Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenna Stone.
Hi Jenna, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up breeding labrador retrievers, but on a much smaller scale than what we do now. By the time I was about 7, I had declared that I wanted to be a dog breeder when I grew up. Fast forward to when I was 16, and ended up being de-railed by the music industry when I began working for a small-time rock ‘n’ roll band called NEEDTOBREATHE whom, over the next 10 years that I worked with them ended up being a not-so-smalltime band. Along the way, I met my husband, Seth, as he was one of the road hands who worked with the production company supporting NTB”s tour. After the realization that touring full-time and being married didn’t work so well together, we both ended our careers in the music industry. Only a few months later I realized that this was my opportunity to return to my first love – dogs. Being married to a man who was allergic to dogs seemed like a bit of a barrier to this, so my research into hypoallergenic dog breeds began. I had always loved golden retrievers as well as labs, so the goldendoodle was a somewhat simple answer to my problem.
After a LOT of research on the breed, genetic diseases, coat types, and everything else I could think of, I began the hunt for our very first dog, as most credible, quality breeders would only sell their puppies with spay/neuter agreements, it was much harder to find a breeder who would sell me breeding rights than I had imagined. Finally, I found the sweetest older couple just an hour down the road and got to go visit a litter of puppies who had just been born on Christmas Day. By chance, we happened to get to go visit on my birthday, too! As newlyweds living outside of Charlotte, NC, we had NO money, but we saved every penny for the next few months to afford Pettibone, named after the designer of my wedding dress.
We knew it was going to “take two to tango” I spent the next few months looking for the perfect boyfriend for Pettibone, while my husband literally scrapped metal to try to save up for the next pending canine investment. We ventured to Tennessee 5 months later and picked up Armani, named for his tuxedo pattern and to compliment the designer name “Pettibone’. After a difficult start in terms of missed litters and misleading information, an afternoon in mid-august confirmed that Pettibone was expecting! On Halloween, Pettibone’s first BIG litter of 12 was born, and so was JennaLee Designer Doodles.
All the profit we made from our first litter went into buying more dogs to expand our business, as well as necessary health and safety testing. Slowly but surely, and in a TINY 800 square foot house we grew and grew our little business. Eventually, it became a two-person job, and we both left our jobs to pursue JLDD full time. The dogs were quickly overtaking our space, and we would need to move, and I took the opportunity to approach moving back to Charleston, where I had lived for a while during my time with NEEDTOBREATHE. The city was so dog friendly, and we had been making the trip back and forth often to visit the dogs’ reproductive specialists.
In 2018, we moved back to Charleston with our furry crew, and soon after that, realized that our business was more than just a two-man job, but maybe a three… or four…or…? Our first employee joined the team to help take the best care of our dogs a few months later, and we kept reinvesting in the business, and moreover, into our clients and our dogs. The years have kept rolling, and we have kept pouring our time and energy into making our business be the best it could possibly be. Today, we have a thriving company with an excellent reputation and have even added on a training wing to our business.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We have faced a lot of challenges along the way.
As I wrote before, our first challenges were monetary as we were newlyweds with next to no money, living in a family member’s house for meager rent. My husband was also from a family who did not accept dogs as indoor pets, so that was a ‘conversation’. Of course, he was the first one to bring Pettibone up into the bed to sleep with him at night!
We also have faced a large amount of opposition from the rescue community, who we would love to be able to work alongside instead of against.
Multiple vets, who did not/do not believe that we should be breeding, have misled us with regard to our dog’s health clearances and scores. Luckily, we have found a vet here in Charleston that we love and trust with helping us make these important decisions for our program.
We have also faced many emotional challenges as raising puppies can be extremely difficult on your emotional state, especially when we lose a puppy after hours or days’ worth of sleepless nights and work to try to save a life that couldn’t be saved.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
JennaLee Designer Doodles was born in 2016 and we have a breeding and training program. We raise goldendoodles, bernedoodles, golden mountain doodles, and sheepadoodles in a wide variety of colors and patterns, as well as sizes all the way from 12-70lbs. We are known for our exclusive matchmaking process, and for the care and dedication, we put into our puppies. Each puppy goes through a series of exercises each day, and we keep very close records on each puppy. Each client we accept into our program goes through a rigorous application process, as well as a phone interview. This helps us get to know the clients personally, and understand what they need, and assists us in guiding them to what may be the best size or breed for them. We are very specific and take into account the specifics of each family, including their home lives, activity levels, other pets, and more. From there, we find the RIGHT puppy for each person and pair them up with a nearly 100% success rate.
Many breeders will allow people to just look at photos and pick a photo when the puppies are born before they even really have personalities. We do not believe this is the best way to find a perfect match, and when it’s such an important commitment, this is something we don’t take lightly. We love our clients and strive for personal, lifelong relationships with each puppy parent. Our training program was born out of a need our clients expressed to have puppies trained for them before the puppy arrived home. This has opened the door for so many people who otherwise could not have a puppy. We also offer an allergy “tee test” so that those who are allergy sufferers can diagnose whether they will have an allergic reaction to a potential new family member. We also offer delivery services throughout the USA. We fly our puppies with us in cabin, and never cargo.
We are most proud of the time and dedication we take to our clients and puppies and of our matchmaking process and puppy training services. (Our training services are only open to puppies bred by JLDD)
What does success mean to you?
Success in this business for me is having happy, healthy, well-rounded puppies, happy parent dogs, employees who enjoy their job and have fun while at work, and clients who have become raving return fans and customers of our business.
Pricing:
- All Puppies – $4,500
- Training Programs – Varied with Length of Training
Contact Info:
- Email: contact@jennaleedoodles.com
- Website: www.jennaleedoodles.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennaleedesignerdoodles/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennaleedesignerdoodles/
Image Credits
Susan Lloyd
