Exceptional Goldendoodle Puppies

Welcome! We are Bev and Arnie Eckert, owners and caregivers of Hilltop Pups since 2002, breeding English Teddy Bear Goldendoodles on our estate in Jasper, Indiana. USDA APHIS licensed at high standards. We are certified Excellent Breeder with Good Dog, Preferred Breeder with CKC, A+ with BBB, and approved Breeder for Service Dogs by the Paws 4 People Organization. We are listed as the 14th Best Breeder of any Breed in America at https://happydoggo.com/services/usa/dog-breeders/. Voted #1 Indiana Breeder at Happy Doggo.  Voted #1 Most Reputable Dog Breeder in Indiana at Devoted to the Dog Also top Rated at Best Goldendoodle Breeders in Indiana (2023) - Top 6 Picks! - We Love Doodles.  Since we started breeding 20+ years ago the most important training aspect has always been Early Stimulation Training of the puppies and then training until the day the puppy leaves us.  This makes all our puppies suitable for any type of service dog training, as they have had 2 months of training already, making them very laid back, but attentive to what's going on around them.  Our puppies just want to please you and they already think their job is to keep an eye on the you and stay right by your side. Our Goldendoodles are only from English Golden retriever bloodlines because they are very healthy and life span average 13-18 healthy years verses American 8-11 years. I have been needing for 20 years and all my dogs are Goldendoodles breed to Goldendoodle and all are DNA’d for coat types. We have developed non-shedding hypo allergenic Goldendoodles regardless of coat type. This is a family operation with three sons housing dogs, two daughters housing six dogs each in their homes. My daughters work here during the week. My husband retired from his job and he can not sit still; thus he is with the dogs from sun up to sun down. He was a farmer until 40 years old and loves having something to keep him busy all day every day. Not having something to do is his biggest fear. My three Grandkids 6-15 years old come after school, Summer break, and Holidays. My 15 year old dreams of raising and training horses. My six year old loves it here and of course would rather be here with Grandma than go to school; she loves her paycheck and training puppies.

We use our professional knowledge and experience along with the most current research to produce genetically sound puppies with loving personalities and exceptional coats producing non-shedding hypoallergenic in adult weight ranges of 4-44 lbs. We use DNA science to insure all our puppies are non-shedding and have hypoallergenic coats. The shed and allergy factor of a Goldendoodle can be different from Breeder to Breeder depending on the Coat Type their Goldendoodles have inherited. At Hilltop Pups we DNA test the coat type of all our dogs so we can create the most non-shedding hypoallergenic coat as possible.  When breeding a Goldendoodle to a Goldendoodle the parent dogs need to be DNA tested for "IC" Improper Coat, which determines the dogs shed factor.  If one of the Goldendoodles in the pairing is F/F gene carrier for Furnishing and the other is F/F or F/IC a carrier for IC then none of the puppies will shed.  I follow this DNA rule when breeding to make sure my dogs are non-shedding and allergy friendly.  No guess work involved here. You can brush them and not even get hair to pull out. We have invested 18 years of searching the world over through several continents to obtain the best dogs and continue to breed only the best of the best. We have traveled to many breeder conferences to learn the best techniques on breeding and advice on improving the breed. Knowing our dogs for many generations is what makes our dogs so very special.  All of them have a special sweet calm loving disposition.  All they want to do is please you and be your best friend.  They will always be by your side. There is never a need to go looking for them, as they will be following you from room to room, not in an overwhelming way they just want to be in the same room.  If you are cooking dinner, they are laying in the kitchen or dining room watching you or sleeping.  If you are in watching TV they will be close by your side. Different Breeders have different opinions on their size ranges.  The more generations of Goldendoodles in the pedigree the better the size prediction you will achieve.  My smaller ones are mostly 3-6 generations of downsizing, so I can better predict size.  As in the first generation F1, we bred an English Golden Retriever to an 18 lb. poodle and the offspring weight ranges can be 22 pounds all the way up to 48 lbs. depending on the gene they inherited.  The second breeding we breed the F1English Teddy Bear Goldendoodle back to a 14 - 22 lbs. poodle and 80% will stay 22-32 lbs., but occasionally I have had a 48 lbs. still pop up. By the third cross breeding of two Goldendoodles the size is getting more predictable, and I start my downsizing from that point.  

