Whoever said "Money can't buy happiness",obviously never had an Australian Labradoodle.

Spending our lifetimes with dogs (including ownership, breeding Weimaraners and over a decade in rescue), we not only have experience, but a commitment to breeding ethically, for a dog's best life.
 

We are Jodi and Clifford Pope and family.

When we met, we each had a dog, a his and hers, then a short time after we got married, we had a his/hers and an ours.

Clifford had always loved Weimaraners. Several years into our marriage I surprised him with one, which then began our first adventure in dog breeding. After a few years, with so many people contacting us with dogs they needed to rehome, we morphed into a small two-person Weimaraner rescue. Within a year, we joined up with a new all-breed rescue and spent 10 years rescuing and fostering hundreds of dogs.

As the years went on, our "foster failures" passed on, and I edged closer and closer to retirement, I researched the kind of dog that I wanted to join our family. 

Please don't get me wrong, we had great experiences with the vast majority of our fosters, even those that joined our home as adults; however I wanted a dog that was consistent in good nature, smaller in size, and that I could use as a therapy dog. I wanted a dog that was allergy-friendly, as to not interfere with going into classrooms and hospital rooms. To be brutally honest, I also wanted a dog that did not shed. We'd done the years of chunks of Lab hair under the furniture, white dog hair on my work pants, and Weimaraner hair in the dryer vent. Oh, so much hair! I was over it. 

After two years of extensive research on what dog would be a best fit, we got on a waiting list for our first Australian Labradoodle. At some time during our wait, I asked our breeder about the possibility of a breeding quality dog. I have always loved puppies and thought that it might be something I would enjoy again and having more time after retiring from teaching. My breeder was all for it. We were on the waiting list for approximately 7 months before I was sent some pictures of some female puppies that were available. We were excited and felt like we'd been waiting a lifetime. We asked what we thought were the right questions, especially about temperament and breeding quality and we made our decision.

We had about 3 names that we were considering, but on the day we picked her up, I immediately knew her name would be "Joy”, due to the immense joy we'd felt, since first seeing her picture. "Joy" came home with us. She learned everything quickly and is one of the smartest dogs I have ever met. She is so intuitive and can quickly adjust her mood to match whoever she is with at that time. Joy is loved by all members of our family, and she loves all in return. 

Fast forward to sending off for genetic testing. We were so excited to get the results back and be one step closer to starting our very own breeding program. We wanted to share this breed with everyone and to be able to share the joy that we had been given. 

Sadly, the test results were not what we expected. Could we have bred her? Yes, but after much consideration, we decided that we did not want to start our program with a carrier of both DM and EIC. We were disappointed, as Joy was to be the foundation of our program. She has so many other qualities that we felt would make her an excellent Momma prospect. Carriers can and are bred, as they are not affected with the disease. We, for our program, are choosing not to start that way.

Through all of this, we came to find out is that not all breeders are transparent in their breeding practices. Immediately we knew that this was not the way we wanted to run our program and we have since searched for other breeders with our same goals. On our site, you will be able to find all information regarding health testing, color genetics, temperament, and achievements. When we have a litter, you can be guaranteed that our puppies will be clear of all Australian Labradoodle related genetic diseases, as their parents are clear of all. All puppies will be temperament tested between 6 and 8 weeks and will have been raised in an environment that stimulates and nurtures their little minds, with programs like Puppy Culture and Avidog. We will provide every puppy with a two-year health guarantee. If you still have questions, we are here and would love to talk to you about our dogs and the Australian Labradoodle breed in general.

Joy is still our baby. She would never be given back and exchanged for a breedable dog. She has brought us so much joy since the day she joined our family. She may not be our foundation stock, but she plays the biggest role in our program. She is the "why" we are determined to be 100% transparent and ethical in everything we do. She is the heart and the namesake of our program. 

Welcome to Abundant Joy Australian Labradoodles, we hope you will take a look around and continue to follow us on our journey.