# Feedback On These Breeders?



## Kathy D. (Nov 28, 2014)

I am reposting this on the Puppy Forum. We live in Carlsbad, CA and hope to have our first Golden after the first of the year. Started with GRCSD, but they have no litters to recommend. Emailed GRCGLA, but no response. Any feedback on following who have litters planned?

Matigan Golden Retrievers (Rancho Santa Fe) $2500. No info on Sire/Dame yet.

Canyon Ridge Goldens (Aguanda) $2000. Sire: Rusty. Dame: Alice.

Birch Hollow Goldens (Orange County) $2000. Sire: Champion 'Que' CH Birch Hollow's Questionairo. Dame:'Cala', Birch Hollow's Calamity on Rte Sixty Six.

Thank you!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I think all three of these are good breeders (quick google) - the third one (Birch Hollow) - I've heard of - I think they've been around for a long time. 

Just make sure you ask to see clearances or links to clearances. Should have the 4 main ones (hips, heart, eyes, elbows). FINALS not prelims. 

Good luck!


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## Bozema (Nov 23, 2009)

Our boy is from Matigan and I think very highly of Jan and her dogs. Her dogs had all their proper clearances and we talked for several months before going forward and still stay in touch.


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## bvgoldens (Dec 8, 2014)

FYI - the sire pictured on the Birch Hollow Breeders.net page for their stud dog "Que", is actually a picture of the famous dog, Banjo, owned by Chuckanut Retrievers, BISS Am/Can CH Chuckanut's Brasstime TD JH NA NAJ WC VCX OS SDHF Can TD JH WC OS (1/12/1996-8/6/2007). Que is a very very dark Golden who does not look like Banjo.


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

A quick glance on offa doesn't show updated eye clearances on either dog so you need to check with the breeder. They should be within the last 12 months and sometimes people don't send them in or are slow. The dam's cardiac clearance was not done by a cardiologist. Cardio's are the preferred method vs practitioners or even specialists because they are better at identifying cardiac issues. i'd pass on a litter without proper cardiac certs and also if the eyes aren't up to date.

If they are using someone else's picture, that is very odd. I tried to confirm it by looking at k9data and while he is listed there, they don't have the information up to date, and not even a call name listed. That is very very odd to me. Plus I couldn't verify the photo or not.

I haven't looked at the others.

Edit- I meant to note that I was referring to the Birch Hollow breeding.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

Kathy? How far are these breeders from you? Would it be possible for you to go and see their dogs and ask questions personally? Remember that not only a puppy is a 15 + year commitment but you also want to build a relationship with the breeder for this time at least. A relationship like can only be formed if you have conversations with the breeders and you can at least see whom you will be able to form it with, see the dogs and how they are kept, trained and cared for. 
There are stickies on the forum with what the clearances are under Choosing a Golden Retriever - lots of good info there!


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

WHOA! Hold the presses. The Birch Hollow breeding gets even worse. The sire and dam are HALF SIBLINGS. Run away, run fast and far. I will look at the others for you later today.

The dam is not on K9data (another thing I don't like, I don't even like when there is no test breeding so you can see the pedigree of a potential pup directly, without having to interpret sire/dam separately) but the potential dam's (Cala) dam is shown on OFFA as BH Sassy's Dance, the same as the potential Sire's(Que) dam. Yikes!


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## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

You'll probably get some good feedback via PM.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

bvgoldens said:


> FYI - the sire pictured on the Birch Hollow Breeders.net page for their stud dog "Que", is actually a picture of the famous dog, Banjo, owned by Chuckanut Retrievers, BISS Am/Can CH Chuckanut's Brasstime TD JH NA NAJ WC VCX OS SDHF Can TD JH WC OS (1/12/1996-8/6/2007). Que is a very very dark Golden who does not look like Banjo.


I'm really questioning that the picture of the dog they call Que is actually Banjo. This is Banjo from the Chuckanut website, clearly not the same dog as the one in the picture of Que.


