Peters’ Puppies Goldendoodle puppies (Henderson, North Carolina)

100/10 I HIGHLY recommend Peter’s Puppies to anyone who is looking for a healthy, loving, family pet!! I personally have followed their Facebook page for over five years and have had so much fun on my “journey” to finally taking home a puppy. My husband and I are already planning to get another puppy from Sandy in the next few years.

Sandy, with the help of her family, raises their puppies in their home in North Carolina with the utmost care and commitment to sustainable breeding, training, and health practices. This is NOT a quick turn around “we decided we want a puppy” service and I appreciate that!!! You get what you pay for, and Peter’s Puppies is the best in the business.

Sandy makes it very clear that her system is in place for a reason. From the initial Zoom information session to our pickup date, we have felt supported. We were lucky to get on the waitlist and take home our dream puppy within seven months. He is basically potty trained, feels comfortable in his crate, and is the sweetest thing! We’ve been home for a week, and she has texted us to check in at least twice. We are so thankful to have found her and her service!!!!!!

I actually stumbled upon Peters’ Puppies one day though a Google search for Goldendoodle Breeders. I was instantly drawn to the high praise from current and previous clients in all the reviews. After reading through their website, following them on social media, and listening to the vast amount of knowledge Sandy provides in her videos, my husband and I just knew that Peters’ Puppies would be the breeder to match us with our first family dog. What really sealed the deal for us was Sandy assisting us with finding the perfect pup due to my young son being highly allergic to dogs. Sandy sent fur samples from all of the different coat types to help rule out the possibility of reactions (he passed with flying colors), provided insight on other allergy considerations to take into account, and was really just so high-touch ensuring that both their program and our family would be a perfect fit for each other. From every every interaction and every step in the Peters’ Puppies process, we could really tell how much love, responsibility, and care is given to all the dogs (mamas and pups) in their program. The well-being of every dog in their program is first and foremost and that was really important to us – especially living in the North East where Goldendoodle puppy mills are so prevalent. Sandy and her family are truly just incredible people and I’m so glad they were able to give our pup such an incredible start. We are so grateful!

We cannot say enough positive things about Peters’ Puppies! Every aspect of our experience with Sandy and her family has been first-rate. Sandy has a plethora of knowledge, experience, and resources that she is happy to share and this was of great value as first time dog owners. She was extremely responsive and helpful throughout every step of the process and continues to be during our third week home with our puppy. We give Leo rave reviews as well. We greatly appreciated all of his training and the updates and photos! Our puppy, Ginger, has had a very smooth transition to our home and I credit Peters’ Puppies for their commitment to their puppies and their customers! We are so grateful to have been referred to Peters’ Puppies and highly recommend Peters’ Puppies to others!

I got a standard labradoodle from Peters’ Puppies almost three years ago. Her name was Poppy (Belle before I brought her home) and she was unbelievably sweet. Unfortunately, she had so many health issues. She would have turned 3 in December 2021, but had to be put to sleep due to kidney failure in early November 2021.

At about a year old she was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. When I reached out to Sandy to let her know so that she could test her lines for kidney issues and be extra careful in future breedings of Poppy’s parents, she accused me of feeding Poppy bad food with too much protein and causing her health issues. I fed her science diet puppy, which was recommended by the vet. We took her to a veterinary internal medicine specialist who performed an ultrasound and diagnosed Poppy with small, mis-shaped kidneys due to a congenital birth defect (which is apparently common in Labrador retrievers). We then moved to Chicago and began seeing a new veterinary internal medicine specialist who agreed with the diagnosis. Poppy switched to a prescription kidney diet and received regular blood and urinary tests to track her kidney function, which helped keep her kidneys semi-functional for a bit longer.

I understand that even health tested parents can produce puppies with random health issues, especially given that Poppy was the runt of her litter. I am not here to slander Sandy, but I found her response to Poppy’s health issues extremely troubling, especially because I wasn’t asking for anything from her. It seemed to me like if you don’t feed your dog TLC Pet Food (which is an MLM), any health issue will be blamed on you.

I was drawn to Sandy because of her great reviews. However, I later noticed that almost all of the reviews are left by people who just brought their puppy home, not people who have had their dogs for years.

Again, I’m not trying to slander Sandy. Aside from her health, Poppy was the perfect dog. She had a great temperament, was highly trainable, and truly was my best friend. I left a 5 star Facebook rating a week after I brought Poppy home and I felt the need to provide an updated rating given her numerous health issues, Sandy’s response when I told her about Poppy’s kidney disease, and the heartbreak of losing such a good dog so young.

I am leaving this review on Facebook and Google. I’m also attaching a picture of my previous review.

My boyfriend and I are absolutely devastated, I’ve wanted a mini goldendoodle for years. I came across Sandy and loved her pups, so I ended up placing a deposit over 6 months ago. I was scheduled to pick up my puppy on August 1st and was 5th pick for one of the litters; which I was super excited about.Two weeks away from puppy pick up, Sandy refunded me my deposit and refused to sell me a puppy I had waited 6 months for.

