Bring a Falconwood puppy into your home
Our Adoption Process
Bringing a Falconwood puppy into your family is about so much more than simply bringing home a dog. It is the beginning of a relationship that we hope will last for the lifetime of your puppy.
We know there are many breeders to choose from, and we genuinely appreciate every family who places their trust in us. It is a responsibility we never take for granted.
Every litter is planned with great care, and every puppy deserves the very best start in life. Our goal has never been to breed the most puppies. It has always been to breed exceptional puppies, thoughtfully match them with exceptional families, and remain there to support them throughout their lives. Here’s what you can expect when you join the Falconwood family.
Step 1
Complete an Adoption Application
The first step is to complete our Adoption Application Form through our page HERE.
This helps us learn about your family, lifestyle, previous dog experience and what you’re looking for in your future Sheepadoodle.
Once we receive your application, we’ll carefully review it and may contact you to ask a few additional questions. This simply helps us ensure that a Falconwood puppy is the right fit for your family, and that your family is the right fit for one of our puppies.
Step 2
Joining the Wait List
Once your application has been approved, you can secure your place on our wait list with a non-refundable $500 deposit.
Unlike many breeders, we don’t breed a litter simply because one of our girls comes into season and hope the puppies will find homes afterwards. We wait until loving families are waiting before we ever plan a litter. Every litter is planned with purpose. If we don’t have enough committed families waiting, we simply don’t breed the litter.
We believe every puppy deserves to be born knowing there is already a family excitedly waiting to welcome them home. Your deposit forms part of your puppy’s purchase price. If your circumstances change, or the right puppy isn’t available in that litter, your deposit can simply be transferred to a future Falconwood litter.
Step 3
Waiting for Your Puppy
Our wait list operates in the order deposits are received.
As planned litters become available, we’ll contact the families whose preferences best match the expected puppies. Waiting for your puppy should be exciting, and one of our favourite parts of breeding is sharing the journey with you.
From pregnancy updates and nursery preparations to regular weekly ultrasound footage, photos, videos and our weekly Facebook Live sessions once the pups are born, you’ll be able to watch your puppy’s story unfold from the very beginning. Many of our families tell us they already feel connected to their puppy long before they ever come home.
Snoopy heading home with her family - North & Fallon
Choosing Your Puppy
When your litter is born, you’ll continue watching the puppies grow through our regular updates and weekly Facebook Live sessions.
At around six weeks of age, after their first vaccinations, we invite our families to Falconwood for our Meet the Pawrents Day. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet your puppy, spend time together and make sure the connection feels right before final payment is made.
While families certainly have input, our priority is always making the very best lifelong match. If we believe a particular puppy would be better suited to another family, we may recommend a different puppy or, where necessary, limit the available choices.
Every decision we make is based on what we believe is in the puppy’s best interests.
Final Adoption Agreement
Before your puppy comes home, we’ll ask you to sign our Final Adoption Agreement. This outlines both our commitments and yours, including our lifetime return policy, desexing requirements and the standard of care expected throughout your dog’s life. We believe setting clear expectations from the beginning helps build a wonderful lifelong relationship between you, your puppy and Falconwood.
Bringing Your Puppy Home
Falconwood puppies go home from eight weeks of age.
Every puppy leaves with an extensive Puppy Pack and their own folder containing vaccination records, health information, copies of their parents’ health testing, DNA parentage confirmation where applicable, and everything you’ll need to confidently begin life together.
We’ll continue supporting you with advice on feeding, training, grooming and general puppy care because becoming part of the Falconwood family doesn’t end when you drive out our gate.
Transport - For families unable to collect their puppy in person, we’re happy to help arrange safe transport throughout Australia. Where practical, we prefer road transport for shorter journeys. For longer distances, we may recommend air travel, as it is often the quickest and least stressful option for young puppies.
Every Falconwood Puppy Has a Home for Life
One promise we make to every puppy we bring into the world is that they will always have a home with us. As part of our Adoption Agreement, every family agrees that if they can no longer care for their dog at any stage of its life, whether they are 20 months or 20 years old, they must be returned to Falconwood. We will either welcome them back into our own family or carefully find another exceptional home.
Under no circumstances should a Falconwood dog ever enter a shelter, rescue organisation or be rehomed without our involvement. If one of our dogs ever needs to come home from interstate, we’ll even arrange and cover the cost of bringing them safely back to Falconwood.
When we choose to bring a puppy into the world, we believe our responsibility to that dog lasts for its entire lifetime.
Our Breeding Philosophy
Our dogs are our family before they are ever breeding dogs.
They live inside our home, sleep on our beds, relax beside us in front of the fire, watch television with us and even have their own bedroom complete with bunk beds. During the day they explore our 54-acre farm, swim in the dam, play with one another and share their lives alongside our horses, cattle, alpacas, goats, cats and the many other animals that call Falconwood home.
We have no kennels and no cages.
Every one of our dogs is raised as a much-loved member of our family, and we warmly welcome prospective families to visit Falconwood and experience this for themselves.
Our breeding dogs are only bred if they meet the standards we have set for health, temperament and overall suitability. If they don’t, they’re retired from our breeding program because their wellbeing will always come before producing puppies.
Health Testing & Realistic Expectations
Health testing is one of the foundations of our breeding program.
Every breeding dog undergoes comprehensive DNA testing, PennHIP assessments, Hip & Elbow VetScoring and other relevant health examinations to help us make informed breeding decisions and reduce the risk of inherited disease wherever possible.
While responsible breeding significantly reduces many risks, no breeder can ever guarantee that a puppy will never experience illness or develop a health condition during its lifetime. Some conditions have a strong genetic component, while others are influenced by growth, nutrition, injury, environment or factors that are still not fully understood.
Once your puppy leaves Falconwood, their lifelong health is influenced by the care they receive throughout their life. We’ll always be here to offer advice and support, but each family is ultimately responsible for their puppy’s ongoing care, nutrition, exercise and veterinary treatment. If you’d like to learn more about the testing we perform and why we do it, we invite you to visit our Health Testing Explained page.
Welcome to the Falconwood Family
From your very first enquiry to many years after your puppy comes home, we’ll always be here if you need us. Whether you have a question about training, grooming, nutrition, health or simply want to share a photo of your Falconwood dog, we’d genuinely love to hear from you.
When you choose a Falconwood puppy, you’re not simply choosing where your puppy comes from. You’re becoming part of the Falconwood family, and we consider that a privilege we’ll never take for granted.
Welcome to Falconwood. We can’t wait to be part of your journey.