A Three-Year
Health
Partnership
A health guarantee should be more than fine print. It should be a reflection of the standard that preceded it, and the relationship that follows.
Not a promise of perfection. A commitment to partnership.
Ethical Breeding
The foundationHealth testing begins years before your puppy is born. OFA clearances, comprehensive genetic panels through Embark, cardiac and ophthalmologic evaluations on every parent dog. The guarantee reflects the standard behind it.
Client Education
Transparency throughoutWe do not obscure the complexity of canine health. We explain it. What hybrid vigor means, what conditions exist in the lines we use, and what thoughtful ownership looks like across the first years of your dog's life.
Long-Term Support
The relationship continuesThis guarantee is not a refund policy. It is a support structure. In the event of a serious diagnosis, we walk alongside you with guidance, referrals, and our full attention. You are not alone in this.
The standard
behind the promise.
No ethical breeder can guarantee that any dog will be free from all genetic or developmental variation. Biology does not permit that kind of certainty, and any program claiming otherwise is selling something other than honesty.
What we can promise is the standard. We test, we select, we raise, and we support with the same care we would apply to a dog placed in our own home. That is the foundation every Stokeshire puppy begins with.
Health Testing as a Condition of Program Inclusion
Every parent dog is evaluated through comprehensive genetic panels. Testing is breed-specific and may include degenerative myelopathy, progressive retinal atrophy, von Willebrand's disease, cardiac and ophthalmologic evaluations, hip and elbow clearances, and coat-trait markers. Coefficient of inbreeding is analyzed before every pairing.
Structured Early-Life Formation
The Stokeshire Method carries a puppy through the neurological and social windows that shape lifelong health. Neurological stimulation, sensory exposure, and early routine are built in before habits form. Licensed veterinary care, age-appropriate vaccinations, and a structured deworming protocol are completed before any puppy goes home.
Documentation and Continuity of Care
Every puppy leaves Stokeshire with a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection, full vaccination and deworming records, a Development Portfolio, and direct access to our team. The transition home is an extension of the work already done, not a clean break from it.
Ongoing Access to Our Team
Families retain direct access to Stokeshire for questions, concerns, and guidance through the first three years and beyond. This is the relationship the guarantee formalizes. Support is the baseline, not a transaction that begins only when something goes wrong.
What thoughtful ownership
looks like in practice.
The guarantee rests on the care a dog receives after placement. These are not burdensome requirements. They are the conditions under which any dog thrives, and the framework around which the Stokeshire partnership is built.
Nutrition and Condition
Throughout the dog's lifeFeed a high-quality, size-appropriate commercial diet formulated for the puppy's life stage. Maintain ideal body condition. Obesity is among the most significant preventable contributors to orthopedic and metabolic disease.
Raw and whole-food diets remain a strong long-term option for families who approach them with veterinary guidance.
Veterinary Partnership
Ongoing, consistent careAn initial veterinary exam within the window specified in your purchase agreement. Annual wellness visits, age-appropriate vaccinations, and monthly heartworm and parasite prevention thereafter.
Stokeshire recommends delayed spay and neuter timing, with specific guidance tailored to breed and size provided at placement.
Environment and Development
First 12 months especiallyProtect growth plates during the first year. Avoid repetitive high-impact exercise, jumping from heights, and forced exertion before the dog is structurally mature.
Provide indoor housing, thoughtful socialization, and foundational obedience. These shape not only the dog's behavior but its long-term physical health.
Why hybrid vigor
matters.
Each breed we work with brings distinct strengths, and each carries its own predispositions. Thoughtful hybridization broadens the genetic foundation and generally reduces the expression of recessive conditions that concentrate within closed purebred lines.
Our parent dogs are selected from pedigrees with documented health clearances and temperament records. Understanding the genetics is part of the transparency we extend to every family.
What support
actually looks like.
When a family reaches out with a concern, we answer. When a diagnosis is received, we help interpret it. When a specialist is needed, we make the introduction. The guarantee is the formal expression of a relationship that already exists.
Specific timelines, financial provisions, and the full terms governing the partnership are defined in your Purchase Agreement and Terms of Service. This page describes the standard. The contract defines the structure.
A phone number, not a portal
Families reach James and Katie directly. No tiers, no ticketing systems, no intermediaries for matters that require our attention.
Guidance when a question becomes a concern
We interpret records, coordinate with our veterinary partners when appropriate, and help families understand what is routine, what warrants a specialist, and what the realistic path forward looks like.
Access to future Stokeshire programs
In qualifying circumstances defined in your Purchase Agreement, eligible families receive continued access to the program, whether through advisement, program credits, or priority consideration for future placement.
The dog is always welcome home
Every Stokeshire dog has a place with us, regardless of age or circumstance. Families who can no longer care for a Stokeshire dog contact us first. This is not a contingency. It is a standing commitment.
This page describes the partnership. The specific terms that govern it, including timelines, documentation requirements, and the provisions of the health and wellness guarantee, are defined in the Purchase Agreement signed at placement and the Stokeshire Terms of Service.
Stokeshire Designer Doodles is a state-licensed breeding and development program based in Medford, Wisconsin, operating under Wisconsin DATCP License No. 514401-DS. All placements are governed by the Stokeshire Terms of Service, which constitute the binding agreement between the parties. The information on this page is descriptive of the program's standards and is not a substitute for the binding contract.
Review the Full Terms of Service
The relationship begins
at pickup. It does not end there.
Questions about the partnership or the program? We welcome the conversation before placement, not only after it.
