# Starr Goldens, Ohio



## ShellyMac (Feb 4, 2012)

I'm wondering if anyone has had any recent experience with John at Starr Goldens in Ohio? I read some older posts that were not altogether positive. I'm hoping things may have improved. I am also curious to know if anyone has visited his location. If you got one of his puppies, did he proved anyone with a contract, health cert., or other paperwork? Do you know how the puppies are socialized? Lastly, can anyone recommend a reputable breeder for English Cream (white) Golden's? Thank you!


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## ragtym (Feb 3, 2008)

The best place to find an English style Golden: English Goldens


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## GoldensInRI (Jan 25, 2012)

Hi ShellyMac & welcome!

I notice you are located in Colorado. Another long time & well known golden retriever breeder who might be able to give you some guidance with nice English lines, is Beaumaris Golden retrievers (Beaumaris Golden Retrievers).

Good luck in your search and I highly recommend you check out the reference Ragtym provided (English Goldens in North America - Litters - Breeders - Stud Dogs). There is alot of information on that site to help you with your search for a reputable breeder of healthy English-style goldens.


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## Swampchamp (Mar 3, 2012)

my experiences with John have all been very positive thus far.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

ShellyMac said:


> did he proved anyone with a contract, health cert., or other paperwork? Do you know how the puppies are socialized?
> 
> 
> > This breeder does not give his dogs' registered name on the website that I could find, so you will have to ask specifically for him to provide you with this information so that you can look them up on the k9 data website or OFA. You will need to specifically ask to see the proof of the following clearances:
> ...


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

ShellyMac said:


> I'm wondering if anyone has had any recent experience with John at Starr Goldens in Ohio? I read some older posts that were not altogether positive. I'm hoping things may have improved. I am also curious to know if anyone has visited his location. If you got one of his puppies, did he proved anyone with a contract, health cert., or other paperwork? Do you know how the puppies are socialized? Lastly, can anyone recommend a reputable breeder for English Cream (white) Golden's? Thank you!


 
If you want an English Golden Retriver, cream or otherwise, contact breeders in England and get a puppy there. Then it will be an English Golden Retriever. 
Puppies born in North America are American (or Canadian) Golden Retrievers. Don't fall for the marketing gimmics.


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## ShellyMac (Feb 4, 2012)

So sarcastic. Gosh. Is that why you call yourself Grumpy old man. People are just looking for assistance in trying to make educated decisions, not looking for someone to belittle them. If anyone reads your posts they may be discouraged from posting because they don't want to be made fun of. You could do more good with your knowledge if you posted more positive comments and were less demening in your posts. I hope you can take this to heart and know that you can do so much more good being a Kind Old Man.


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## ShellyMac (Feb 4, 2012)

Hi Kristy, I am looking for my 2nd golden retriever and I am using your informative list in my search. Thank you so much for your kind reply to my post. Best wishes, ShellyMac


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## LJack (Aug 10, 2012)

You might find this helpful too. By the way CERF has be absorbed by OFA so eyes that are current will be OFA.


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## aaw (Aug 22, 2017)

We purchased one of John's English Cream goldens. We flew to Cleveland and drove down to Orrville to pick up our boy, Hunter. John had been very ill and was in Florida. We were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Galaen Mast, who had Hunter and the other dogs. We have contact info and pictures of the littermates. We received shot records, etc. 
Hunter is now 14 months old. He is 70 lbs and still growing. He went to training as a puppy. According to the trainer, he is very smart. He plays well with others at the dog park. He really does well with our 1 year old grandson. He is a happy, happy dog. 

He has grown a head that catches people's attention. People literally stopped their cars or stop and ask about him. Hunter was the fifth English Cream that our vet had in his practice when he went in for his next shots. Within the next two months, the vet told me that he has added an additional 12-15 English creams to his practice. However, he told us that none of them have good teeth (straight), strong white coloring, and/or good bone structure. Our vet has always had golden retrievers. We have three English Creams that live within a couple of miles and most of them look like a long hair lab. Their heads are small and lack the square shape typical of good golden breeding. We are thrilled with our English Cream.


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

aaw said:


> We are thrilled with our English Cream.


This is English Cream: https://www.englishteastore.com/dodecr-170g.html

"English Cream" is not a dog breed or a variant of a Golden Retriever. There are only Golden Retrievers of varying shades. I'll be happy to call the light shade an "English Cream" the moment someone points to that exact verbiage in the breed standard.


