# Puppy



## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

Did your friend get a dog related to the mother of this litter, or are the dogs unrelated? Just looking at k9 data which is not necessarily updated, neither parent has a within one year eye clearance. On the mother's maternal side very few hip clearances... If you want to see if there are more recent eye clearances, you can look on www.offa.org or CERF, or ask the breeder. The mother, also has very few dogs with any kind of titles in her pedigree. So my question to the breeder would be why are you breeding these dogs?


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

In layman's terms, the father has OFA Good hips, OFA clear elbows, CERF eye clearance from 2009, and a practitioner cardiac clearance. The mom is OFA good hips, OFA clear elbows, CERF eye clearance from 2009, and a practitioner cardiac clearance. CGC= Canine Good Citizen, TDI= therapy dog international. In my opinion, the father's bloodlines are far superior to the mother's.

And my pet peeve is practitioner cardiac clearances... I am a GP veterinarian as is my husband. I still take my dogs to the cardiologist for heart clearances. I am a member of the GRCA and that is one of their recommendations.


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## JMRK (Mar 9, 2011)

smartblondes.biz would you be willing to check it out and give me an honest opinion? Our friends dog has the same father but different mother. We really liked the red of the mother that is why we chose this litter.

Thanks


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## jwemt81 (Aug 20, 2008)

JMRK said:


> smartblondes.biz would you be willing to check it out and give me an honest opinion? Our friends dog has the same father but different mother. We really liked the red of the mother that is why we chose this litter.
> 
> Thanks


Please, please don't choose a breeder/litter strictly based on color. It's totally fine to have a color preference, but there are so many significantly more important factors. I agree that the father has a much better blood line than the mother, but both parents CERF (eye) clearances are outdated. The CERF clearance needs to be renewed once a year and their last CERF exams were in 2009. I also looked at their web site and I am very much turned off by the fact that they are having multiple litters at once. I'm not so sure I personally would go with this breeder.....


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## Svan (Mar 2, 2011)

Hi,

I would give this breeder a definite miss. There is only one reason to breed & that's to improve the breed. Anyone breeding for a different reason is a puppy mill. 

There are only two reasons why this "breeder" would give you an eye certificate from 2009;
A) they don't know anything about the breed & should therefore not be breeding
B) they know people who don't know much about buying a pup might have heard somewhere that eyes need to be tested, but won't know this is an annual requirement. In this case the breeder is dodgy as well as having no business breeding. 

Anyone who is serious about breeding knows a 2009 eye certificate isn't worth the paper it's printed on unless accompanied by a 2010 and 2011 certificate. 

What you need to do is look at that beautiful dog and ask yourself how sick you are going to feel if you buy a pup, love a pup & then it ends up in years of pain or it might need to be put down years ahead of it's natural lifespan. Could you do that to your family or the dog? 

Go find a reputable breeder who breeds the colour you like or be more flexible about the colouring - you are buying a real live living creature who deserves the best possible start in life. 

I hope you give this "breeder" a miss. The dogs might be lovely but I personally wouldn't risk it.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

Here's how to look at a pedigree:

For each dog in the pedigree you want to see that they have Hip, Eye (CERF), Elbow and Cardiac clearances and that they were done by the right type of professional (ie. cardiologist for cardiac, not just a regular practioner). All of them are done only once, except eye which is done every year. These clearances are primarily listed in 2 online databases that you have access to, one is k9data.com and the other is OFFA.org. Some breeders prefer not to submit their test results to either so you may have to ask for paper copies.

Here is how to read the clearances: http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...er-puppy/71378-what-clearances-look-like.html

A breeder should be able to provide at least 3 generations worth of clearance records. 

The OFFA website is also useful to see if any relatives of the dam or sire have been cleared and whether any of them have been diagnosed with anything (though not all breeders submit this information). 

Aside from clearances you'll want to look at why the breeder is producing puppies at all. Good breeders only breed because they want to produce GREAT dogs that will make the breed stronger, healthier, smarter, better hunting partners, etc. For this reason breeders will only pick excellent dogs for their breeding program and this means that those dogs should have excelled in show (conformation) or performance or both. You can see this in the pedigree because of the "titles" that the dogs have (Dog Titles). In other words, reputable breeders would not breed a dog that has no titles in its pedigree as is the case here with the dam. 

I would walk away from this breeding as there are both clearances and titles missing. Even if the breeder can produce papercopies of the clearances I'd still walk away. 

I would go for rescue again! There are so many Goldens looking for great homes.


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## Svan (Mar 2, 2011)

Great post jackie!


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## whiskey creek goldens (Jul 12, 2010)

What turned me off about this "breeder" is that she has several dogs but dose not seem to do anything with then except breed. There are a couple that have there CGC and therapy credentials but those are so easy to get. they say they belong to an obidiance club but not one rally Or CD title, (which are easily gotten) to be found. What is wrong with that picture?? 

The other thing is that there is no educational information, no mention of activities they do with there dogs on her website and the thing turned me off the most was the payment tab like that is the most important thing to them it seems.

If I where you I would run for a different breeder I am sure someone on this forum that lives in your state could direct you to a breeder that is breeding for the right reason and not just for the cash. I hate to be blunt but man this is not a good choice for a breeder.


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## golden_eclipse (Apr 1, 2011)

I do agree about passing on this breeder, because of the heart clearances.....getting a cardiologists is not that difficult (displays lack of knowledge.) If people took the time to check the dogs on the OFA website, they were done within 12 months of this breeding, Nov. 2010, which is totally allowable. Although the father has a breeders' option code, which is something to investigate. But don't always trust k9data, as some people forget to update the date.


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