ABOUT OUR PROGRAM
Ethical Doodle Doods
Listed as an ethical doodle breeder
#1 in Maine
We Love Doodles — top-rated breeder in Maine
GANA Gold Level
Gold-level health testing certification
#1 in Maine
Devoted to Dog — #1 Goldendoodle breeder in Maine
Make-A-Wish Partner
Honored twice to partner with Make-A-Wish Maine
5-Star Google Rating
5-star rating on Google
OVERVIEW
Acadia Goldendoodles is a Gold-Level member of the Goldendoodle Association of North America (GANA), adhering to their highest health-testing standards and code of ethics. Our breeding program has been rated #1 in Maine by both We Love Doodles and Devoted to Dog, holds a 5-star rating on Google, and has partnered twice with Make-A-Wish Maine. All parent dogs carry hip, elbow, eye, heart, patella, and DNA clearances at or above the GANA Gold Level. We are fully licensed by both the State of Maine and the Town of Tremont. Please see below for more specifics.
OUR MISSION
Our mission, at Acadia Goldendoodles, is to produce and raise the best, healthiest puppies possible.
We raise them in our home with love and science.
We are Human Ecologists who strive to have a positive impact on the environment, practice anti-racism and promote social justice in both our business and our personal lives.
WHAT MAKES ACADIA GOLDENDOODLES DIFFERENT
THOUGHTFUL PAIRINGS
Parent dogs are continually evaluated and paired to produce puppies with the best temperament, health, intelligence, confidence, structure, style, and beauty.
GANA GOLD LEVEL HEALTH TESTING
All parent dogs carry hip, elbow, eye, heart, patella, and DNA clearances at or above the GANA Gold Level — the highest standard in Goldendoodle breeding. We share all clearances openly with puppy families.
BORN & RAISED IN OUR HOME
Every litter is born and raised inside our home — never in a separate kennel building. Puppies are handled daily, socialized with children, and exposed to household sounds and environments from day one.
THERAPY & SERVICE DOG QUALITY
Many Acadia graduates go on to become certified therapy and service dogs. We select for calm, intelligent, biddable temperaments in every pairing.
PREMIUM NUTRITION
Our dogs eat foods, treats, and supplements exclusively from Life's Abundance, TLC, PawTree, NuVet, Maxi-Vet, and our own line, Acadia Canine. We are passionate about safe, premium nutrition because of the huge positive effect we have seen. Families who follow our dietary recommendations receive an automatic 36-month health warranty extension.
LIFETIME BREEDER SUPPORT
When you bring home an Acadia puppy, you join our family. We are here for questions, advice, and support for the life of your dog.
THE DOGS' LIFE
Our dogs live with us on 35 acres near Acadia National Park. They hike, swim, run through the woods, and relax with us. We believe in keeping dogs fit, so using just the right amount of high-quality food is important. We make sure they get the physical and mental exercise they need to thrive.
OUR NURSERY
Every Acadia Goldendoodles puppy is born and raised inside our home — never in a separate kennel building. Depending on the litter, that might mean our breakfast nook, our solar room, or the dedicated nursery: what we think of as a "house within a house," built specifically for the dogs.
It's fully disinfectable and designed around the physical safety, emotional wellbeing, and developmental needs of both puppies and mother dogs, with raised whelping beds, dog doors to dedicated safe yards, and everything needed for daily care and enrichment. Our family cares for every litter personally, with help from our experienced, qualified, and valued employees.
LICENSED & INSPECTED
Acadia Goldendoodles holds Maine State Kennel License #F1601 and Town of Tremont Municipal Kennel License #K7289. Every space where we keep dogs or puppies — including our in-home nursery — is inspected annually by the State Animal Welfare Inspector. This is a real, meaningful standard: an ordinary living-room or bedroom whelping box setup would not meet it. Our nursery space was purpose-built to meet and exceed these requirements.
EARLY NEUROLOGICAL STIMULATION
Each of our puppies is handled daily starting at birth, and receives ENS treatments from the third through the sixteenth day of life. The result is an increased capacity that positively affects the dog for life.
- Cardiovascular improvement
- Stronger adrenal glands
- More tolerance to stress
- Greater resistance to disease
- Increased ability to learn
PUPPY PROTOCOLS
We raise our puppies using a combination of the Avidog/Good Dog, Puppy Culture, and Empowered Puppy protocols with adaptations based on experience and new science. We are constantly learning and making improvements to our process as more is discovered about puppy development. Our puppies are well socialized, started on house training, and comfortable in crates when they go to their new homes.
POTTY TRAINING HEAD START
Our puppies are puppy-pad trained starting at two weeks of age. They learn to use a dog door at 4–6 weeks of age. By the time they go home, they are going outside to potty reliably. All you need to do is get them used to your home, yard, dog door/bell/human door — stick to a schedule and watch them closely!
OUR VALUES
An extremely wide range of people and families provide excellent homes for dogs. We will not discriminate on the basis of color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or anything else. We are dedicated to finding loving homes for our puppies where they will thrive and bring joy to their people.
We are committed to practicing anti-racism, resisting tyranny, and promoting social justice in both our business and our personal lives. Due to unsettling current events, we have temporarily directed the majority of our support to the American Civil Liberties Union.
To minimize our impact on the planet, we compost, recycle, drive an electric car when possible, avoid plastics, and use cloth instead of paper whenever possible.
ORGANIZATIONS WE SUPPORT
- AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION (ACLU)
- Friends of Acadia
- Allied Whale
- College of the Atlantic
- Maine People's Alliance
- Wikipedia
OUR PARENT DOGS
Our breeding dogs are carefully selected for health, temperament, and conformation. Every parent is health-tested, loved as a family member, and chosen to produce the best possible puppies.
MEET THE PARENTSWHAT FAMILIES ARE SAYING
“Megan was wonderful throughout the entire process. Our puppy is healthy, happy, and exactly what she described. We couldn't be more in love.”
— Acadia Goldendoodles family
“The level of care and communication from Megan was unlike any breeder we'd spoken with. Our doodle is now a certified therapy dog — we're so proud.”
— Acadia Goldendoodles family
MEGAN SMITH
Hi, I'm Megan — the founder of Acadia Goldendoodles. I grew up in California, moved to Maine for college, got married, raised a family and was a high school teacher. I started breeding Goldendoodles in 2008.
I chose Goldendoodles because I wanted to be as responsible as possible. With all the health issues facing the purebreds, I decided to breed a mixed breed. When breeding a Poodle to a Golden Retriever I know that the two dogs are not related, even distantly. I want the puppies I produce to have that extra edge against inbreeding fitness depression, what some call "Hybrid Vigor." Another thing that's important to me is sending puppies out into the world who can do well in almost any situation and who will be great family dogs, can be trained as therapy or service dogs, and can hold their own in dog sports as well. The Goldendoode's low- to no-shed coats, ability to connect with people, intelligence and adaptable nature made them a perfect fit. I feel strongly about "doing it right" with rigorous health testing, thoughtful pairings, puppies raised in a home environment with scientifically backed nutrition, health protocols and a socialization curriculum. I like to say we raise our puppies with love and science.
We begin and end with our main mission, so we will repeat it here: our mission is to produce and raise the best, healthiest puppies possible. The decisions and choices we make when breeding, raising puppies and dogs, working with customers, conducting business, making purchases, and even in much of our personal lives, are based on this mission.
READY TO MEET YOUR PUPPY?
Browse available litters or submit a puppy application to get started.