tests and health checks before puppies leave. The Animal Hospital in Great Bend has done the PennHip tests on my adult dogs before breeding begins and is a backup emergency vet if needed. They also are genetic tested through Embark (a few have been tested with another test site, but mostly embark). Hips are checked by either OFA or PennHip. DNA health testing is done on each parent dog which makes it is very unlikely to develop genetic illnesses. Also, since puppies are mainly crossbreeds they are already not inbred. In fact, all my puppies come with a lifetime guarantee against serious genetic illness!
My foundation dogs were Ranger (Great Pyrenees) and Libby (Golden Retriever), but we went the direction of the doodles to produce a lower shedding dog that many people desire if they do not wish a poodle or curly type coat.
We occasionally have select older puppies or young adults partly trained as assistance animal potentials. This is also ideal for those who might not have time to dedicate to a young puppy.
We are a licensed Kennel with our state and also with our town.
We are currently feeding all of our dogs Purina Pro Plan Salmon food. We also daily give all of our dogs and puppies a rice/ pumpkin mixture along with probiotics and nutritional supplements. While I do not oppose occasionally feeding a raw food diet there does seem to be a link between grain free diets and heart conditions.
While dog breeders are often misclassified as uncaring or cruel there are many of us who are seeking to raise the bar on how purposefully bred dogs. I am part of a group of breeders called Empowered Breeders/ Badass Breeders through a program developed by Jeanette Forrey. I also have worked with another group to become an Elite Breeder.
As our Kennel has become a family business, it is both different and similar to the various farms that surround us here in Central Western Kansas. I do not do any of this alone. My husband David maintains all the facilities and builds just about anything we need. My children at home help with cleaning, training, dog washing, walking and most importantly socialization! All of this results in well-rounded puppies that have experienced a lot of different situations.
We follow a daily curriculum with our puppies called the Empowered Breeder program. My puppies are introduced to new experiences and socialized in various ways. Several puppies are raised here well past the 9-10 weeks a puppy generally goes home. In addition to assisting each mom dog while she gives birth in one of our 2 indoor puppy suites, we weigh the puppies starting day one and identify each puppy. Generally we have a theme for each litter.
I homeschool my own human children and we also homeschool our puppies! They start their classes at just 3 days old with ENS (Early Neurological Stimulation) and ESI (Early Scent Introduction) exercises. Those activities continue and at 7-8 weeks they are evaluated using the BAB/ Empowered Breeder evaluation to predict what type of family would fit them best. I do not allow picks before then and I don't allow picks based on gender and color alone since I respect both my puppies and their future families enough to help set them up for success.
While we put in so much love, attention and socialization their story really starts when they go home with their new people. Some of my puppies have gone to schools as facility dogs, others are service dogs, but if one of my puppies is placed with you their success is largely up to you
Yet I do not expect you to navigate on your own and so include many tools to help you if you choose one of our puppies.
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