*insert gif of person pulling hair out and screaming* LOL. This is me trying to organize the multitude of thoughts shooting off in different directions after reading this. :laugh:
First, before I answer this, I'll share what I look for in a puppy or how my brain works on this...
1. I want a blond to med gold colored golden. I like the dark reddish colors, but they are difficult to show in conformation so I would probably steer clear of litters where I have an idea that the pups will be very dark.
2. I like correct coats and dark DARK pigment. <= And this is a touchy one because you can't tell what kind of pigment a dog has just looking at them in the show ring. Coats are a little easier. If a dog has too much coat prior to age 3, that's a bad sign. Good coat isn't "no coat". Having a thin or single coat (instead of double coat) and no furnishings, it means the pup I bring home will probably inherit that same coat. Ditto when I see parents who can't get wet because of skin problems or their coats need to be straightened or who knows what else. I don't want my dog to look like a yak, but I want them to have a moderate thick coat with nice thick furnishings.
3. Heads and expression. This is an awkward one because I like big masculine heads on my boys, but I do not want a dog with a fat BLOB of a face. :laugh: Expressions need to be soft and friendly and sweet.
4. Structure. I like dogs to be athletic, agile, sound, well balanced and just flashy. This goes back to a time when I was sitting ringside and watching a very famous and champion of everything GSP in the obedience ring and thinking about how much I wanted a golden with that kind of structure.
5. Breeder needs to be somebody who is nice. There are breeders out there who are excellent breeders, but I've found them to be very rude to others.
6. I'd like the breeder to be active in showing in conformation. Not just because this means that they will know what's what and what should be there in a dog, but it also means they are easy to stay in touch with and the dogs grow up knowing and loving their breeders.
^^^ A good majority of show goldens out there have the right look, but I've heard or seen through the grapevine that one of the reasons why some breeders are ALWAYS breeding multiple different types of litters is they have problems producing the same types of puppies. This is why knowing more about the breeder and what they produce matters.
Clearances - are very important to me. I'm probably more casual in some areas than some people and more stringent in other areas than some people.
NCL - I know it is scary serious for some people, but I do not believe it's in the lines I'm interested in.
PU - I know it's scary serious and a real threat... but knowing the breeders and the dogs behind mine's... it helps.
Cancer - DOES scare me. I was just at the chiropractor with my Bertie and the vet and I were both crying together while talking about losing our dogs around the same period of time and how we are moving forward and healing. I was gratified learning from her that my feelings about mostly avoiding a lot of activities I enjoyed with Jacks (classes, shows, trials, big hiking trips, etc) were not just me. She went through the same. We spent a good time discussing cancer and how rapidly both our dogs failed...
The horrific thing is both she and I were very fortunate. Her dog was 8 and mine almost 11. There are dogs out there in the breed who are dying as young dogs from very rare cancers in some cases. And certain lines and breeders seem to have more bad luck than others and it's a struggle for them coming to terms with what's going on. This is a case of knowing what's rumbling in the grapevine. Some of it is obnoxious, mean spirited, resentful, ignorant and jealous gossip, but some of it is legit. For me, it all depends on who is sharing the information.
Selecting a puppy for myself - extra degree and level of consideration even when getting a pup from a good breeder with a very uniform and nice litter. There are so many considerations that go through your head and absolutely have heard of people who made wrong choices!
^^^ As you can see, there's a lot of stuff that goes through your head when selecting a puppy for yourself.
Generally speaking, when offering suggestions for people who are NOWHERE NEAR needing a good breeding prospect in a puppy - it's easier just to recommend breeders who typically are good quality (they are conscientious in what/how they breed), produce good quality puppies, are kind people, and typically have very happy puppy buyers. Those breeders have waiting lists and are more discriminating in who they select as a puppy home (one breeder has a list, including no kids under a certain age, no apartments, no electric fences, etc)
***** THAT SAID******
People who come on this forum do not inquire about those good breeders and for one reason or another they do not find anything at those breeders when pointed that direction.
Instead they inquire about really random sounding breeders who basically - I would probably turn down based on the kennel name! LOL.
I wonder what exactly these puppy buyers entered in their google search terms to find these breeders... and have a feeling it was "golden puppies + city + state" in many cases.
If you have a backyard breeder who is enterprising enough to put up a website and load up search term thingies so they will show up pretty quick on google searches - they then woo inquiring puppy buyers with lots of pictures of puppies and families and homey settings.
The dogs themselves might be very poor quality, but majority of people who know nothing about dogs - they have problems differentiating between goldens and labs. Forget about differentiating between goldens.
I literally know of people who look at a bunch of goldens in the ring and they literally think they all look the same!
People who spend their time STARING at dogs (makes us sound psychotic actually), can look in the ring and have a good idea who the breeder was.
This isn't just show goldens. I had a visiting trainer (from OH I think) who I didn't know and she didn't know anyone, falling on the floor in shock because I looked at her golden and correctly observed that she was a Wynwood. There's several different performance line goldens that are common in our area, but they do not all look the same.
But back on topic - searching puppy buyers think all goldens look the same. So if their manner of searching for a breeder involves a basic google search, they basically will end up with networking BYB's and never know better.
Alternatively, it's possible that people are trying to price search for goldens. It's amazing to me, but there's people who are pulling teeth over spending 2000 vs 1500. And maybe one of the reasons why they are inquiring about the poor quality breeders that they do... it's about money.
As well, it could be you have a family with like 10 kids under the age of 10 who are looking for a puppy with a very imaginative idea of how life will be with that dog (some people forget that dogs are domesticated animals) - who will have been turned away by every reputable breeder, with good reason. Which leads to them buying from a byb, thinking it's better than buying from a petstore (even though the dogs all come from the same place in most cases).
Regardless... I've seen so many of those types of inquiries on this forum and so many people recite the line "I just want a pet" line... so best I can say is at least make sure the clearances are all there. That is the bare minimum that people should require.
Note while I say that... there was a puppy mill put out of business here in Michigan who had full clearances on all her dogs.
Likewise, I know of a line of goldens where they have a lot of young deaths - full clearances on all the dogs.
Likewise, there are people getting full clearances on MUTTTTTTSSSS.
Just whittling requirements of quality down to such a base level - it's not any sign that you are getting a good quality puppy.