If you live in New Jersey and want to welcome a beautiful Labradoodle puppy into your family, you must read this guide!
So, how do you choose a reputable, ethical Labradoodle breeder? And how can you avoid puppy mills?
Keep reading to discover the top seven Labradoodle puppy breeders in The Garden State and more!
7 Best Labradoodle Breeders In New Jersey
In this section of our guide, we review the top seven Labradoodle breeders in the state of New Jersey.
Angel Breeders LLC
Angel Breeders LLC is a small, family-run experienced breeder that’s been operating since 2007.
The breeder produces just one or two litters of medium and standard Labradoodle puppies per year. That ensures the dogs are not overbred, and the puppies are well cared for and socialized within the family’s home.
All breeding dogs are health-screened and genetically tested, so you know your puppy will be free from congenital health conditions.
English Manor Labradoodles
English Manor Labradoodles produces high-quality Australian Labradoodles.
This ethical breeder focuses on the future welfare of their dogs and promises to take a dog back if things don’t work out. They don’t want any of their puppies to finish up in a shelter.
Each puppy comes with a 1-year health guarantee and age-appropriate vaccinations. There’s a $400 reservation fee per puppy, and the average cost of pups is around $2,900.
Hidden Springs Labradoodles
Hidden Springs Labradoodles produces multigen Aussidoodles in their own home.
The puppies are socialized using methods such as household desensitization and sound stimulation and are used to being around children. You get a 2-year health guarantee with your puppy that covers any hereditary defects, such as eye problems, elbow problems, and hip dysplasia.
You can expect to wait for around three months for your puppy, and each Doodle will set you back $3,000.
Cream Puff Labradoodles
Cream Puff Labradoodles breed only Australian Labradoodle puppies. Coat colors to choose from include red, cream, and apricot, among others.
All the puppies are health-tested and come from pedigree dog lines. You can expect to pay $2,500 for a puppy, and you get a 2-year health warranty. To reserve your spot on the waiting list, you’ll need to pay a deposit of $300.
Bark Avenue Puppies
Breeder Details:
Location: Red Bank, New Jersey
Phone: 732-741-4175
Bark Avenue Puppies is a terrestrial store that sells puppies of different breeds, including Labradoodles.
The store sources its pups from reputable breeders that provide health guarantees for each puppy they sell. To ensure that the puppies are socialized, they enjoy supervised playtime during the day.
Divine Bernedoodles
Breeder Details:
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
Phone: +1 908-386-1231
This breeder produces mini Bernedoodles for sale through their Facebook page.
There’s very little information provided about this breeder, so contact them for further details.
VanderDoodle Farms
Breeder Details:
Location: New Jersey
VanderDoodle farms is a small family breeding operation based in Central New Jersey.
This breeder has been producing high-quality Doodle puppies since 2012. The focus here is on socializing the puppies and educating potential owners so that the transition from the breeder to your home is as seamless and smooth as possible.
The parent dogs are DNA tested to rule out any genetic diseases, and the puppies are all health checked by a vet before leaving for their new homes.
How To Choose A Good Labradoodle Breeder
The breeders we’ve featured in this guide all come with excellent reputations. But how do you sort the best breeders from the not-so-good?
Website
If the breeder has a website, look to see if they have legitimate contact details, including a telephone contact number and an email address. Some breeders ask you to contact them via an online form on their website, which is fine, too.
Look closely at the website for obvious errors:
- Online scammers often copy and paste text and images from legitimate breeder sites.
- Often, photographs lifted from legitimate breeder sites are incorrectly captioned.
- Look closely at the photographs on breeder websites to see if there are watermarks on the images. That indicates that the pictures have been copied from sites such as Shutterstock.
References and Testimonials
Reputable breeders can provide you with genuine customer references and testimonials. So, always ask to see some before you commit to buying a puppy.
Customer Vetting
Responsible breeders will not sell puppies to random people online or through pet stores.
Usually, you will be encouraged to visit the breeder to view the puppies and meet the parents. That also allows the breeder to meet you and make sure that you have the necessary experience and facilities to take one of their puppies.
Breeding Kennels
A responsible, ethical breeder will not keep their breeding dogs and puppies in cages or crowded places. All the dogs will live in clean, roomy, comfortable areas.
In fact, many breeders’ dogs live as part of the family in the breeder’s home.
How Many Puppies?
Responsible Labradoodle breeders only produce a limited number of puppies each year.
Also, good breeders usually specialize in one breed of dog rather than breeding many different types of puppies. So, if you want a Labradoodle, choose a breeder that only breeds different types of Doodles.
Veterinary Records
Good, ethical Labradoodle breeders will happily show you individual records of health screening and veterinary visits for your puppy and its parents.
Contract
A responsible breeder will expect you to sign a contract stating that you will have your puppy desexed as soon as he or she is old enough to have the operation.
The contract will probably go further and state that you do not have breeding rights for your dog. That’s to prevent Labradoodles from being produced by parents that are not properly health checked.
