Guardian Home Program

A special way to welcome a Bridgetown Frenchie into your family.

At Bridgetown Frenchies, we believe our breeding dogs should get to be family dogs first.

As our program has grown, we’ve become more intentional about how many dogs we keep in our own home. Guardian homes allow us to keep exceptional dogs as part of the future of Bridgetown Frenchies while giving them something equally important—their own family from the very beginning.

Instead of spending the first several years of their lives waiting to retire and become someone’s pet, our guardian dogs get that life right away.

They have their person. Their couch. Their routine. Their home.

And for a few years, we get to share them with you.

What Is a Guardian Home?

A guardian home is a partnership between Bridgetown Frenchies and a local family who wants to welcome one of our breeding prospects into their home.

Your Frenchie lives with you full-time. You raise them, love them, train them, take them places and make them part of your family just like any other dog.

We retain breeding rights while they’re part of our program. When their breeding career is finished, they retire permanently with the family they’ve already known and loved their entire life.

We think that’s a pretty wonderful way to do things.

Why Do We Use Guardian Homes?

There are dogs we produce that we would love to keep in our program—but keeping every promising puppy ourselves isn’t necessarily what’s best for them.

Frenchies thrive on individual attention and being part of everyday family life.

Guardian homes allow us to continue building toward the dogs we want to produce without needing every breeding dog to live under our roof.

It also means we can be more selective. We can watch promising puppies grow and mature before making long-term breeding decisions rather than feeling like we have to choose between selling a beautiful prospect or keeping another dog ourselves.

Most importantly, our dogs don’t have to wait until retirement to have a family of their own.

How Does Guardianship Work for a Female?

Most of the time, life with a guardian girl is simply life with your Frenchie.

She lives with you, sleeps at your house and is part of your family’s everyday routine.

When she comes into heat, you’ll let us know and we’ll communicate more closely while we determine the right timing for breeding. She’ll come back to us for progesterone testing and breeding, and we’ll take care of that part of the process.

After breeding, she’ll return home with you during her pregnancy.

When it’s getting close to time for puppies, she’ll come back to us. We’ll take care of her through delivery, and she’ll stay with us while she raises her babies.

Once the puppies are weaned and she’s ready, she goes right back home to her family until it’s time for her next litter or she’s ready to retire from our program.

How Many Litters Will She Have?

Our guardian girls will generally have two to four litters during their time in our program.

That doesn’t mean every girl will have four.

Every female is different, and we’ll always consider the individual dog in front of us—how she handles pregnancy, how she recovers, her overall health, and whether continuing to breed her makes sense for her and for our program.

Some girls may retire earlier.

When her breeding career is complete, she’ll be spayed and retire permanently with the family she’s already been living with all along.

What About Guardian Males?

Our male guardian program is even simpler.

A guardian male gets to grow up in his own home with his own family while still being an important part of the future of Bridgetown Frenchies.

Most of the time, he’s simply your dog.

When he’s needed for our program, we’ll coordinate with you to have him come back to us for a collection. We use artificial insemination only, so our males are never expected to naturally breed females.

Breeding isn’t always predictable, but we’ll generally have a several-day window when we know we may need him and will communicate with you as we get closer.

Guardian families are compensated each time their male is needed for a collection, and we cover the breeding-related expenses associated with using him.

Unlike our girls, males don’t have a certain number of litters they need to complete. How long a male remains part of our program depends on his health, fertility, how he matures, and how he fits into the future of Bridgetown Frenchies.

Because he’ll remain intact while he’s part of our program, we want to make sure he’s placed somewhere he’s set up to succeed. Ideally, our male guardians will live with either no other dogs or dogs that are already spayed or neutered.

If you’ve never lived with an intact male before, that’s okay. We just want families to understand what that means and make sure the home is a good fit.

When his breeding career is over, he retires from our program and spends the rest of his life doing exactly what he’s already been doing:

Being your dog.

What Does It Cost to Become a Guardian?

Guardian dogs are placed with their families at a significantly reduced cost compared with our regular puppy pricing.

But we also recognize that being a guardian family means you’re helping us with something important.

Our female guardian families are compensated after each successful litter, and our male guardian families are compensated each time their dog is needed for a collection.

The specific financial details are discussed with prospective families before anyone makes a commitment and are clearly outlined in the guardian agreement.

We want the arrangement to feel good for everyone involved.

Who Pays for What?

We take care of expenses associated specifically with breeding. That includes things like progesterone testing, breeding and collection expenses, and the care associated with pregnancy and delivery while she’s with us.

Guardian families take care of the normal expenses that come with having a dog—food, routine veterinary care, vaccinations, grooming, parasite prevention, toys, training and everyday supplies.

Basically, if it’s part of normal life with your Frenchie, it’s yours. If it’s happening because we’re breeding your Frenchie, it’s ours.

What Do Our Dogs Eat?

Our puppies are currently raised on Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach Lamb & Oat Meal, and our adults currently eat a salmon and sweet potato formula produced by Diamond and sold at Costco.

We don’t expect every Bridgetown Frenchie to eat exactly the same food forever. Dogs are individuals, and what works well for one may not be the best fit for another.

We simply ask that our guardian dogs are fed a quality, nutritionally complete diet and maintained in good condition.

Who Makes a Great Guardian Family?

The biggest thing we’re looking for is pretty simple:

Someone who genuinely wants the dog.

Guardianship shouldn’t be something you choose only because it’s a less expensive way to get a Frenchie.

We want families who look at one of these dogs and think, that’s our dog—while also being excited about getting to play a small part in the future of Bridgetown Frenchies.

Because our dogs need to come back to us periodically, we’re generally looking for guardian families within about 60–90 minutes of the Portland/Oregon City area.

We also need families who are comfortable staying in communication with us, providing routine veterinary care, giving their Frenchie a safe and loving home, and working with us when it’s time for breeding.

French Bulldog experience is wonderful, but it isn’t necessarily required. The right home matters more.

What If My Guardian Puppy Doesn’t End Up Being Bred?

Not every puppy we keep as a breeding prospect ultimately becomes a breeding dog.

And that’s okay.

Part of breeding responsibly is giving puppies enough time to grow before deciding whether they truly belong in the next generation of our program.

We’ll continue watching their structure, temperament, health and overall development as they mature.

Sometimes we may decide that a dog we once hoped to breed simply isn’t the right fit for our program. If that happens, we’ll retire them from the program according to our guardian agreement.

The wonderful part is that their life doesn’t suddenly change.

They’re already home.

The Best Part of Guardianship

For us, guardianship isn’t really about finding somewhere else for our breeding dogs to live.

It’s about giving them more.

More individual attention. More one-on-one time. Their own family. Their own routine. Their own place in someone’s life.

At the same time, we get to watch a dog we love grow up, continue evaluating them as they mature, and—when they’re the right fit—allow them to become part of the next generation of Bridgetown Frenchies.

Their guardian family gets to be part of that story with us.

And when breeding is finished, there isn’t a new home to find or a new family for the dog to learn to love.

They’re already exactly where they belong.

Interested in Becoming a Guardian Home?

If you’ve been thinking about adding a Frenchie to your family and our guardian program sounds like something you’d enjoy being part of, we’d love to learn more about you.

Filling out an application doesn’t commit you to anything, and it doesn’t guarantee a guardian placement.

Every dog is different, and we take our time finding the family that feels right for each one.

Thoughtfully bred Frenchies in the Pacific Northwest.