About Us

Meet the Groen Family!

Fenton & Shirley Groen began breeding Cocker Spaniels in 1990, passing their love of animals on to their seven children. Now that the kids are all grown, a number of us have carried on the family tradition, keeping Cocker Spaniels in our homes as part of our families, and exposing our own children to the miracle of raising puppies.

In the early 2000's, we heard about Cockapoos from friends who have a child with allergies. After a lot of research, we decided to try a litter. The puppies were so charming and adorable, they captured our hearts right from Day One.

While the Cockapoos are friendly, sweet, clever, and cute as buttons, Cocker Spaniels are our first love, and we each have at least one Cocker in our home.

We hope you enjoy perusing our site and looking at the pictures. We'd love to hear from you if you think it might be the right time to add one of our Cockapoos to your life!

Four of the Groen kids holding Cocker Spaniel puppies back in the '90's.

Joe & Lydia

Lydia is a stay-at-home mom of five: Jack (11), Matthew (8), Benjamin (6), Elizabeth (4), and Samuel (2). We love taking road trips and often have dogs along. We are so blessed to have a large extended family and are thrilled that our kids get to spend so much time with grandparents and cousins! Our Cocker Spaniels Lilac, Dagny, Aurora, Ireland, Cocoa, and puppy Amy all get along well with our black Labrador Willow. Our dogs are all great with the kids and are an essential part of keeping our lives full of fun and laughter. At the end of 2020, we fulfilled a lifelong dream of moving West, and were able to purchase a rural country estate in Oklahoma. Our connections in NH remain very strong and we have numerous trips back home already scheduled. We'll be continuing our partnerships and placing our pups back home with great families New England. Meanwhile, our whole family (including the dogs!) are enjoying the big skies and room to roam!

Fenton & Shirley

Shirley is a stay-at-home grandma with twenty-three grandchildren...and counting! Shirley often has a sewing or quilting project underway and also enjoys making photo books on Shutterfly. Shirley plays organ at church and enjoys making music on the piano at home. The dogs, Lucy, Charlotte, and Kallie love her busy household where grandkids drop by on a daily basis. The grandkids love playing with the dogs and puppies, and everyone enjoys the steady supply of melon that can be found in Grandma's fridge!

The McLaughlin Family

Jesse and Catie McLaughlin and their 5 children have been friends of the Groen clan for many years now. They have a busy household bustling with the love of animals all around. Their cat Tawny is a soft, slender calico who is constantly purring and climbing onto laps whenever she isn’t out on the hunt. Tori, the oldest, loves researching best practices and implementing new programs with Catie to ensure the dogs are staying healthy, exercised, socialized, and groomed. AJ (15), Luke (13), and Noelle (11) enjoy teaching the dogs new tricks. Their youngest, Lily-Cate (5), knows no world without doggies, and she and her friends are responsible for socializing the pups and introducing them to all the best Disney characters and songs! They all love the affection the Cocker Spaniels Princess, Scout, Bo Peep, and Miss Muffet bring to their home.

The Lapointe Family

Barbie is Lydia's sister and lives with her husband Robert and their six children, aged 2 to 12. Neither Robert nor Barbie had dogs growing up, but when they welcomed Cupcake into their family, she won their hearts immediately! They have loved introducing their kids to the joys and responsibilities of pet ownership. Barbie is a full-time mom and homeschooler, and Robert works with Barbie’s dad in the family fiber optics business. Abraham, Samantha, Marian, Timothy, Pippin, and Henry are full-time kids, walking the dogs down their quiet country road, playing in the woods or the frog pond, jumping on the trampoline, catching crickets for the chickens, and swimming at the grandparent’s lake house. Used to a large and bustling family, Cupcake happily welcomed little sister Buttercup, and quiet Sweetie has warmed up to this exciting crew as well!

The Vance Family

Meet the Vance family of Greenland, NH. Originally from the Midwest, Adam and Emily have always been dog lovers. In grade school, Emily took any opportunity to write about dogs in reports or creative writing assignments. As a child, Adam, an avid outdoorsman, explored the woods on his grandparents farm with a dog by his side. Now, parents of four children: Jake (13), Julia (10), Genevieve (9), and George (4) and three spoiled and beloved pets: Thomas (6, Maine Coon cat), Boston (4, Lab) and Darla (2, Cocker Spaniel). The family enjoys spending time together hiking in the woods, playing on the beach, or snuggling up with Boston and Darla on the sofa with a good book or movie.

The Olstad Family

Josh and Nicole Olstad live in Farmington, New Hampshire on 5 acres of quiet wooded land with their four daughters Olivia (11), Danielle (9), Charlotte (8), and Clara (5). With both Josh and Nicole having pets growing up, and Nicole spending her high school years at the Groen house falling in love with their Cocker Spaniels and getting a small taste of puppy life, it was a great first choice for them to have a Cocker Spaniel as their first pet for their family! They have 2 beautiful Cockers now, Daisy and Lacey, and added puppy Luna early in 2022. The Olstad girls are so excited to help in the process of raising excellent and loving pets for others and will take their job of socializing and snuggling pups very seriously. Their favorite part so far has been brainstorming litter themes and future puppy names!

The Osborne Family

Stephanie fell in love with cockers more than 30 years ago, and they have been an important part of her family ever since. So when Covid combined with her youngest child heading off to college, it was time for another cocker adventure! Maisy Mae has been a delight and a comfort...from trips to NH and Maine beaches to snuggles on the sofa for movie night. Maisy Mae and I look forward to many adorable cockapoo puppies!

Bruce & Pam

In 2011, knowing our stud Poodle was getting older, Lydia started thinking about finding a new stud who would make a good father for future litters. It took surprisingly little sweet-talking to convince her parents Bruce and Pam that a Miniature Poodle would be a great addition to their family! Shortly thereafter, we were delighted to find Nico, who is nearly as handsome as he is charming. He passes along his great personality and good looks to his progeny. Young Anton was next to join the family, beginning his Dutch Haven career in 2018. Little brother Paddington is the newest addition, siring his first litter in 2021!

Deborah

Deborah is Fenton & Shirley's youngest daughter, and is a busy graduate student, working towards her doctorate in political science. Deborah and her Cocker Spaniel Bailey live right nearby in Rochester, NH while Deborah attends graduate school in Washington, DC remotely. Deborah and Bailey love to go for long, relaxing walks on trails or to parks. Bailey’s favorite outing in DC was to the Iwo Jima Memorial. Deborah and Bailey usually take multiple road trips per year to enjoy extended visits with family and Bailey is a seasoned and enthusiastic traveler, and an all-around devoted companion.

Deborah is taking a break from the breeding world as she finishes her degree, but her hands can often be spotted in our pictures - she's a pro at holding puppies during a photo shoot!

They motivate us to PLAY, be AFFECTIONATE, seek ADVENTURE and be LOYAL. -Tom Hayden