Mission Statement
We are Lagotto Romagnolo enthusiasts and huge fans of this special breed. We enjoy competing in AKC sports that include conformation, agility, rally and others. We invest joy, pride, love, money and time into breeding a litter of puppies so that we can continue our pursuit of dog sports.
We breed a litter of puppies with the goal of superior temperament, health and classic Italian characteristics. The Lagotto is a very special breed and we are working to preserve the companionability, trainability and endearing passion of these charming dogs.
Our dogs are our family and are each totally involved in our daily lives. Because of our commitment to providing each member of our family the best and richest life possible we keep only a few house dogs…which means we have amazing dogs to share!
A big part of why we are so successful at making our Lagotto buyers happy is because we choose families to partner with that share our vision and philosophies for exemplary guardianship.
Please read our mission statement that outlines the guardianship characteristics of the fine families we are looking for to share our wonderful dogs with.
MISSION STATEMENT
We pledge to each dog that we bring into this world to accept the responsibility of providing them with safety, joy, enrichment, glowing health and adoration. We will find and accept only the best situations for them. We recognize that we hold their lives in our hands. We will remain dedicated to each dog as if it was our own until they leave this world.
DISCLAIMER STATEMENT
We are crazy dog ladies and fiercely protective of our little ones. It is unacceptable for us to place a dog in a home that we feel is “less” than our own. Please carefully review the basic requirements for placement of a Fino Lagotto.
1) We cannot place a dog in a home where it will be confined during the day. If you are a working family please consider adopting an elderly dog from a rescue or shelter that may not find love in its last few years of life. There are dogs that do well left at home all day but in our opinion Lagotti are not one of them.
2) We will not place a dog with people who use or believe in dominance based training, harsh and outdated training methods. This includes the use of choke collars, pinch and shock collars. We breed dogs that want to please you..reward based methods and encouraging words are all that is required to train a Fino Lagotto.
3) We breed dogs with active minds and active bodies. Our dogs require daily exercise and enrichment. Off leash walking and hiking is ideal…our dogs are walked everyday rain or shine for 45- 60 minutes. They are allowed to run, hunt, get dirty and swim and be free. We are very lucky that where we live there is a lot of open space for us to play in. When we place a Lagotto in a new home we realize that not all people live in that environment so we help to make an exercise plan for each family and their location. Lagotto love to learn, fetch balls, play tug of war and wrestle with other dog family members. There are many ways to keep a Lagotto satisfied so we look for homes that recognize that dogs deserve at least an hour a day of excitement. These dogs deserve more than a boring lazy life. All dogs do but I’m not in control of their destiny!
4) We are looking for people to share our dogs with that are willing to provide the very best nutrition and health practices. We feed our dogs a diet of raw meat, bones, table scraps, eggs, milk and occasionally some canned food for convenience while traveling. We are happy to teach you all you need to know about feeding a biologically appropriate diet that does not include dry dog food.
If you are saying to yourself…I’m not going to give my dog raw meat, bones or table scraps…please understand that we believe that “dog food” significantly shortens dogs lives, promotes health problems and disease. One of the most disastrous affects of dry dog food is bad breath (an oral infection) caused by bad bacteria and plaque deposits. We don’t brush our dog’s teeth, we let them eat raw meaty bones instead and have never had a dogs teeth cleaned by a vet. We would not sacrifice our dogs health by placing them in a situation where we believe they would not be fed raw food.
5) If you think boarding kennels and overnight stays at the vets must be stressful…we agree! We want our little ones to suffer as little stress and upset as possible in their lives. Family, neighbors and friends are the best options but if those options are not feasible, we like to encourage our Lagotto buyers to establish a relationship with a dog daycare that offers overnight services for their clients. If the dogs are regularly exposed to that fun and familiar place it becomes home away from home. We are looking for people who want to find the happiest and lest stressful solutions for their dogs and are willing to put in the extra effort to make it possible.
6) A final point. We expose our dogs to minimum of conventional veterinary care. We believe that vets are trained to treat the symptoms of disease but are a poor source of information regarding how to keep your loved one healthy. In fact it appears that most vets are unlikely to be receptive to healthy husbandry methods because it results in dogs that rarely need medical attention. Our unique position of decades in the pet grooming business has shown very clearly that people that routinely follow their vets advice have sick dogs that die very expensive sad and early deaths. We have very conservative views and practices regarding vaccinations, antibiotics and preventative flea and tick applications. We have had 40 years of healthy dogs that live long active lives.
As you can see we take our responsibility of the dogs we bring into the world very seriously.
In our experience, people are unlikely to make major changes in the way they care for a dog. We do believe that most people think that they are providing good care. Our unique position as owners of a pet care business shows us that neglect is rampant. It is very likely that a lack of knowledge is to blame.
If you feel that you would like to find out more about our methods and philosophies we will be thrilled to guide you. If you are philosophically in a different place …we respectfully ask you to consider a dog from someone else.
If you already agree with most or all of our philosophies… We want to sell you a dog !!!
Sincerely,
Robin