Hilltop Pups English Teddy Bear Goldendoodle size ranges.
ETB Sizes	Weight Range	Height Range at withers
Pocket	Under 10 pounds	6 to 9 inches
Micro	10 to 14 pounds	9 to 12 inches
Petite	15 to 24 pounds	12 to 15 inches
Mini	25 to 32 pounds	15 to 17 inches
Medium	32 to 40 pounds	17 to 19 inches
Standard	42 to 55 pounds	19 to 22 inches

I only breed with English Golden Retrievers, which are smaller than American Golden Retrievers; this keeps my size range smaller than others. The size range of the female English Golden Retrievers I have owned range from 44-55 lbs. and male s 55-65 lbs. In my 20 years of breeding English Teddy Bear Goldendoodles I am achieving a very good consistency with creating sizes. The American Goldendoodle vary more as the American Golden Retrievers can reach up to 140 lbs. or more. I am at the forefront of creating and perfecting the Pocket Size 3-10 lbs. and Micro 10-14 lbs., plus the Petite range 15-24 lbs.  Micro is then a huge classification of any puppy less than 14 lbs. Whether you call them Micro Goldendoodles, Micro Petite Goldendoodles, Toy Goldendoodles, Teacup Goldendoodles; they all have the same great personality as their larger Goldendoodle ancestors in a cute small little package. Here at Hilltop Pups, we only breed Poodles with English Golden Retrievers for their excellent health record with an average life span of 13-18 years.  Absolutely no other breeds mixed in to rush the downsizing.  Downsizing takes several generations by breeding in a smaller size poodle every 2 to 3 generations to retain the English Golden Retriever personality. Our smallest poodle here is 3 lbs.  Since Hilltop Pups team is creating and perfecting the smallest Goldendoodles along with the increasingly popular Irish English Goldendoodles; we have our own size range chart of the average sizes we have witnessed in the past 20 years of breeding. Until an organization such as AKC or CKC identifies Goldendoodles as an official breed, no organization can state what the size standards are as they vary so greatly with breeders breeding American or English Golden Retrievers, plus the range of poodle sizes from 2-80 lbs.  Although Goldendoodles are not considered a Purebred dog breed; it is still important to register your puppy with a reputable canine tracking organization. This will allow breeders to have the information necessary to make responsible breeding decisions. All our English Teddy Bear Goldendoodles are CKC Registered. I am an official Preferred Breeder by the strict Breeding Standards set forth by CKC which has the best pedigrees for tracking ancestors for breeding purposes.  AKC will allow a Goldendoodles registered under their Canine Partners program. There are many Designer Dog Registries, but I prefer one of the two largest reputable groups. Hilltop Pups prides itself on only breeding English Golden Retriever, Miniature or smaller poodles, and English Teddy Bear Goldendoodles. The English lines create the Teddy Bear look. The English Golden Retrievers have short stocky legs and shorter body length, whereas, American Golden Retrievers can have long bodies and are taller.

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How to contact us: The best process is to complete and application at Adoption Application | Hilltop Pups  The Application will walk you through questions to help navigate you to what size, coat type, color, litter and time frame you desire.  From there we will have a better understanding of your wants and needs, to properly answer your questions. At Hilltop Pups you get the honor of choosing your puppy with our expert assistance of course.  We do not assign puppies to you.  We allow visitors because we are proud of our establishment. Beware of Breeders not allowing you to visit and hiding behind Parvo to scare you off.  Google Earth those Breeders addresses and names. If you cannot find their name and address on their website immediately exit their website, they are hiding something such as arrest record for cruelty to animals.  There are as many good Breeders as there are Puppy Mills out there. Research Yelp, BBB, and Facebook for references.  My two daughters Abby and Brittany are breeding a few dogs at their houses, and you can choose between any of our litters raised with the same excellent breeding practices. My three sons also house dogs for us; all their dogs are listed on my website, so we can link our websites together.

