# Puppy Referral Assistance



## SheetsSM (Jan 17, 2008)

I've seen a number of recent posts where the OP looking for a breeder/puppy stated their local golden retriever club was not helpful in the search--eg. did not know of any litters available. Would be interested in your thoughts on if you did make contact & the club didn't have any leads or if you chose not to reach out to your club why. Please feel free to PM me if you'd like to share your comments privately. As a member of my own local club, I would like to make sure those who choose to ask for assistance in locating a breeder/puppy receive it. thank you!


----------



## ArkansasGold (Dec 7, 2017)

I did not contact my local club because they have the list on their website: GHGRC Breeder List 
However, I will say that it is hard to distinguish who is a field line breeder and who is a show line breeder if you are just getting started. The current Greater Houston list isn't comprehensive and is missing people like Brianna Bischoff, Brandye Randermann, and Janis Bluhm, but it did make things easier. I ended up going to Arkansas because I'm originally from there to get my puppy.


----------



## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

I referred my neighbors several years ago to contact the NC GR Club Breeder Referral which they did. They talked to several breeders, one referred them to a Breeder in SC that had available pups and they got a puppy from this breeder.


----------



## Sandy22 (Mar 12, 2016)

i didn't vote, as none of the three options fit my experience. I repeatedly contacted the local club and they never responded. I've seen other posters on this board mention a similar experience with the NorCal club.


----------



## js924 (Oct 3, 2017)

I left a voicemail and emailed the puppy referral contact at my local GRC (Florida Gulf Coast GRC) and the person never contacted me back. I didn't want to repeatedly call so I continued my research on reputable breeders on these forums and luckily got on a list with Goldruls in Georgia. and I pick up my puppy on Saturday!


like another member mentioned, I did not vote as the options indicated that someone actually spoke with you.


----------



## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

I emailed two contacts from 2 different GR clubs and never received a response from either one.


----------



## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I did not vote because I never contacted our club for a puppy, I do want to share our experience as a club.

We have an application for our members to fill out if they want to be a referred breeder, to be renewed every year - I think at the most we have three that will actually fill them out, even though we probably have about 10 occasional breeders in the club. If they are not on the list, we cannot send people their way as being referred as a club.

My club gets almost 200 puppy requests a year, and about 50 rescue requests.  

There are less than 10 litters in my area a year, most do not fill out the club application, out of those, one of the breeders gets about 50 requests a week from around the country, about half of the litters are performance litters that do not belong in a pet home, some of those puppies go to conformation homes and others go to therapy homes, leaving less than a handful of puppies available to the general public.

We do try to answer all puppy requests, if we do know of a litter from a breeder that has not filled out an application but is a member and does clearances, that has a planned litter, we might recommend them personally but not as a club. If we don't answer it is because we are having website issues ( that is a whole other story!)


There are no more golden retriever rescues in our area, and the ones in St Louis will not adopt out to the Kansas City area, so unless we no of a member that has a special interest in a dog that needs a home, there is no place to send them.

It is tough because there is a big shortage of well bred puppies and rescues (which is a good thing) in the Kansas City area. Most of the time you already need to know somebody to get a puppy.


----------



## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

I contacted one of Chesapeake golden retriever club when I was looking for a puppy (2015) and they got back to me within 24 hours.

I contacted the PVGRC earlier this year looking for breeder recommendations to pass along to a friend and received no response. I did emphasize in that email that I would not be contacting breeders for her, but I just wanted to pass along some information.


----------



## kargast (Dec 17, 2017)

The Mile Hi GR club has a list of approved breeders. I did not try to contact someone within the club since they provide a list, but I may do that as well.


----------



## BrianO (Apr 7, 2016)

I found my pup through my local club. The litter was out of state, but the puppy referral knew of it. I would have never found this breeder without Sue in Lou. This referral coordinator is the best. She gave me, a total stranger, hours of her time. She helped educate me and sent me links to gain a better understanding on what to look for. I found a much better, healthier pup at a lower price because of her and I am a better owner because of the education.

I strongly recommend beginning a puppy search with your local breed club. It is a good resource for many reasons.


----------



## DevWind (Nov 7, 2016)

I didn’t contact my local club because I got both of my goldens from a friend. We met at our obedience club and taught the novice class I had one of my rescues in. She did get me involved in our local golden club. We are a very small group and not all of us are breeders.


----------