Sandy has a master list that everyone who places a deposit is on. When a littler is born, you must decide that day if you’d like to move to the “Individual” litter list. The order selection is based on the day that you put your deposit down; which makes total sense. However, if it comes to your turn to pick and there isn’t a puppy that is suitable for your family, she will move you to the bottom of the list, thus adding another year plus to your wait. I was nervous from the beginning that when it was my turn to pick, there would not be a puppy available that would fit my family. I sent Sandy an email explaining my concerns, and the below email was her response.

Sandy explained to me in the attached email that the first pick would be a service dog and that if none of the puppies passed the necessary tests, that spot would not be filled and I would move up the litter list. She also explained that the 2nd pick is “Breeders Choice” and if she passed on the puppy, I would move up a spot. Both of these points are documented below. During a call yesterday, I found out that both of the above comments were not true. The first pick would receive a dog whether or not any of the puppies passed. Sandy confirmed that she would not be taking her “Breeders Pick,” but she had transferred someone else from another litter list into that spot. She was very clear in the attached email that if she did not take a puppy for breeding purposes, I would move up in the list. During the call, I was simply trying to understand the changes mentioned as it contradicted what she had previously said. My intent was not to criticize, but to ensure I was on the same page as her.

At this point, she started screaming at me over the phone saying that it was her business and she could do what she wanted. I was shocked and very upset, so I hung up. She then sent me the below text message saying that I would not be getting a puppy 🙁 My boyfriend and I were both very upset, as we were really looking forward to adding a puppy to our family. Therefore, he contacted Sandy to discuss the situation and maybe resolve it. Her response to him is also saved below.

I know that many people have had wonderful experiences with Sandy and have gotten amazing puppies from her. She does seem to do a great job raising and training them. I am so sad and disappointed that my questions and concerns were handled this way, but I know that I will find a breeder that will provide me with a wonderful pup!

We purchased a pup from a litter born in December. To give some background, we believe that fit for the home is the most important so had 4 of the puppies from Peaches’ litter temperament tested. We had 1st pick of the litter (after breeder choice) & based on the test chose a puppy named Cherry. At that point, 2 weeks before take-home day, we let our guard down & fell in love. We consumed all of Sandy’s Facebook content & became intimate with the features of each puppy; facial shapes, markings, mannerisms, etc & could identify each quickly.

On pick-up day we received photos of “our puppy” getting ready to come home & were shocked to see a puppy that was wearing Cherry’s blue collar but was most definitely not Cherry. Because we watched the litter so closely we knew the pup we were looking at was Honeydew. Sandy told us “Honeydew” had already been sent home to a family in Missouri. We realized that our Cherry was sent to Missouri & were confused, heartbroken, & suddenly felt like the victims of a bait & switch. In response to our questioning the identity of the pup, she accused us of being capable of hurting the puppy if we did not believe she was the one originally promised to us. She proceeded to remind us the puppy was nonrefundable. We decided to take the puppy, understanding & accepting that it was Honeydew & not Cherry. When we expressed agreement to Sandy that we would not seek a refund, Sandy sent the puppy home with us.

In the days that followed we asked Sandy for a recognition of her error & an apology for both the mix up & her treatment of the situation. We also asked to see the send-off photo of the puppy that was sent to the other family. We got neither. Initially she acknowledged the possibility of a mix-up & offered to swap the puppies if the other family was unhappy. We emphatically told her this was not a solution, we were already in love. We repeated that we were seeking an apology. What followed were public & private accusations against us. Among these is the claim that we are “scammers” because we took a puppy then demanded our money back. You can reference this accusation on her Facebook post on 2/9/21 (search Facebook for “Peter’s Puppies scammers are trying to scam breeders too!”).
Attaching my name to her false accusation (comments section) & publicly posting it on the internet is at best unprofessional & at worst libel.

I’ll offer proof where Sandy will not. Attached are pictures of our puppy 4 days after she came home. Compare our photos with Sandy’s photos & make your own decision. The puppy we were promised was Cherry & her photo was posted to Facebook on 1/24/21 (search Facebook for “Peter’s Puppies Cherry!!”). She has white on both back paws & on her front right paw. She has a white triangle on her chest & her fur is relatively straight. Honeydew’s picture was posted on Sandy’s Facebook page on 1/31/21 (search Facebook for “Peter’s Puppies Kiwi or Honeydew”). She’s the dog on the right & has a shorter, more teddy-bear looking snout & no white on her paws. She has a white line on her chest & her hair is curlier. On pick-up day Sandy told us the white on all three of Cherry’s paws had grown out. However, the video posted to Sandy’s Facebook page 2 days before pick-up (2/4/21) tells a different story (search Facebook for “Peter’s Puppies Midnight’s and Peaches’ goldendoodle puppies”). You can see Cherry in the 3:08 to 4:03 minute mark (she is playing with a stuffed animal to our left of the green part of the ramp). Markings do not change that fast. I have saved these posts in the case that she removes them from Facebook.

We love the puppy we received, that cannot be understated. This doesn’t change the fact that Sandy made a large error that she is unwilling to own. On top of this, she readily & publicly lashed out. It is hard for me to understand why someone with such overwhelmingly positive reviews is so concerned about the possibility of 1 bad review. Is she worried that the Missouri family might take note that their little “Honeydew” has white on the ends of three of her paws?