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## Jeffo (Dec 4, 2017)

Hi, we have talked with John, and we are close to pulling the trigger on a Puppy!
Was just wondering if you recall Hunters Parents names?
We are looking at the latest litter from Moe & Haley!
Any help would be appreciated 
Thanks in advance
Jeff


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

Jeffo said:


> Hi, we have talked with John, and we are close to pulling the trigger on a Puppy!
> Was just wondering if you recall Hunters Parents names?
> We are looking at the latest litter from Moe & Haley!
> Any help would be appreciated
> ...


If you could post Moe and Haley's registered names you would be better able to make a decision on the litter based on hard facts- this is one of those breeders who does not publish the registered names making it difficult to do any real due diligence. 
And too, this breeder has chosen a kennel name that has belonged to someone else for many years (Frohm) who actually competes and titles her dogs. It always amazes me that someone would take someone else's name ... of course, one might assume THEY do the competing and that's nothing more than stealing someone's hard work.
The site to me attempts to imply more than is actually being done. They have a picture of framed county fair ribbons on the females page. If one didn't show dogs and look closely, one might believe their dogs were deserving of big rosettes.
As a puppy buyer, you may think none of these things matters in the face of a cute little fluffball- but it should. Your breeder being totally aboveboard and ethical in all things is super important and will be an indicator of your future trust with that person.


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## desmoquattro (Dec 7, 2017)

Jeffo said:


> Hi, we have talked with John, and we are close to pulling the trigger on a Puppy!
> Was just wondering if you recall Hunters Parents names?
> We are looking at the latest litter from Moe & Haley!
> Any help would be appreciated
> ...


We just had John cancel our deposit because we asked for this same information. Needless to say my wife, who is very excited to get a companion puppy for our 12 year old golden, is pretty heart broken. John adamantly refused to provide the AKC numbers or registered names of the parents. It just doesn't seem to make sense why the refusal, and worse off the refund for no reason of our request.


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## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

desmoquattro said:


> We just had John cancel our deposit because we asked for this same information. Needless to say my wife, who is very excited to get a companion puppy for our 12 year old golden, is pretty heart broken. John adamantly refused to provide the AKC numbers or registered names of the parents. It just doesn't seem to make sense why the refusal, and worse off the refund for no reason of our request.


Sounds like you dodged a bullet. My guess is that he doesn't give out registration information because then you could easily look up and see that his dogs don't have the health certifications he claims. I searched k9data and found "Storm" owned by J Stevenson. I'm almost certain it's the same Storm listed on their website. Pedigree: Goldbrior Victory Dash

He only had a deficient practitioner heart clearance. He was bred to Pebbles, also on k9data, as is listed on the breeders website. 

None of Storms offspring, except 2 owned by another breeder, have full clearances. And yet their dam Izzy is listed as a Storm x Emma puppy.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

desmoquattro said:


> We just had John cancel our deposit because we asked for this same information. Needless to say my wife, who is very excited to get a companion puppy for our 12 year old golden, is pretty heart broken. John adamantly refused to provide the AKC numbers or registered names of the parents. It just doesn't seem to make sense why the refusal, and worse off the refund for no reason of our request.


He did you a favor. I know when you are puppy shopping and think the search is complete and you finally have your breeder, then he cancels on you, it is tempting to feel lost..but registered names are no secret if you have nothing to hide. Most good breeders are proud of their dogs' pedigrees and certainly would not hide registered names- but good breeders have easily verified clearances and with that name comes the ability to verify what he is claiming. If people would insist on clearances and not buy a puppy otherwise, this fella and others like him would be forced to do the right thing for the breed we all love.


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## rabernet (Feb 24, 2015)

desmoquattro said:


> We just had John cancel our deposit because we asked for this same information. Needless to say my wife, who is very excited to get a companion puppy for our 12 year old golden, is pretty heart broken. John adamantly refused to provide the AKC numbers or registered names of the parents. It just doesn't seem to make sense why the refusal, and worse off the refund for no reason of our request.


He sounds like a real stand up guy. ***eye roll***

I'd say it's a good thing he cancelled your deposit. Especially since he's unwilling to share this information with his puppy buyers. 

I personally want a breeder who is PROUD of the dogs they are working with and have nothing to hide. A breeder who is going to be there for me through the life of the dog, and who feels a responsibility to these precious lives they've brought into this world, not someone who sees them as a commodity only, and preys on unsuspecting puppy buyers (after all - who can resist a cute puppy), with no regards to the actual longterm health of the puppy (if he did care, he'd have no problem sharing the registered names of the dogs behind them). 