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## Kathy D. (Nov 28, 2014)

It looks like Birch Hollow is not a good option for us. The other two breeders are actually closer to us. We were planning to go meet the Dam (and hopefully Sire) and see how the puppies are kept. We will carefully look at what is required for clearances. Thank you so much for your guidance.


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## Kathy D. (Nov 28, 2014)

Yikes indeed. Thank you so much.


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## SheetsSM (Jan 17, 2008)

mylissyk said:


> I'm really questioning that the picture of the dog they call Que is actually Banjo. This is Banjo from the Chuckanut website, clearly not the same dog as the one in the picture of Que.


The picture you posted to me looks like the same one that was on the breeders.net site as Que. I went back to the site this evening and that picture is no longer showing.


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## SheetsSM (Jan 17, 2008)

DanaRuns said:


> You'll probably get some good feedback via PM.


Is there any generic information (non-breeder specific) that would be worth sharing in a generic thread to learn from that might come from these PMs?


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

SheetsSM said:


> The picture you posted to me looks like the same one that was on the breeders.net site as Que. I went back to the site this evening and that picture is no longer showing.



It was Banjo's picture on that website. After reading this thread, I e-mailed them to ask why they had a picture of Banjo above Que's name. I see it has now been changed to what, I'm assuming, is an actual picture of Que.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

SheetsSM said:


> The picture you posted to me looks like the same one that was on the breeders.net site as Que. I went back to the site this evening and that picture is no longer showing.


That's really wild. This is the picture of Que that is on the breeders.net page for Birch Hollow.


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## SheetsSM (Jan 17, 2008)

mylissyk said:


> That's really wild. This is the picture of Que that is on the breeders.net page for Birch Hollow.


That's the new pic, it replaced the Banjo pic that a couple of us saw.


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

SheetsSM said:


> That's the new pic, it replaced the Banjo pic that a couple of us saw.


Yes I saw a different picture yesterday.


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## Kathy D. (Nov 28, 2014)

Hi. Alice (Canyon Ridge's It's All A Dream) is being bred with Bumper (Autumnwind's Mr. Bumper McBear). What do you think? Thank you.


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

Kathy D. said:


> Hi. Alice (Canyon Ridge's It's All A Dream) is being bred with Bumper (Autumnwind's Mr. Bumper McBear). What do you think? Thank you.


Those clearances are almost in order. The only exception is the SIRE (edit) has cardiac by a specialist, instead of a cardiologist.

Here is their offa pages. One really cool thing to look at is to go to the "vertical pedigree" (right above their name) and it will show you the clearance history for 3 generations back. You can click on each of elbows, hips, eyes, cardiac, etc and see what is behind the dog. It is pretty neat, especially because you can see siblings of those generations.

One thing to keep in mind is that the cardiologist requirement (by the GRCA COE -code of ethics for breeding) only came into play in the last 10 years, maybe 15, I am not exactly sure. So you may see some older dogs that are practitioner or specialist, and they were in compliance with the COE at the time. Even so, the dogs being bred should have a cardiologist clearance, by the COE.

Edit- forgot the link
Alice:Orthopedic Foundation for Animals
Bumper:http://www.offa.org/display.html?appnum=1472839#animal

And I was backwards, it is the sire, bumper, that has the practitioner cardiac. Not that dam as I originally posted


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## DanaRuns (Sep 29, 2012)

I like Bumper.


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

I edited my post, it is Bumper with the cardiac specialist.


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## bvgoldens (Dec 8, 2014)

There were enough complaints so Birch Hollow deleted the picture of Banjo and inserted a picture of Que. They had been using that picture of Banjo for years. Seems very misleading to puppy buyers. Glad they changed it.


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## John Rundle (Feb 2, 2017)

I know this is an old post, but we just got a dog from Jan. And I found her through this forum. So, I'm very grateful. The pup we got is calm, smart and great looking, and Jan was just fantastic during the entire process. I can't say enough good things about her and how she cares for her dogs. All the paperwork on the parents was in order. We're thrilled.


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