Sometimes a breeder will include a clause in the contract that commits you to return the puppy to them if things don’t work out. That’s to prevent their Labradoodles from finishing up in shelters or rescue centers.
Prices
Check the price of the Labradoodles that the breeder is offering for sale.
You should expect to pay between $1,500 to $5,000 for a Labradoodle puppy, depending on the breeder’s reputation, quality of the parents, and the size, color, location, and coat type of the puppy.
If the breeder’s prices for their puppies are well below the current market value, it could be that the breeder is a puppy farm or backyard breeder.
Guarantee
Most good breeders offer health guarantees with their Labradoodles.
The guarantee is usually for a period of one or two years and gives you redress to the breeder if your puppy develops congenital health problems during that time.
What’s The Cost Of Buying From Breeders?
As mentioned above, when it comes to buying a Labradoodle puppy, you get what you pay for.
Currently, you can expect to pay from $1,500 to $5,000 for a good quality puppy. The price of your Labradoodle reflects several factors, including:
- breeder reputation
- size of the puppy
- coat type
- coat color
The breeder’s location can also influence the price of the puppies they produce. You can expect to pay more if you’re in an affluent area.
How Long Do I Have To Wait?
You can expect to wait a long time before you finally get your Labradoodle puppy!
All good breeders have a waiting list for their pups, which can be anything from six months to two years!
Breeder Mill Red Flags
Breeder mills are more commonly called puppy mills or puppy farms.
These operations produce vast numbers of puppies as cheaply as possible to make the largest profit.
Unfortunately, that leads to substandard parent dogs being used in the breeding operation that are rarely health screened and are often kept in very poor conditions. The puppies produced by puppy farms are often of poor quality and can even have existing illnesses when they go to their new owner.
Puppies produced by these backyard breeder mills are often sold for cheaper prices than those bred by reputable breeders, catching out many unwary buyers.
Here are some top tips to help you avoid being duped by a puppy farm.
Many Different Breeds
Most reputable breeders specialize in one or two breeds. If you see an advert for multiple breeds, check out similar ads. If the same breeder is advertising lots of different breeds, they could be a puppy mill.
Duplicate Adverts
Look closely at other ads for Labradoodle puppies; puppy mills often copy and duplicate other breeder’s adverts.
Never pay for a puppy without seeing the animal first. You could buy a dog on the strength of a photograph lifted from a genuine dealer’s website!
Vaccinations
Most ethical, reputable breeders begin their puppies’ first course of shots before they sell them.
Puppies are generally eight weeks of age before they can have their first vaccinations. If an ad states that the pups are less than eight weeks old and have been vaccinated, that could indicate a puppy farm.
How Much?
Puppy mills want to shift as many puppies as quickly as possible to exploit the current trend and generate maximum profits. To do that, they typically work on selling quantity rather than quality.
Cheap puppies are usually from backyard breeders.
Visit The Breeder’s Kennels
A reputable breeder won’t demand that you meet them somewhere random to hand over your puppy!
You should expect to visit the breeder’s premises to meet the breeder, the parent dogs, and the puppy.
Be Prepared To Wait
Most reputable, ethical breeders will ask you to complete an application form and even be interviewed for your suitability to take one of their puppies. You will then be placed on a waiting list until a puppy becomes available.
It’s highly unusual for a good Labradoodle breeder to have puppies available immediately.
Health Certificates
A good breeder can show you a clean, current health certificate for their parent breeding dogs, with proof of deworming, flea prevention treatment, and vaccination papers for the puppies.
Return Policy
Most reputable, ethical breeders will insist that you return the puppy to them if things don’t work out.
Puppy mills usually want nothing to do with customers who are unhappy with a puppy they’ve bought and refuse to take it back.
Contract
Good breeders will ask you to sign a contract stating that you will not breed from your puppy without their permission.
The Horrible Hundred Report
Before you go to visit any Labradoodle breeder, check that they don’t appear o the Humane Society’s Horrible Hundred Report.
Here, you’ll find backyard breeders and puppy mills that have been prosecuted or closed down, so you won’t get caught out.
Meanwhile, if you decide to buy a puppy outside New Jersey, make sure that you check out our list of ethical breeders from neighboring states to avoid falling into the hands of puppy mills:
- Top 7 Labradoodle Breeders in Pennsylvania
- Top 5 Labradoodle Breeders In Maine
- Top 6 Labradoodle Breeders In Maryland
- Top 7 Labradoodle Breeders In New York
Final Thoughts
Did you enjoy our guide to choosing a good Labradoodle breeder in New Jersey? If you did, please share the article.
There are more Labradoodle puppy breeders than ever these days. Knowing how to choose an ethical breeder in your local area will save you from buying a sickly puppy whose parents have not been health screened and were kept in dirty, unsafe conditions.
Do you know of any other great New Jersey Labradoodle breeders we haven’t mentioned? Did you buy your puppy from any of the top breeders on our list? If so, please tell us in the comments section below.