I love hearing from my puppy parents how easy going their puppy is and friendly with everyone. This is due to all the loving care givers our dogs and puppies are with every single day. My Daughter Abby helps here during the mornings, Daughter Brittany in the afternoon, and Husband Arnie full-time. I have my three Granddaughters ages 5-14 help with puppy Early Stimulation training and play, so puppies meet a wide variety of people and children in a comfortable trusting setting. When a puppy has been trained by only one person, say a lady; then the puppy may be fearful of a man or a child.  Thus, we create confident brave well-adjusted puppies.  Luckily, I have the sweetest husband that cannot sit still and is always looking for something to do or something to clean up. Feel free to contact us via email (preferred) at hilltoppups@yahoo.com or phone with any questions that you have. We will make every effort to answer your questions promptly and truthfully!  During busy times, such as when there are several litters of puppies to care for or a mom in Labor, email is much easier for us and we can put in writing complex questions, so you have time to digest and study the information. Our FAQ page is an excellent place to start if you are not familiar with Goldendoodles, as I have collected 20 years of most often asked questions.  The puppies are housed in a metal roofed, insulated, AC/heated building, and the phone reception is very weak to none. Making emails more efficient and provide better communication to answer questions more accurately with reading material, pictures of Goldendoodles for examples, etc.  For those people that cannot visit in person, we provide a lot of pictures and video to assist with the selection process.

On our website you can search pages by size category, so you have less to look through. On the Sire and Dam pages all our dogs are listed and their health tests. Click on any document to view it. If you do not adopt a puppy from me request proof of health documents and pedigrees before submitting that non-refundable deposit.  If a Breeder does not present documents up front, some never will. Some of the dogs listed on my website live with my two daughters and three sons. My two daughters work with me, live close by, and will someday take over my business.  It all started here with a dog loving family with 5 children. With my background of Human Resource Management, I know how to research and apply my knowledge in respect to Breeding Laws, better breeding practices, and making my business the best it can be from the treatment of my dogs to my customer service. Some Breeders pick your puppy for you, I post all our litters with puppy pictures and videos weekly on my website, so YOU get to pick the exact puppy you want, with my expert guidance of course. 

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Moving past Covid-19: First understand our visitation room is 10 by 10 feet, thus difficult for more than one family with extended family and neighborhood kids in tow to visit and adequately view and play with the puppies.  We schedule visits one hour apart at the top of each hour, once the schedule is full, we schedule on the half hour as well. After each visitor we disinfect everything that has been touched. Please be on time and/or wait outside if someone else is in the Visitation Room.  I am aware some of you are coming a great distance. Go to your car in advance and GPS our address, make sure your GPS is set for highways "not scenic route" as we live on the edge of a town and the GPS will take you through winding country roads. Then give yourself an extra half hour, as I prefer you be early than late running into the next appointment.  If you are not able to visit, I take many videos of the puppies and if you have narrowed down your selection to two puppies; we can make you videos of just those two puppies. Rarely in the last 18 years has someone changed their mind when they got here and picked a different puppy than they fell in love within the videos. 

FLIGHT NANNY SERVICE AVAILABLE CONTACT - Mary Vennekotter  812-604-3028

During COVID Airlines suspended unsupervised air travel delivery for puppies unless someone is flying with the puppy in the cabin.  You are welcome to fly here to get your puppy. Currently American Airlines has resumed puppy shipping, but temperatures at any point in the flight including departure and layover, must be below 85 degrees and above 32 degrees.  Which is a challenge here during the Summer and Winter months, plus any stop over destination and arrival destination temperatures. You are welcome to fly here; Louisville Kentucky airport is the closest at only 80 miles away.  Many people are choosing Delivery to your door via vehicle delivery service. Here are reputable delivery companies I have been using for years; you contact the companies directly, arrange shipments with them, and pay them their shipping fee when they deliver the puppy to you.  Mary Venneketter  812-604-3028,  Eric Clark  765-759-9798, and Paul Garrett  765-749-4145. Flight Nanny Service contact Mary Venneketter for cost 812-604-3028. 