If I were you - I'd start another post and let folks here know what you're looking for in temperment, where you're located and how far you're willing to travel to get a puppy. They can guide you to REPUTABLE breeders, ones who proudly stand behind their dogs. 

I've personally never understood the draw of the "English Creams". I love the classic American golden and not particularly drawn to the look of the "English Cream". It seems too "faddy" to me, I guess. And so much opportunity to take advantage of puppy buyers. No offence intended to those who have and love "English Creams".


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## stapa (Jan 7, 2018)

We have one of John's golden and he is a wonderful, handsome dog. He is a total love and a great family dog. He has been very healthy and we have had him for two years now. The vet told us we have a great dog. John was easy to deal with and our Cooper arrived exactly as promised. We had him flown to us so we never saw the location but he arrived clean, healthy and we also were able to speak to the vet that John used and all was on the up and up. Good luck!!


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## LJack (Aug 10, 2012)

I am glad that you had a good experience and that your young dog has been healthy so far. I hope that continues for you. Do you know if your puppy’s parents had the full health certifications they should? 

If you could provide the registered names of your dog’s parents that allow the verification of health certifications it would go much further to establishing this person is not an unethical breeder.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

Because it is super cold, I did a little research on this kennel this AM- and don't want to lose some of the info that's apparently quite secret- Starr is John Stevenson. He (according to this thread)http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...-english-golden-breeder-starr-goldens-19.html feels people 'steal' the info on dogs if he gives it out (an aside- info is not steal-able- and no one would want to steal his dogs' info)-
Storm (who has all of a practitioner cardiac clearance nothing more) is Pedigree: Goldbrior Victory Dash
This is one of his bitches- also possessor of a stellar (lol) practitioner cardiac clearance nothing more Pedigree: Irish Song 'Of Golden Duck'. Another: Pedigree: Pebbles Of The Morning Valley (no clearances) Another (remi?) Pedigree: Rising Starr Of The Morning Valley and once again a practitioner cardiac. 
I don't get it- when one has a website, one is making themselves a face in the public. When you advertise yourself as a breeder, you put yourself, your dogs, your reputation into the public domain and invite critical analysis. While two different people may not agree on what indicates competence in breeding, there's no denying some breeders are better than others at not producing problems. One has to have a criteria to judge by other than coat color to make good choices... or whatever little window one is shopping through. Most of the long time breeders and exhibitors here use many of the same criteria to determine safety in a pedigree, and that criteria has hints that typically are found on less-than breeder sites. Some of which include not having registered names available, taking paypal, shipping without meeting, offering full registration for more $, inadequate clearances. There are more- but if one comes here and asks about a breeder like this, experience tells us his program fails on more than one level. It's not like he isn't aware he is not using best practices- he is- certainly the 10 years of criticism on the GRF alone is plenty to educate him... but he chooses NOT TO. At the expense of his puppy buyers ultimately... don't kid yourself- no one owns a crystal ball in dogs.


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## Fb12345 (May 9, 2019)

We bought an English Cream in 2014 and it’s got a screw loose. We’ve spent thousands of dollars on training. It’s our third Golden in general so it’s not like we haven’t done this before. At any rate, I called John and left him a detailed voicemail seeking for advice on what to do and even asking if he wants him back. A reputable breeder will take their animals back if there are issues. I even told him on the voicemail that we aren’t looking for our money back, we just want the dog off our hands. We’ve had multiple people volunteer to take him and they all keep bringing him back to us. I never received a call back from John. One more thing that should have been a red flag to us is we had a deposit down on a female. A few days before he was scheduled to bring the pups to our house, he advised that he couldn’t sell the female to us because she had a heart murmur. We should have walked away. Instead we got stuck with a huge headache and burden of a dog. I also remember saying we could come to his house and he said he will come to us. Another red flag.


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## Ilovegoldens2 (Oct 19, 2019)

*Healthy 14 Year Old*

*We bought a puppy from John 14 years ago and he is the healthiest and smartest dog we have ever owned. We plan on getting another puppy from Starr Goldens soon.*


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

If you really want to promote this breeder - who has no fans- post your dog's registration info. His name, his sire's and dam's names. 
What I posted a couple posts ago-- that says it all. No sense saying it again if all you can say is 
that you like this breeder. Give us some evidence of competence- sire and dam info.


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