Hello, I am Savannah, the person behind AMD. Aspen Mountain Doodles is a dream come true for me. As a child I spent hours pouring over dog books & learning all I could. I dreamed of growing up to be a service dog trainer. As a preteen, a dog named Pico became my biggest support and lifeline as I navigated some severe trauma. It was during that time that I learned first hand that dogs can heal, protect, & understand in a way no person can. As an adult, I have poured my heart & time into Aspen Mountain Doodles with the goal of changing lives through the power of a dog. 

Intentionality

Breeding is something we take very seriously. We have spent years planning, researching, taking courses, & selecting the foundation dogs for our program. We look at a potential breeding dog’s health, structure, temperament, coat, & color & pair our dogs taking all of these things into consideration. All of our dogs have been health tested to ensure our pups do not inherit any genetic diseases. We follow our pups’ journeys into adulthood & stay in touch with their families. We ask questions about their temperaments as they grow & mature & take our AMD Pack families’ answers into account when considering breeding that pairing again. Our goal is to produce healthy, even tempered dogs for both companion homes & service & therapy work as well.

Service Dog Curriculum & Temperament Testing

How are we able to match families with a puppy that fits their needs? We follow the Badass Breeders puppy curriculum, developed by Jeanette Forrey of 4eKennels.  The BAB way takes the pups through 8 weeks of hands on curriculum. We introduce them to new environments, obstacles, noises, stimulation, & handling including ESI & ENS. The curriculum is so much more than “the puppies are well loved” or “raised around family”. While both of these are true statements for our pups, Badass Breeder puppy curriculum is so much more. It is intentional exposure to dogs, people, places, items, experiences, handling & grooming. It is learning about each puppy’s strengths & challenges & empowering them. We spend the first 8 weeks of the puppies’ lives showing them that the world is safe, people are kind & dogs are friendly. They are temperament tested around day 50 & their evaluations are recorded & shared with families to help them decide which puppy fits best with their lifestyle. 

Building Relationships

What does this have to do with getting a puppy? Building a connection with prospective puppy families is key to properly placing a puppy based off of temperament. We listen to the families hopes & expectations for a puppy, & then work with them to find what they are looking for, even if that means it isn’t a breed we sell. We continue our relationship with our puppy families even after the puppy goes home. It is so important for families to be able to ask questions & communicate about obstacles with their breeder. After all, we know our puppies better than anyone & we are their voice!

Education & Connection

We are passionate about educating people about responsible dog ownership. We use our social media platform to provide easy training tips for families. Connecting families to helpful resources like Baxter & Bella Online Puppy School   makes a huge difference in their success raising a puppy. We also have started a fun kids program called AMD Kids with a vision of teaching kids about responsible dog ownership through fun engaging kid friendly content.

Making a Difference

One of my biggest goals for AMD is to make a difference through. One way we do this is by breeding dogs with temperaments that can be trained for service & therapy work. This past year we had the honor of donating a service dog candidate named Shepherd ( formerly Smoky from our #amdnationalparkslitter ) to a beautiful family with a special needs child named Kensi. We connected them with an amazing organization called the Malinois Foundation which is sponsoring all of Shep’s service dog training! You can read more about Shep & Kensi’s story here.  You can also follow their journey on our social media by following the hashtag #shepandkensi .

Another way we strive to make a difference is by donating part of our profit to organizations that help forgottten, abused, or abandoned people & animals. One of our focuses is helping  children in foster care. This past year we donated a portion of our profit to Lilly Pad, A Soft Place to Land. This wonderful non-profit works to bring a sense of home & security to foster kids through changing holding rooms for kids into homey cozy spaces. They have transformed DSS office spaces all over the Upstate for foster kids! When you support AMD you are supporting causes like The Malinois Foundation & Lilly Pad! 

Our Core Values

Thank you for following along in our journey. We hope that you will see the AMD difference through our core values: honesty, authenticity, passion, dedication, & communication.