South Carolina has only three ALAA-registered Australian Labradoodle breeders, but between them they reach nearly every corner of the state. Buyers anywhere in the Carolinas or northern Georgia can typically get to one of the three within a few hours’ drive.
Upstate, Midlands, and Lowcountry Each Have One Program
South Carolinians often talk about their state in three informal regions, and as it happens, each region has its own ALAA breeder. Bent Oaks Farm works out of Aiken County in the Midlands, Laughing Dove Labradoodles breeds out of the Charleston area in the Lowcountry, and Golden Corner Labradoodles operates in the Upstate along the North Carolina and Georgia lines.
Bent Oaks Farm Australian Labradoodles
Bent Oaks Farm is owned by Deanna VanCleave, who came to breeding after twenty years teaching elementary school and running a small manufacturing business in the Midwest. After settling in Windsor, she went back to teaching while building her Australian Labradoodle program on the side. Having raised animals on a farm for most of her life, she went looking for a hypoallergenic breed after watching friends and family struggle with dog allergies, and a visit to an established Mississippi kennel, Barksdale’s Labradoodles, convinced her the Australian Labradoodle was the answer.
VanCleave has kept close ties to those Mississippi roots in her own bloodlines. Foundation females Maxi and Belle both trace directly back to Barksdale’s lines, and Bent Oaks has since built out a red-and-parti stud line anchored by Beau and Archie, with hip, elbow, eye, and DNA panel results posted for every dog listed on the site.
Younger dogs in the program, including studs Traveller and Orry, carry additional clearances for exercise-induced collapse, degenerative myelopathy, progressive retinal atrophy, and von Willebrand’s disease on top of the hip and elbow testing ALAA already requires, giving buyers a fuller paper trail than just the kennel’s two founding matriarchs.
Location: Windsor, South Carolina
Phone Number: 803-522-5106
Website: Bent Oaks Farm Australian Labradoodles
Registry: ALAA
Laughing Dove Labradoodles
Laughing Dove was established by David and Stacy Hastings in 2015 when they took in their first Australian Labradoodle, named Livie. That experience is what inspired them to take up breeding themselves. David and Stacy operate Laughing Dove as a small, in-home operation located in the Charleston area and are recognized by ALAA with the Golden Paw designation.
Instead of naming their litters sequentially, Laughing Dove uses themes that add a fun element. Past themes have included Mario Bros, Wisconsin Cheese, Fruit Bowl, and Grandparents. Laughing Dove also occasionally places a puppy in a guardian home program for families who want to raise a breeding dog but don’t plan to keep it permanently.
Location: Summerville, South Carolina
Phone Number: 757-775-6896
Email: laughingdovelabradoodles@gmail.com
Website: Laughing Dove Labradoodles
Registry: ALAA (Golden Paw)
Golden Corner Labradoodles LLC
Sean and Annette Allen, owners of Golden Corner, are based in West Union, tucked into the Upstate near the North Carolina and Georgia lines. Sean and Annette raise all of their litters in the house instead of using kennels or outdoor runs. Every puppy at Golden Corner receives Early Neurological Stimulation, early scent work, and daily socialization from the Badass Breeder curriculum before heading to a new family.
Golden Corner joined ALAA in 2023, making it the youngest membership among South Carolina’s three breeders. Even so, Golden Corner already holds the Platinum Paw, the top of the three awards ALAA gives for health testing, backed by OFA clearances for hips, elbows, and eyes along with Orivet DNA and coat-trait panel testing on its breeding dogs.
Location: West Union, South Carolina
Phone Number: 828-273-0391
Email: aallen@goldencornerlabradoodles.com
Website: Golden Corner Labradoodles
Registry: ALAA (Platinum Paw)
The Newest Member Already Wears the Association’s Top Badge
ALAA membership alone already sets a floor. Every breeder featured here submits pedigree information and health test results for its breeding dogs, provides a written purchase agreement and health warranty for each puppy, registers each litter, and agrees to follow ALAA’s code of ethics. Golden Corner and Laughing Dove have each taken it a step further, earning the Platinum and Golden Paw respectively for testing beyond that baseline.
What stands out about South Carolina specifically is that the newest member, Golden Corner, holds the highest paw rating, while neither of the other two programs currently holds one. Because paw ratings are reviewed and can change, buyers should confirm a kennel’s current standing through ALAA’s own online directory rather than relying on a badge posted to a breeder’s website.
ALAA updates each breeder’s published paw level every twenty-four hours, and a breeder must keep testing every dog added to its program to hold onto a Platinum, Golden, or Silver designation rather than earning it once and being done. That ongoing testing requirement is why a program’s paw level can shift from one year to the next even with no change in ownership or location.
