# Looking for a Reputable Breeder of Golden Retrievers



## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

I would rule out Golden Glaciers right away. They are breeding 1 year old puppies and dogs without clearances or with failed clearances. Take a look at "Silver" on k9data. She was born in November of 2013 and helped a litter in January of 2015. She still doesn't have clearances but they continue to breed her. If you look at her mother, she is missing clearances and has several offspring listed as failing/missing hips or elbows in OFA. Silver and Stormy are sisters.

There's too many breeders and dogs for me to really dig into but based on titles and a quick glance, I'd look more into Ireigold.


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## LJack (Aug 10, 2012)

msoh716 said:


> Golden Glaciers - Not a good option. As mentioned above, Heath certifications are not complete.
> 
> Darrowby - A possibility. Some dogs have complete health certifications. Some have out of date eye certifications. The eyes should done and recorded annually. They may have done them but not sent them in for recording yet, so ask. It would depend on the status of specific puppy parents if this would be a responsibly bred litter. If you can post registered names, the forum can double check for you.
> 
> ...


Please see some initial research thoughts above in color.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

I just looked at Glacier's upcoming breeding. I'd love to ask them why they bother to do genetic testing if they are just going to breed two carriers for ICT (or ICK as she's calling it). Just no good reason.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Welcome to the forum, hope you will stick around and read through the information on the 'Puppy' board as well as the posts on the 'finding a breeder' board. Even the ones that are searching for a puppy in different regions of the country will have good questions and useful answers in what you should be looking for in a good hobby breeder. The more time you spend educating yourself, the less likely you are to be taken advantage of by a less than ethical breeder. There are plenty out there simply breeding puppies as an income stream and it's not the way you want to go.

No matter who recommends the breeder or where the suggestion comes from, you must ask all the questions about heart cleared by a cardiologist, hips & elbows done at 2 years of age and eyes done yearly. Never assume someone has not cut corners. (have you contacted the golden retriever clubs in your region? grca.org will have lists and you should read up on all the health information if you haven't already done so).

While you are working on your breeder search, also be looking for a good obedience club in your area so that you can get all the information on signing up for classes when your puppy comes home. The best places have their classes fill up quickly and you'll want to get started right away, especially since you have children. A puppy with 3 kids is a big undertaking and training and management will be a lot easier for you with some structure and help from a good trainer. 

When you find a breeder you're interested in, you can share the registered names of the parents here and someone can help you verify and look at clearances. You will also want to ask a lot of questions about how and where the puppies are raised, how they're socialized and what the breeder does above and beyond the norm to give them a good start in life. The best thing you can do to make your search easier is to focus more on finding a good breeder and move how light colored the dogs are way down to the bottom of your list. It is the last thing a good breeder cares about when making decisions on planning their next litter of puppies. Here are some threads you may find interesting:

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...lp-english-cream-breeders-ny.html#post6979609

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...eder-puppy/387897-so-youre-looking-puppy.html

Here are some people to contact for referrals if they don't have a litter planned for this year, be sure to let them know how much research you've done on proper training and exercise for Golden Retrievers, how you will manage the dog with children in the home etc. anything to let them know you've thought this through and will be a good home for one of their puppies:

About Us

http://www.simplesite.com/GottaBeGoldens/

http://www.simplesite.com/stoneledge/10628324

Beau Geste Kennels


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

I read through your post one more time. You mentioned wanting a calmer dog because your children are younger. Please understand that no matter how 'calm' a Golden may be when it matures, there will be wild puppy antics for the first couple of years. And I mean YEARS. Especially if they do not receive daily hard exercise and daily obedience training. Leash walks in the neighborhood will not do it. They can be a bit like a bull in a china shop. There is a possibility that you will not be able to let your Golden play outside with your kids and their friends for a period of time, you probably won't be able to let your puppy spend time outdoors unattended at all or he will dig holes, chew sticks or eat rocks. 

