I thank Crabapple Downs for my gorgeous boy Achilles. They were kind, courteous and helpful. The kennels were clean and accommodating. The staff walked me through the paperwork and gave me great tips on how to care for my new furbaby. read more

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We have known Arlene and Emily for over 13 years and have had 3 poodles of our own from Crabapple - and my family also has poodles from Arlene. All together, we have gotten 6 standard poodles from Crabapple and couldn't be happier. Franklin, 13, was the first standard we got from Arlene. He is an absolutely amazing red boy. Then we got Iko, a black and white Parti poodle. And last but certainly not least, we have Blizzard- a cream boy with the goofiest, kindest personality. My brother has iko's full brother, Apollo and another standard from Arlene and Emily named Victor. My dad has Viola, a black standard and an empathetic, gorgeous girl. I can't say enough about these poodles. The previous comments about puppy mills is nothing that we experienced. Arlene and Emily interview every potential owner and then meet them in person before they let one of their babies be adopted. They ensure the home setup is good too. The care that goes into these poodles shows. I wholeheartedly recommend Crabapple Downs. We are and will always be repeat customers, I can't imagine going anywhere else. read more

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Bambi was four month old when we bought her from crabapple poodles.Bambi is now 15 years old and has a slight heart murmur,but is doing great. she is so sweet,loving and loyal,never leaves my side.Bambi is the best dog we have ever had and we thank God for her every day. We have been so blessed having her,Alwys grateful to Arlene.Dr, Jarbeau at kindness is a wonderful vet and alwys takes great care,Bambi is in a clinical trial to prolong her life and is doing wonderful.She is watched very closely. Crabapple poodles are great,wish they did minature poodles againDottie and Charlie Leighton read more

She advertise that she sells "small standard poodles" otherwise known overseas as MOYEN. However, she shows you fake parents and then your dog is nowhere near the estimated size and you realize what she's doing is creating a miniature standard poodle is all she's doing. For the amount she gets for these dogs she should actually clean out her office so it doesn't smell like urine and take care of the fly problem as well. The kennel conditions are deplorable. The dogs are cute, but they definitely feature some interesting genetic issues as well as behavioral issues. read more

We have gotten 2 pups from them in the last few years after knowing our neighbors 2 standards. Super happy with our small moyen girl "Paris" and standard boy "Elvis". When we went up we got to meet the parents of both dogs, in both cases you could tell by watching the parents run around they were happy and healthy. My future dogs are going to be from crabapple as well. When you go looking for a puppy please ask about their personalities and where they sit in the pack, please do not buy based off of color. Elvis and Paris are both very different in personality. we got Paris first and she wasn't super confident. After about 6 months I realized she needed a friend / second dog in the home who was mid to front of pack and male. So after she turned 2, and had gone through puppy school we started looking for a companion for her. A video of the her now brothers litter was posted and one of his siblings jumped on top of his head and there was no response from the little guy, that is when I knew we needed to go up and meet him. Elvis has helped Paris be more confident and they are inseparable. Go and reach out to Emily and Arlene, they were super helpful when finding a companion for our Paris. 5 out of 5 stars read more

Crabapple Downs - Pet Adoption Near Me

I have 3 moyen poodles from Crabapple Downs one small standard/large moyen, one medium moyen and one small moyen and I am trying to convince my husband of a fourth moyen. I absolutely adore my poodles from Crabapple and I love Arlene and Emily. My first poodle is a sm. Standard/ lg. moyen, brown female and she just turned 4 yr on the third of July. My second poodle is a medium moyen male black poodle and he turned 2 at the end of January of this year. My third is a small moyen poodle that is light apricot and she will be 2 at the end of August this year. All my poodles have the best personalities and are so very smart and very sweet, I love them so much I want a fourth moyen. I would not go anywhere else for my poodles they are the best. read more

Crabapple Downs - Pet Adoption Near Me

Crabapple Downs is a puppy mill. There is no beating around the bush about that fact. Arlene overbreeds her dogs and keeps them in poor conditions. The puppies she sells nearly all have some sort of genetic disease, birth defect, or develop cancer later in life. Stay away from Crabapple Downs. read more