South Carolina Doesn’t Have a Puppy Lemon Law Yet
South Carolina has no statute protecting pet purchasers, so there’s no specific law spelling out a buyer’s right to a refund or reimbursement if a puppy turns out to have a health problem traceable to before the sale. Chapter 3 of Title 47 of the South Carolina Code covers dogs and other domestic pets, including leash rules and guide dog protections, but it doesn’t address commercial breeder licensing or sick-puppy remedies.
A bill introduced in the South Carolina Senate in January 2026, the South Carolina Humane Dog Breeding Act, would change that. It defines a professional dog breeder as anyone keeping ten or more intact adult females at once, or selling fifteen or more puppies, or two or more litters, in a year, and would require those breeders to get a license through the state Department of Agriculture, pass regular inspections, and give buyers written disclosures about a puppy’s health history and vaccinations. As of this writing, the bill remains in committee and has not become law.
None of the three breeders featured here appears to meet the bill’s proposed thresholds, so South Carolina buyers currently have no state consumer protection statute to fall back on. Instead, they rely on the breeder’s own written guarantee and on compliance with ALAA’s private membership standards.
Mild Winters Keep Heartworm Season Going Nearly Year-Round
South Carolina’s mosquito season barely takes a break, and that matters because mosquitoes are the only way dogs contract heartworm disease. As Dr. Jenevia Davis of Banfield Pet Hospital in Columbia has explained, “In South Carolina, we really do not have much of a winter, so killing off the mosquitoes is kind of the problem there,” which is why the parasite stays active in the state for nearly the entire year.
According to multiple national surveys, South Carolina ranks among the top ten states in the country for heartworm incidence, with some analyses placing it as high as third nationally, behind only Mississippi and Louisiana. Left untreated, heartworm disease can damage a dog’s heart and lungs and can be fatal, while monthly prevention costs only a fraction of what treatment does.
New puppy owners in South Carolina should start a monthly heartworm preventative on their veterinarian’s recommendation right away and keep it going through the winter, rather than treating cold weather as a season off. Annual heartworm testing is also worth doing, even for dogs that never miss a dose.
A Guide Dog Need in Hawaii Started the Whole Breed
The Australian Labradoodle was developed out of one specific need: a woman in Hawaii needed a guide dog for herself, but her husband’s dog allergies were so severe that nearly every breed her local guide dog school could offer was ruled out.
Wally Conron, working for the Royal Guide Dogs Association of Australia, crossed a Labrador Retriever with a Standard Poodle in the late 1980s to try to solve that problem. The first-generation puppies had the right temperament for guide work but still shed too much, so later generations added Cocker Spaniel, Irish Water Spaniel, and Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier to improve the coat.
Australian kennels Tegan Park and Rutland Manor spent the early 1990s stabilizing that coat and temperament into what’s recognized today as the Australian Labradoodle, and the same foundation lines still run through the pedigrees of breeders across this entire series, South Carolina’s three included.
Frequently Asked Questions
Three programs currently hold active ALAA membership in South Carolina: one in the Midlands near Aiken, one in the Lowcountry near Charleston, and one in the Upstate near the Georgia and North Carolina lines.
No. South Carolina is one of the states without a dedicated pet purchaser protection statute, though legislation that would license larger-scale professional breeders was introduced in the state Senate as recently as January 2026 and has yet to be voted on.
South Carolina doesn’t currently require a state breeding license for operations the size of the three featured here. Because no state law requires breeders to guarantee a puppy’s health, buyers should get a written health guarantee directly from the breeder and confirm current ALAA standing before paying a deposit.
Yes. South Carolina’s mild winters keep mosquitoes, the only way dogs contract heartworm, active for most of the year, and the state consistently ranks among the top ten in the country for heartworm incidence.
Check the breeder’s current ALAA membership and paw status through ALAA’s own online directory, ask about the health testing behind the specific puppy you’re considering, and get a written health guarantee before paying a deposit, since no state law fills that gap in South Carolina.
Conclusion
South Carolina’s three ALAA-registered Australian Labradoodle breeders are spread far enough apart to cover the whole state, with one in the Midlands near Aiken, one in the Lowcountry near Charleston, and one in the Upstate. Wherever you live in South Carolina, you can realistically reach at least one of them.
Because South Carolina doesn’t have a puppy lemon law, and heartworms are a risk for nearly all twelve months of the year thanks to the state’s mild winters, it’s especially important to get a written health guarantee from your breeder and start your puppy on preventative medication right after bringing them home.
Australian Labradoodle Breeders In Other Places
| Alberta | British Columbia | Nova Scotia | Ontario | Ottawa |
| Australia | New South Wales | Queensland | Sydney | Victoria |
