Guardian Program

Most of our breeding dogs now live in guardian homes in Sydney, Wollongong and Canberra. This program began in the early days of the very first COVID-19 lockdown in NSW.

Friends and family members living in Sydney who were struggling with the lockdown started asking if we had a dog or a puppy they could mind temporarily for some canine company.

As luck would have it, we had a gorgeous litter of O’Connell mini-retriever puppies that we were keeping as future breeders. The puppies went off to various homes in Sydney to keep our family and friends company.

Everyone fell in love with their puppies and wanted to keep them forever (seems obvious in hindsight), and so the Covid Pups Guardian program was born. The guardian program has been a great success so far.

Not only do our guardians get to have a beautiful free pet, but our breeding dogs get to live with a family and get used to big city life right from puppyhood, rather than  having to adapt when they retire from breeding.

Our guardian girls are O’Connell Retrievers and the occasional Moyen Poodle, Cavalier or Golden retriever

We have guardian male O’Connell Retrievers but these boys need to live reasonably close by.