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Breeder preference

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  nolefan 
#1 ·
I've been looking for a breeder for quite some time. I have lots of experience with Goldens, but this is the first time I've had to find the breeder. We live in the NY area, but we have family and spend a fair amount of time in northern Indiana (an hour from Chicago). I've reached out to many beeeders in both the Midwest as well as the Northeast. Among those retuned I've connected with are: hillock Goldens (PA), Camelot (NJ), Malagold (MI) and Macintosh (IN). Each of these beeeders has indicated that there will be a late spring/early summer littler.
Does anyone have a basis for comparison- I believe all have health clearances, though I'm going on word alone from hillock and macintosh.
Thank you!
 
#3 ·
I'm looking for a companion puppy. I have three children between 4-10 yrs. We lost our family Golden almost two years ago- she was from Texas (Goldstorm) and she was as sweet and spunky as the come. I'm not terribly concerned with color, but we've always had the traditional gold and that's what I'm drawn to.
 
#4 ·
Asking a lot of specific questions about how the puppies are raised, where they spend all their time, how they are socialized, how much time is the breeder home with the litter and handling them would make a difference to me if health clearances are all the same.

Something you might look into is generations of clearances. When you narrow down your litter choices, you can ask for help from someone on this site to look over depth of clearances. It matters if there are lots of missing elbow clearances in the 'aunts and uncles' of the parents and grandparents etc.

For me, if all things are equal, I care very much about what the breeder is doing with her dogs. AKC conformation titles are certainly good, but what is even better is if the breeder also participates in performance sports with her dogs. If she also loves to compete in obedience or field, she is going to try to make sure that she produces puppies that are going to have the characteristics necessary to compete. Things like 'biddability' or 'trainability' are important to a pet owner. I want a lovely dog who is physically healthy and correct, but I also want a dog who has great mental traits as well. The average pet owner wants a dog who is easy to live with and doesn't need a professional trainer to work through anxiety issues or deal with a dog who doesn't care much about pleasing people. The original Goldens were bred to work with people and those are still valuable traits today. Talk to the breeders about what they think are mental traits for a terrific Golden and find out if they are making breeding choices based on those thoughts.
 
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