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Training puppies starts at birth using the Puppy Culture practice starting with Early Stimulation Training.  Early Stimulation Training program is our highest priority which we start at 3 days old and once puppies are walking around, we still hold them every day on their backs, talk to them to create eye contact, rub all over them to make grooming easier in the future.  We teach our puppies not to jump on people and to sit at your feet for attention.  Puppies are paper trained to go on shredded paper which feels just like grass, so house training is a breeze, or if you need to train on potty pads that is easy as well.

See what your puppy learns before you get the puppy home.  The first step in your puppy's future.

We play a desensitization CD at least twice a day, so puppies become more comfortable with the sound of kids screaming/playing, thunderstorms, fireworks, traffic, doorbell, etc. 

The next step in your puppy's future is your training from the very first day your puppy enters your home.

     Want to train your puppy from the convenience of your home as early as the day the puppy arrives home?  No waiting until your puppy is fully vaccinated to start training. Instantly save 25% using our unique discount code "HTP" https://www.baxterandbella.com/

      Do you want your dog to be a Canine Good Citizen? After completing this course your puppy should qualify.  

      I highly suggest utilizing a puppy school and the best I have found is the online puppy school Baxter & Bella. They are very friendly, helpful, easy to understand, and encouraging, which motivates you to continue in your training adventure. They offer video lessons, plus one on one training question and answer sessions via video chat. This is a Lifetime Program with Members Only Access to training methods, materials, and other resources needed for Pet Parenting and beyond.

 

      To continue training where we left off, I highly suggest you have the first unit completed before you get your puppy home.

 

We create the best puppy for you, and you create the best Dog Ever!

 VISITATION: We highly suggest you visit us.  We are proud of our establishment and have a Visitation Room which includes windows for you to view where our Adult Dogs are Housed.  We bring the puppies and adults to you to visit with them. For the safety of our dogs and puppies we do not allow you to walk through the facility, because we would need to disinfect everywhere you walked.  We have had this practice in place since the beginning of our breeding program and have never contacted any health concerns by doing so, beware of Breeders that do not allow you to visit hiding behind false statements.  Breeders walk everywhere in the world, shopping centers, gas station, Veterinarian Offices and then come home and walk around their kennels, just like anyone else.  So why shouldn't people visit?  I prefer puppies to get all the interactions they can with different people; you are providing valuable puppy training as well.

OUR LOCATION:  Downtown Louisville is one and half hour drive. Evansville is one-hour drive.  Downtown Indianapolis is a minimum 2 and half hour drive depending on traffic.   This is our house not a public shopping center.  We require appointments to visit as you do want to make sure we are home and want to be able to focus our attention on you and have adequate time to get to know you and interact with the puppies.  This is not a large place; the Visitation area can get crowded quickly if more than one family is visiting at a time.  Our visitation Room does have windows on two sides, so you can see where and how all our dogs are housed.  It is very important to stay as close to expected arrival time as possible, give yourself that extra half hour for traffic concerns.  We are on Eastern Time.   Jasper is an aesthetically pleasing clean town of 15,000 and always rated at the top of best places to live listings. https://www.14news.com/2019/01/07/jasper-named-among-us-best-cities-live/.  If you approach from 231 North from Indy or South from Evansville, you will drive through town. If you are approaching from the east, Louisville direction your GPS may take you on the country tour past Patoka Lake which is beautiful to see, you will reach our house before getting into Jasper. Plenty of hotels to stay at.

