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Looking for a new puppy in California

6K views 20 replies 10 participants last post by  Sweet Girl 
#1 · (Edited)
We just lost our Golden, Phoenix, of 15 years and 1 month, in June and have started looking for a new puppy. I've been sending out emails and puppy questionnaires to various breeders in Northern and Southern California. I got a few responses so far. I did put a deposit on a future litter with Shadow Mountain Goldens, Golden Retrievers, Moreno Valley, Ca in So. Cal. The wait list is about a year or longer. Now I just got a response from O'Cribbs Golden Retrievers, they have two litters due in August and ready to go home in October. Any one ever dealt with either one of these breeders? Should I go with O'Cribbs or wait a year for Shadow Mountain?
 
#9 ·
In May I too lost my boy named Phoenix, but he was only 2 1/2. I am also hoping for a puppy due at the end of August. Hopefully we will both have new puppies coming home around the same time.
 
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#14 ·
So I just did a quick search and these were the things I noticed.

Shadow mountain:All the dogs have outdated eyes and all cardiac studies done by a practitioner, not a cardiologist. They also have a Sandar bitch. Sandar is a questionable line and was basically deemed a puppy mill and the breeder was put out of business. She at least will take a return puppy for a communicable GI illness if diagnosed within three days of puppy purchase.

O'Cribbs: out of date eyes in bitches, cardiac cert only done by practitioner. Boy Benny has, eyes (outdated),and no elbows. Boy Buzz has no elbows, outdated eyes. Also on their "current litter" page they report that a dog named Zulu has been bred to buzz who isn't on their site. I also don't like that she has her males advertised as "English Cremes" personally. I got my light golden English GR from a very reputable breeder, who advertises her dogs as "English GRs," not english cremes (or cream). I don't like that she states in her contract that Giardia and Coccidia outbreaks can be brought on by stress. Lots of puppies get giardia or coccidia early on, but its not caused by stress. I'm curious why she doesn't guarantee against parvo, because that wasn't in my last contract when I got my girl. It makes me wonder if she's had a parvo problem in the past, but people who are actual breeders here on the site can comment more about that than I can.

A lot of fair hips all around for the two sites. Thats not necessarily a bad thing per-se. Its better to see consistent "fairs" with no HD, than Excellents with some with hip dysplasia.
 
#16 ·
You probably won't know. Most of these warning offs you might get are because whoever's warning off does have insider info... lots of stuff in dogs is a function of having been in the right place at the right time to (say for example and this happened to me) see the dog bleed out in the truck next to you and then no COD ever posted on k9data...or there to see littermates excused for missing teeth, or whatever- being in the know requires being active in the sport which is one of the reasons why, imo, breeding choices are best made by active participants instead of folks who just stay home and breed their dogs to each other over and over. If you post the registered name here, and if it is a notorious one like Chien'd'Or or Sandar someone will tell you.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Agree- parvo is one thing, giardia and coccidia your puppy almost certainly has had exposure to - and on the coccidia, if he hasn't been given a coccidicide but instead was given Albon, which suppresses and controls symptoms but does not kill the coccidia, he may well have a stress induced flare.
Most anyone with any number of dogs will have some measure of coccidia on their property. There is a med that can be given at 5-6 weeks that kills it. And many breeders send pups home on Albon to suppress symptoms till stress is reduced. And it is stressful to leave a litter and home and go somewhere new, with no company and different everything. I don't think there's any blame to be assigned if a pup comes up w coccidia. Giardia I think is more common if there's been a lot of rain. Not sure on the stress connection, maybe someone else knows. I haven't ever had it here.

G/C are both completely killable and treatable at little cost. Parvo can be quite expensive to treat and may or may not kill your puppy. But will certainly not be brought on by stress. It's a virus, and has a 7-10 incubation period before symptoms appear. I think they shed the virus before any symptoms appear, though, so if a puppy went home and a week later came down w parvo, I would assume he was infected at the breeder's house. I know someone whose puppy came down w it 15 days after pickup- and after a parvo vaccine on pickup day- and that breeder took responsibility because she had one other pup come down w it as well, and even though symptoms were late in showing in this pup, it was the right thing to do.
I would red flag someone who wouldn't do the right thing if a puppy came down w parvo. The other two, not so much- they are everywhere- but it is on the breeder to keep the puppy safe from harm while they are in their care, and I would think disallowing public spots till pup's had all shots, and sending home a pup w first shots and not letting people come in after they've been to Petsmart or somewhere highly travelled by dogs- without removing shoes at least- would just be prudent.
 
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