We would give Arlene Mills and Crabapple Downs less than 1 Star if the rating system allowed. Do not purchase your Standard Poodle from her. We made the drive to Colebrook very excited about picking up our beautiful parti colored pup whom Arlene had named Freckles. He was from the the Flora Dora-Fraser line. He was the sweetest pup - but things seemed somewhat off from the beginning. He was one of the older puppies she had. After seeing the primitive dog pen area and learning according to Arlene, there were 75 poodle parents and puppies on the property, we were somewhat reluctant to take Freckles, but then, we thought, "How can we leave him here?" So, after some hesitation, we took him. Arlene sent us home with Metronidazole tablets for diarrhea, which she anticipated he may have leaving a very secluded and sheltered environment. He got carsick 4 times on the way home to Massachusetts. He did, in fact, have diarrhea. He had a vet appointment the day after we got him, and I remember clearly the vet saying, "Healthy puppies don't have diarrhea or need Metronidazole, what did the breeder say was the problem, what vet prescribed it, can you contact her and see why?" Freckles was also extremely timid, fearful and shy, and I also recall the vet saying, "You're going to have your hands full with him, he's not a normal happy, tail-wagging, happy go lucky puppy." Freckles was afraid of his own shadow from the beginning and that never went away. He did bond with us nicely, but he remained skittish and OCD his entire short life, even with puppy classes and socialization. But, it was his health that was truly his problem. Immediately, we noticed he couldn't have a bowel movement without squat-walking. He would literally leave a trail. It was the only way he could go to the bathroom. We thought it was strange, but we're just happy his diarrhea had cleared up. Freckles always had diarrhea. His condition according to the vet was not parasitic. He was on prescription food often to bulk up his stools. When he 2, he began to have eye infections and redness of the conjunctiva. During an exam, our vet noticed his eyelids were rolling inward. He explained it is a genetic condition. As a result, Freckles lower eyelids were being pulled down and the inward rolling was causing his fur to scratch his eyeballs. He had to see an eye specialist in Boston and required 2 surgeries. The surgeon reiterated to us that this was a genetic condition. At 3, Freckles had 4 episodes of uncontrollable diarrhea. He had also lost weight. The vet sent him back to Boston, this time to a gastrointestinal specialist. After scoping him, we learned he had advanced cancer - lymphoma of his stomach and intestines. Because he was so young and we were told that dogs handle treatment much better than humans, let alone that we were not ready to say goodbye, we opted for a round of chemotherapy. Freckles' chemotherapy was well-tolerated. He re-gained weight, his stools normalized, he was able to go for long walks, and other than losing all his hair, which did grow back, he seemed like himself. Just as the oncologist predicted though, his symptoms and cancer came back at 13 months after remission. We made the heartbreaking decision to "let him go" then. No more chemotherapy because with his cancer, it would not cure him. We were so sad. What burned us bad were a few things. Obviously, the health problems. But, when I called Arlene to let her know, she had the audacity to say it was something that happened to Freckles as a result of the food we fed him, or vaccinating, or fertilizing the grass in our yard. When I related our vet and oncologist indicated it was genetic, she admitted, there had been 1 case of lymphoma in one of the breeding lines. Subsequently, while at the specialty animal hospital, I met several other standard poodles will illnesses and their owners, and guess what, they came from Crabapple Downs. Freckles was my 4th Standard Poodle. We treat our dogs like family members. They lack for nothing, routinely see the vet and have had pet health insurance. All of them lived to be 12-15 years old. What happened to Freckles was not related to anything we did. That comment was just so offensive. Avoid the heartbreak, no matter how cute the puppy, or all the hype you hear about the reunions at Poodle Mountain, do yourself a huge favor, don't press your luck or your finances on costly surgeries and medical treatment, just go to a reputable breeder for your puppy. It still haunts me to this day what happened to Freckles. He died just after he turned 5. Way too soon with problems all the way - and I know, I'm also a registered nurse. read more

Crabapple Downs - One of the last photos we have right after turning 5, when his cancer returned. - Pet Adoption Near Me