Creating the perfect Goldendoodle has been our mission from day one. It took a lot of research, traveling to Breeder Conferences, and enduring some lengthy Goldendoodle Breeder Circle meetings; not to mention the search around the world for the perfect most healthy English Goldendoodles (Russia) and poodles (Germany & Paris). The RKF Kennel Club of the UK has strict breeding requirements. For a puppy to be registered RKF the parent dogs must pass OFA and DNA testing, plus become a show champion to maintain conformity in the breed. How amazing it would be for AKC to do this; it is up to Breeders to commit to keeping their breed healthy going forward by health testing the parent dogs. Which believe me very few Breeders invest their money back into their dogs; so always demand copies of health testing prior to even submitting a deposit.  DO Not trust Breeders that say they will provide the documents when the puppy goes home, demand proof up front.  It is a nightmare to try to get paperwork from a Breeder after you have the puppy, because they do not have it. The Breeder is pulling on your emotions knowing you are getting attached to the puppy and then you are stuck with no proof that you have a healthy puppy that will live a long healthy life. Breeders never to rarely give you the correct documents after you have the puppy, learn from heart breaking experiences of having to re-home dogs that couldn't pass health screening. My research, commitment, and due diligence has paid off.  Here is the foundation for creating the perfect Teddy Bear Goldendoodle and how to build conformity into the Breed.

Here is a video of one of our Goldendoodles displaying his many talents:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owCS7FaXM2Q&feature=emb_title

The terms F1, F2B, etc. specify the generation of the Goldendoodle, as detailed below.

First Generation (F1) Goldendoodle: Golden Retriever + Poodle
First Generation Backcross (F1B) Goldendoodle: F1 Goldendoodle + Poodle
Second Generation (F2) Goldendoodle: F1 Goldendoodle + F1 Goldendoodle
Second Generation Backcross (F2B) Goldendoodle: F1 Goldendoodle + F1B Goldendoodle or F1B Goldendoodle + F1B Goldendoodle

All further crossings are simply referred to as multi-generational, or Multi Gen

• The shed and allergy factor of a Goldendoodle can be different from Breeder to Breeder depending on the Coat Type their Goldendoodles have inherited. At Hilltop Pups we DNA test the coat type of all our dogs so we can create the most non-shedding hypoallergenic coat as possible.  When breeding a Goldendoodle to a Goldendoodle the parent dogs need to be DNA tested for "IC" Improper Coat, which determines the dogs shed factor.  If one of the Goldendoodles in the pairing is F/F gene carrier for Furnishing and the other is F/F or is a carrier for IC then none of the puppies will shed.   I have three males that are IC clear with F/F.  I follow this DNA rule when breeding to make sure my dogs are non-shedding.  No guess work involved here;) You can brush them and not even get hair to pull out.
• Next, we only breed with English Retrievers which produce a softer less shedding less matting coat than the coarser American Golden Retriever coats. Plus, you get boxy, compact, big boned Teddy Bear Features of the English Golden Retrievers.  The weight range of English Golden Retrievers that I have owned is 45-55 for female and 65-72 for males, although they look just and big and fluffier than the American Golden Retrievers.
• Next, we consider the color genetics behind the poodle:  Reds-, browns-, and cream-colored poodles produce soft non-shedding coats.  White, Gray, and Black poodles produce shredders even in the curly dogs; thus, they have been removed from Hilltop Pups breeding program. 
• In 2017 we started breeding the Irish Goldendoodles. I am very pleased with what I have seen in the Irish Goldendoodles. The American Golden Retrievers are very unhealthy and have a life expectancy of 8-13 years with 80% of them having cancer by age 8.  Therefore, I only breed English Golden Retrievers as their life expectancy is 11-18 years and very few ever have cancer. It takes a few generations to build the dark red poodle color back into the English Goldendoodles since the English Golden Retrievers are only white to cream.  For the Irish we started with breeding a health tested American Golden Retriever to a health tested Irish Setter to get the hybrid vigor and dark red color; then bred that with a health tested male poodle and then back to another health tested poodle creating the F1b Irish Goldendoodles to ensure the hypo allergenic non-shed coats, plus get the dark red color and fabulous coats.

