Nutrition

We firmly believe in feeding our dogs as healthy a diet as possible. Over the years that has included various types of kibble, freeze dried food, raw and table scraps. We encourage a whole food, raw diet but realize that choice is not for everyone. 

Our dogs currently eat a raw diet consisting of beef, chicken, turkey, venison, vegetables, fruits, eggs, bones, cheeses, yoghurt and tripe. We also include fish, both cooked and raw.

Our journey to raw encompassed many experiments into and out of raw and what worked best for us at the time, and most importantly what worked best for our animals. 

When we bred Autumn in 2016 every single instinct I possessed told me to put her back on a raw diet and so this most recent journey began in earnest. Autumn thrived during her pregnancy and while nursing and was back in shape within days of whelping. The litter was raised on raw and 2 are still raw fed and doing phenomenally well. The other 2 are on a high quality kibble and are in very good shape as well. Cale is in better shape now than ever before in his life. All the dogs love their food and are more than willing to lick each other's bowls clean.

Spay & Neuter

In the past 50 years or so, in North America, there has been a huge push to spay and neuter any pet due to the ‘huge overpopulation problem’. With that, there has been little to no concern about the overall health of the animal that is being so fundamentally altered. In recent years, some veterinarians have not only discovered, but are openly admitting to the large number of health issues that have arisen due to dogs not having their sex hormones for long enough. There is no argument that their bodies, like ours, are influenced by their hormones. It is in a dog’s best health interests to leave them intact as long as possible but at least until they are 18-24 months old. This allows them to finish growing, their growth plates to close and for their bodies to be sexually mature. It can help with preventing certain cancers and other hormone related disorders.

It can be challenging to have an intact dog due to our cultural beliefs. Many people think that somehow spaying/neutering will magically stop bad behavior but contrary to popular belief, training, not de-sexing, will make your dog a good dog.

Before you spay or neuter your puppy, we strongly encourage you to do as much research as possible. There are alternatives to spay and neuter including ovary-sparing spay, tubal ligation and vasectomy, all of which allow the dog to keep their hormones without the ability to reproduce.

We did an OSS (ovary-sparing spay) on Rain when she was 3 years old in 2021. She has aged very well and has not suffered any ill effects due to the procedure to date. She has remained very fit, has not developed urinary incontinence and her temperament has remained the same. Sunshine had an OSS in December 2024. She has also maintained good weight and is doing well.

An OSS does not stop the dog from having heat cycles but they are much less pronounced although the dog still has all her hormones and will still be receptive to males so must still be separated.

I am including links to articles from UCDavis, Parsemus Foundation, WSAVA guidlines, an article on behavioural effects of neutering, a very informative video by Dr. Judy Morgan, and Dr. Becker’s article on early spay and neuter.

Vaccinations

It has become more and more apparent that over-vaccination can cause severe health issues in our dogs. Many vets have finally started to recommend that boosters should not be done any more frequently than every 3 years but many are still on the yearly booster bandwagon.

We follow Dr Dodd’s vaccination protocol at Divinity Poodles.

Our dogs receive their puppy shots then we titer test them at least once. They receive their rabies shots and boosters that are required by law and in order to cross the border. We do not vaccinate for bordetella (kennel cough) or lepto at this time.

With our 2017 litter we also learned about a titer test (nomograph) for a pregnant dam that not only shows her antibodies but gives an estimate on when to vaccinate the puppies based on when the dam’s antibodies will no longer block the vaccine. This allows us to make a decision on when to vaccinate puppies and not give a useless vaccine that will just expose them to side effects but do nothing to protect them. 

Breeding Health

All of our dogs are health tested prior to breeding. They will have a minimum of hip x-rays evaluated through OFA or Penn-hip, eye evaluation done with a board certified veterinary ophthalmologist, congenital cardiac exam or SA or thyroid test done as well as genetic based testing done or be cleared by parentage (neither parent was a carrier of vWD, NE, DM). Their individual health test results are linked on their own pages. 

As all of our dogs are worked in some sort of performance or hunted, we keep them in top condition including visits to the vet, chiropractor and acupuncturist as needed.

VGL

VGL testing (Canine Genetic Diversity (CGD) DNA Test offered at UC Davis - Veterinary Genetics Laboratory) is used to identify genetic diversity within dog breeds, assess traits of interest, and determine genetic predisposition to health conditions. The goal of the testing is to assist in producing greater genetic diversity within a breed. The general idea being greater diversity = greater longevity.

Our breeding dogs have their VGL done and are on public record on BetterBred. In addition, we will usually test some puppies in each litter, some of those results are also public depending on their owners' wishes.

Our goal is to produce genetically diverse, healthy dogs that conform to the breed standard and have the temperament, drive and energy to do anything you wish.

CDDY

CDDY in Standard Poodles

What is CDDY?

CDDY is chondrodystrophy. It refers to the relative proportion between a dog’s legs and body and usually displays as shorter legs and longer body. CDDY is caused by a mutation on the gene that causes not only the short-legged appearance but also abnormal premature degeneration of the intervertebral discs (also known as IVDD). These discs are more susceptible to herniation. 

The mutation was discovered in 2017 at UCDavis.

Many breeds have CDDY, think Dachshunds, Corgis and Beagles (to name only a few). It is also seen frequently in Toy and Miniature Poodles. It was not thought to be present in Standards until recently however the test for CDDY is very new having become available commercially in 2019. 

The gene is considered ‘autosomal dominant’ which means that only one copy means the dog is chondrodystrophic. According to the literature this means that the dog does have IVDD but does NOT mean that the dog will have debilitating pain or will herniate a disc. 

Again, many dogs have this gene and live very long, active and healthy lives. 

However, it is something that breeders should be aware of in order to make educated breeding choices.

For us at Divinity we have decided that, at this point, we will not breed a dog that has a copy of CDDY. There are many factors involved in this decision and I don’t condemn any other programs that have the mutation that are actively trying to remove it and still achieve their other goals. There are no perfect dogs and we all must make our breeding decisions based on what our goals are and taking into consideration the ever developing testing that are available to us. 

I have included a link to a podcast at the Functional Dog Collaborative interviewing the researcher that found the mutation, Dr Danika Bannasch.

Danika Bannasch, DVM, PhD: Chondrodystrophy