I am pretty diligent in my puppy management and over the course of raising 3 daughters and multiple Goldens I have lost dozens of pairs of flip flops and ruined shoes (even though I make my kids keep shoes in a bin by the front door) countless decapitated barbie dolls, ruined legos (even though we have a toy room with doors that close) wooden window sills with teeth marks (even though I use baby gates and exercise pens and crate for management) and my favorite wicker rocking chair on the back patio has had the wicker stripped off the back because I turned my back for 15 minutes. I just want you to be very sure you are ready to invest the next two years of your life into a full time project. You will get out of this puppy what you put into it and it's not easy with three young kids to really put the time and effort into a Golden puppy that they require unless this puppy is 100% wished for by the mom, it will be you who does all the work.


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## msoh716 (Mar 9, 2017)

nolefan said:


> I read through your post one more time. You mentioned wanting a calmer dog because your children are younger. Please understand that no matter how 'calm' a Golden may be when it matures, there will be wild puppy antics for the first couple of years. And I mean YEARS. Especially if they do not receive daily hard exercise and daily obedience training. Leash walks in the neighborhood will not do it. They can be a bit like a bull in a china shop. There is a possibility that you will not be able to let your Golden play outside with your kids and their friends for a period of time, you probably won't be able to let your puppy spend time outdoors unattended at all or he will dig holes, chew sticks or eat rocks.
> 
> I am pretty diligent in my puppy management and over the course of raising 3 daughters and multiple Goldens I have lost dozens of pairs of flip flops and ruined shoes (even though I make my kids keep shoes in a bin by the front door) countless decapitated barbie dolls, ruined legos (even though we have a toy room with doors that close) wooden window sills with teeth marks (even though I use baby gates and exercise pens and crate for management) and my favorite wicker rocking chair on the back patio has had the wicker stripped off the back because I turned my back for 15 minutes. I just want you to be very sure you are ready to invest the next two years of your life into a full time project. You will get out of this puppy what you put into it and it's not easy with three young kids to really put the time and effort into a Golden puppy that they require unless this puppy is 100% wished for by the mom, it will be you who does all the work.


Thank you so much for your amazing responses! 

[Nolefan] Thank you for your advice! I am very much aware that retrievers are puppies for years (energetic, clumsy and challenging) before settling into the dignified, calm demeanor that maturity brings (fingers crossed haha)

When I say calm, I was only mentioning this as some puppies display their temperaments by 8 weeks to distinguish those that are more rambunctious vs those that are more calmer. In no way am I under any impression that I will be getting a couch potato who will be the 'ideal' golden without the work/effort/time being put in. 

I have heard back from Diamond Jubilee - DIAMOND JUBILEE*English Cream Golden Retrievers - HOMEm Pheasanthill Goldens - https://sites.google.com/site/pheasanthillgoldenretrievers/photo-album
and Darrowby - index

Is anyone familiar with Diamond Jubilee or Pheasanthill? 
Thank you again!


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

nolefan said:


> I read through your post one more time. You mentioned wanting a calmer dog because your children are younger. Please understand that no matter how 'calm' a Golden may be when it matures, there will be wild puppy antics for the first couple of years. And I mean YEARS. Especially if they do not receive daily hard exercise and daily obedience training. Leash walks in the neighborhood will not do it. They can be a bit like a bull in a china shop. There is a possibility that you will not be able to let your Golden play outside with your kids and their friends for a period of time, you probably won't be able to let your puppy spend time outdoors unattended at all or he will dig holes, chew sticks or eat rocks.
> 
> I am pretty diligent in my puppy management and over the course of raising 3 daughters and multiple Goldens I have lost dozens of pairs of flip flops and ruined shoes (even though I make my kids keep shoes in a bin by the front door) countless decapitated barbie dolls, ruined legos (even though we have a toy room with doors that close) wooden window sills with teeth marks (even though I use baby gates and exercise pens and crate for management) and my favorite wicker rocking chair on the back patio has had the wicker stripped off the back because I turned my back for 15 minutes. I just want you to be very sure you are ready to invest the next two years of your life into a full time project. You will get out of this puppy what you put into it and it's not easy with three young kids to really put the time and effort into a Golden puppy that they require unless this puppy is 100% wished for by the mom, it will be you who does all the work.