Advantages of adopting an English Goldendoodle from Hilltop Pups

• Size range available 8 - 38 pounds
• Predictable size ranges for F2b and multi-Generations
• Hypoallergenic if past the F1 (First generation, because we can DNA test the coat types for breeding.)
• Decreased shedding in F1 and no shedding in further generations
• Increased longevity average life expectancy 13 - 18 years
• Parents have extensive health testing
• Parent dogs come from long lines of health tested ancestors
• Wonderful temperament
• Intelligent and trainable
• Excellent with children and animals
• 100% lovable

Puppies cost between $2,200 and $3,000 and:

• Dewclaws removed
• Microchipped pre-paid lifetime membership with pet tracking service.
• Fully Vaccinated for their age
• Trained with Early Neurological Stimulation
• Trained not to jump on people, but sit at your feet for attention
• Paper potty trained
• Pre-spoiled, loved, and well socialized

Puppies go home with:

• A 2-year health guarantee; 4 years if you provide NuVet Vitamin Supplements
• Microchipped with pre-paid membership enrollment form
• CKC Registration Papers
• Health record
• Spay/neuter contract
• Personalized Travel Bag
• Doorbell
• Blanket with mother's scent
• Large stuffed animal
• Small squeaky toy
• Rope bone chew toy
• Ball
• Safety show lead (leash/collar combo), such as the ones used in Veterinarian Offices.
• Sample of top-quality puppy food, "Chicken Soup for Soul Chicken, Turkey, and Brown Rice Puppy.”
• Sample of NuVet Vitamins
• 30 Days of free Health Insurance
• Puppy care instruction booklet via email
• 24/7 lifetime support of the breeder
• The online Goldendoodle book The Owners Guide from Puppy to Old Age, which includes how to care, groom, train, and understand your Goldendoodle By Alan Kenworthy

When temperatures allow, we can airship via American Airlines or we can provide excellent driver service recommendations!

Click Here to view sweat video: Video of Puppy flown to Pennsylvania

Here is a video of one of our puppies after an 8-hour flight to meet its new family, arriving clean, healthy, rested, and ready to great its new family:

Puppy Boot Camp

If you wish to have your puppy stay with a licensed professional dog trainer for a few weeks before going home to you, we can recommend two great local licensed professional trainers that will come to us and pick up your puppy for training.  They are independent of us, and you will need to contact them for details and pricing. Contact me for their information.

The Goldendoodle eBook is emailed to each adoptee after their deposit is submitted, along with a welcome letter from Bev filled with over 22 pages of goldendoodle puppy raising experience and wisdom. Bev assisted in writing the book and attributed pictures; thus, obtaining the permission to use the ebook.

HOW TO NAVIGATE AND VIEW LITTERS: 

Timing:  Narrow down your search by clicking on "Available Now", "Coming Soon", and "Future Litters"

Choose your size range: "Micro" 8-14 lbs., "Petite" 15-24 lbs., and "Mini" 25 - 38 lbs.

Scroll to the bottom of each litter page. If these parent dogs have had a litter before there will be pictures of the past dogs and/or puppies they have produced to give you an example of coat types and colors they produce.

Email me for the full list through Spring 2023.  hilltoppups@yahoo.com  Please complete an application first so I can shorten the list I send you by the size category you are looking for.  Application link: https://hilltoppups.com/form/adoption-application

Welcome to Hilltop Pups where we have invested 18 years of searching the world over through several continents to obtain the best dogs and only breed the best of the best. We have traveled Breeders Conferences to learn best techniques on breeding and advice on improving the Breed.  We have done all the homework, so you don’t have too. 

All our dogs are inspected by our Attending Veterinarian CHARLES R. JOHNSON , D.V.M. from Animal Medical Center 812-634-9752