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We got our poodle from Arlene in 2010 and he was the best and healthiest dog we've ever had. In his 11 years of life, he was never sick. He finally got malignant melanoma (a typical cancer for male dogs over 10 years of age) and he died this year when he was almost 12. I don't understand the bad reviews. Yes, her place has a lot of breeding dogs and puppies but it was clean and the pups well cared for. I live in southern NH and have come across quite a number of people who have gotten their dogs from her. All are happy with their animals. You can usually tell her dogs by their good bone structure. read more

if I could give no star that would be more accurate. this is a puppy mill, plain and simple. dogs are not socialized and most have multiple health issues. stay away! read more

Caution is greatly required - while few seem to be willing to say this out loud, the reputable poodle breeders who have spoken with me candidly have indicated that Crabapple Downs is regarded as a high-output breeder. Some would call that the definition of a puppy mill. Let me share my story. We got our first standard poodle from Arlene Mills and Crabapple Downs. She seemed sympathetic, dedicated, caring, and she seemed to want to be sure that we would provide a great home for her pup. She also stated that she's very careful about her breeding in order to avoid the genetic diseases that are common with poodles and that her poodles do not come with the standard genetic diseases. Based upon our sense talking to her and our visit to her operation in Colebrook NH, and that we could not see any negative comments online, we purchased a standard poodle from her. Our dog came with virtually every major genetic disease that poodles get: Addison's Disease, squamous cell carcinoma of the digit (he lost 4 toes eventually), bloat (twice, and he almost died from the first occurrence), and a problem with his eyes where the lids starting growing inward and causing infections (requiring a a surgery - I joked we were the only people who ended up giving their dog a facelift). When I went back to Arlene to inform her of these developments, at first she did not respond. When I went back to her subsequently after some significant time had passed, she said she discovered that they did have a problem in one of their breeding lines and removed that dog. Great. She did not offer us any sort of refund or anything - not that I was looking for anything. But where we were receiving warm assurances before we purchased our poodle, that warmth and caring was gone at this point. It was cold, transactional, and with no apology. I would have left the matter there except for what happened in our vet's office. One day I was waiting and a woman came in with a new puppy. She was excited to meet our doggie and we started talking. She told me she had had a standard poodle but she recently died at close to age 9, and this was her new dog. So after expressing condolences, I asked her where her dog was from. "A breeder in northern NH." Was it Crapabble Downs? "Yes." (My dog was close in age to hers). I asked her if she remembered who the parents were. She very clearly remembered and told me, and OMG, it was the same parents as my dog! So I told her, wow, I think our dogs were from the same litter. She asked me when I got our dog, and I told her the date, and she said, "no, that doesn't overlap, we got our dog about 7 months before that." I said, are you sure about that date? "Yes." And then I said, are you sure about the lineage? And she said, "Definitely." So I was puzzled, and it hit us BOTH at the same time: These same two dogs had been bred, produced a litter which her dog was from, and almost immediately after those dogs were sold off, they were bred AGAIN and my dog was from that next litter. We were both horrified. While her dog died at close to 9 years, my dog went over 13 years. He had a great disposition and was a wonderful animal, but he had to undergo 4 surgeries for each of the digits he had removed, 1 surgery for his eye, 2 bloat surgeries, etc. I shudder to think what we paid in vet bills over his life, out of our own pocket, and at all he had to suffer. Still, he had a happy life and was a very nice dog who we still miss. When it came time to get a new standard poodle, I decided to go through our vet and ask for recommended and reliable breeders. They recommended four and I spoke with them all. When each of them asked about our dog history and I told them we had one previous poodle, the question always came up, where did you get him from? I told them, Crabapple Downs. Usually I was met by silence. But one breeder spilled the beans and told me that it's a puppy mill and Arlene Mills is considered persona non grata in the poodle breeding community. I honestly had not thought of it in this context until this breeder explicitly said it to me, and then I thought back to my chance encounter with the other poodle owner in the vet's office, where we figured out we got two poodles from the same parents who came from two different litters within the same twelve-month period. What exactly is that called? A puppy mill. When I was looking online at poodle breeders in New England, I saw reference in one online thread to be wary of a puppy mill in very Northern New England. But no one seems willing to put it so explicitly even though I've come to learn it's what everyone quietly understands. When I spoke further with an employee at the vet's office, she told me she had heard the same thing. If you are looking for a new poodle, my advice is to look elsewhere. One fact remains unchallenged: Crabapple Downs is a high-output poodle breeding facility. read more