This post made me smile. Almost every single day, I am asked at the park, or out on walks, if my dog is a puppy. She has puppy energy, I hear all the time. She moves like a puppy. She LOOKS like a puppy.

My puppy turns 4 years old in May 

Some of them are puppies at heart their entire lives.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

Personally in this day and age I am always astounded when someone takes a kennel name that's nearly historic and starts using it. 
Such is the case w Pheasant Hill. Carol Hardy is the real Pheasant Hill, and she has finished numerous CHs and has multipurpose dogs. Just on that basis alone I would avoid them. I would also avoid them because they do not have any dog's registered name on the site, and puppies for sale are listed without parentage. And not that saying makes it so, but they do not claim any clearances... just 'russian championship pedigree'.

The other one, 
Diamond Jubilee- the sire of the current litter, Fort, is not old enough to have clearances. 
The dam, Diva, has unilateral DJD (elbow dysplasia) and a cardiac clearance that's insufficient. Also her eyes are out of date. 

Keep looking.....


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## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

Diamond Jubilee is outright lying on their website. They list Fort x Diva as the parents of their current litter. Fort only has prelims and Diva actually had elbow dysplaysia Orthopedic Foundation for Animals


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## LJack (Aug 10, 2012)

It looks like you're having a difficult time finding a reputable breeder. So I'm going to give you a few info graphic resources that should help. I would also recommend removing the word cream from your search especially for doing things online. It seems like about 90% or more of breeders that use that term are not going to have a health testing most people want. Below is a good explanation of why that usually is the case. 



LJack said:


> Yes, looking for reputable and breeding an extreme trait does mean you have a much harder than normal search ahead of you. I personally cap my interest list at 30 and I remember one breeder on this site saying they got something like 200 applications. These were litters where full health certifications and many other traits were weighed but not color. You can scroll through the finding a puppy section and find person after person lamenting the difficulty for finding well bred puppy from health tested parents. You are facing that plus adding an even more restrictive priority of coat color.
> 
> Extreme colors do not in general do well in the show ring nor are most European lines specialized for high performance in things like hunting. Because of this very few competition people/breeders are working with this color. Most competitors are breeding to keep a puppy for themselves to go on with and that makes health certifications important to the breeder. When you don't compete and the only outcome desired is light colored puppies to sell for profit, well health certifications just don't seem that important to this type of breeder.
> 
> ...


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## LJack (Aug 10, 2012)

For comparison here is diamond Jubilee dogs.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

I will let the experts handle the detail stuff but just 1st glance of the diamond jubilee current litter

Diva SR74062901
cardio is done by practitioner should be by cardiologist
hips - good
elbows - degenerative joint disease / unilateral
no eye clearance on file
She doesn't show any history of clearances for parents

Forte SR87722407
only has prelims as he is not yet 2 yrs old
no heart
no eye
Forte's sire has no hip or elbow
4 half siblings (sire) listed 3 have hip/elbow clearances 2 have failed elbow
1 half sibling (dam) listed and she also has elbow degenerative joint disease

I'm no expert but would cross this place of my list.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

LJack you have to teach me how to do a screen print!


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

MSOH, did you read through the links I posted by any chance? If not, here it is again, it's very informative: 
http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com...lp-english-cream-breeders-ny.html#post6979609
LJack is correct, take the words "cream", "Ivory", "white" "English Creme" out of your searches. Reputable hobby breeders simply do not use those words in talking about their dogs or their goals for their breeding plans. Ever. If you find it front and center on someone's website, I can pretty much promise you that the website is owned by someone who is simply using puppies as a money tree and cutting corners in the effort to make money.


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