[Goldpup]

Hi Everyone,

I am so excited about my decision to get a Golden puppy! Now comes choosing a breeder, which is harder than I expected. Does anyone have experience with this breeder? Their website is texascreamgoldens.com and it looks good to me, but finding someone that has experience with them would be ideal.

Thanks so much!

 

[puddles everywhere]

Typical breed for profit kennel. They don't compete in any venue, don't do any OFA clearances that I could find. Website is full of hype about less cancer... they don't give registered names and are asking top dollar.

You can get a well bred golden, with long history of health clearances from a breeder that actually proves their pups can do the job they were bred for by competition in some sort of venue and spend less money.

 

[LJack]

No, not familiar with them but their program looks to be very pretty marketing to sell puppies with very little value behind them for a large price tag.

They are very big on pointing to previous generations for accomplishments and health testing. However, they don't seem to compete with their dogs at all and health testing is spotty.

Honestly what drives me the craziest is the fact they are hiding their dogs behind call names and claiming health certifications that can't be verified. Then they say they are working to get their dogs on K9Data. That is laughable because adding their dogs probably would have take less time than typing that edit on their website. K9Data is free and easy to use. There is no reason to mention it as if it is difficult. Nor is it hard to give registered names or numbers for buyer to verify health certification claims.

Overall, based on their website, which is how they have chosen to present themselves to the world, I would move on unless the pricing is in alignment with the value they are offering which would reasonably be $500-$1200. $500-800 for the missing health certification litters and $1000-$1400 if they had full and verifiable certifications.
More than that would be way overpriced.

 

[Goldpup]

Thank you, LJack. The specific things you mentioned make sense. Do you recommend that every dog that is bred have titles? Or if the breeder attends competitions, has had several champions, and the dog has a good pedigree and clearances-is that enough?

 

[Prism Goldens]

I'm not Laura, but one reason showing is important is so that one's eye does not get kennel blind. If you never see your dogs lined up with others' dogs, it is easy to no see faults... and lose the ability (if one ever had it) to see what a girl needs to improve on.
Performance events are important as well, titles are not just bragging points but will tell you the dog is able to work at some level with reasonable skill. Trainable, smart, etc.
If a breeder is not just a breeder but has a real program, at any given time the majority if not all of their dogs should have some title. Maybe not all CH, but a title. That doesn't mean that now and then a breeder won't decide to breed a girl with no titles, but that should be the rarity. Their pedigrees should not have holes in them generation after generation (dogs with no titles). If they do, I'm not saying they should not breed but their price should reflect the lack of investment in their dogs. And there is no time a girl should be bred without clearances.

edit: if you have the registered names for her dogs, particularly Gracie and Ben since Leila I found easily enough, just post them or PM them - I will be glad to put them on k9data and it will take me less than 5 min per.... which of course will make it easier to verify clearances or lack thereof. On Leila, the k9data record has nothing verifiable - nothing on OFA. One can post 'clear' all day long but if there is no way to independently verify it, they may as well not have anything posted for an educated buyer would never accept that.

 

[Goldpup]

Very helpful post, thank you. I appreciate the time you took looking at clearances. When I read Leila's and saw FCI clearances I thought that the different system wouldn't have OFA or otherwise verifiable links. I am clearly not an educated buyer yet, so I really appreciate your help!

 

[ccyoung]

Their kennel reminds me of a certain breeder we have here in NC - They use buzz words like "English Cream" and only list their dog's call names on the website.


I don't like it. I recommend you start on the GRCA website and look through the recommended breeders in your area listed there. Then you can read more in to each individual's breeding programs online and further narrow down from there. I was able to search this site for the breeders I was considering then decide who to contact after that. Good breeders who do it for the love of improving the Breed typically have far fewer litters per year but spend a lot of time with each pup. They will help start you on the right track and support you through the pup's life. It may take time to get the right pup for you - I was planning for about 6 months out this last time.

 

[LJack]

Very helpful post, thank you. I appreciate the time you took looking at clearances. When I read Leila's and saw FCI clearances I thought that the different system wouldn't have OFA or otherwise verifiable links. I am clearly not an educated buyer yet, so I really appreciate your help!

The issue with FCI testing results is is that they are not independently verifiable. They are also done much younger than the US counterpart testing. In the US breeders generally do preliminary x-rays at one year and our certifications are not available until two years old. In Europe finals are available at 12 months old and preliminaries are done on puppies as young as four months old. So Leila's certifications while valid in for country of birth, do not meet the criteria for breeding dogs in the United States. OFA would actually certify the results of her foreign tests if they would just send them in with a nominal fee. If the health of these dogs was so much better than dogs here, I'm not quite sure why doing hips and elbows at two years old is not happening.

 

[Goldpup]

Thank you for the good advice. This forum has been so helpful. Good reminder about the process taking time. Patience is not my strength

 

[Prism Goldens]

Very helpful post, thank you. I appreciate the time you took looking at clearances. When I read Leila's and saw FCI clearances I thought that the different system wouldn't have OFA or otherwise verifiable links. I am clearly not an educated buyer yet, so I really appreciate your help!

FCI can be listed on OFA- it would take submission to OFA and OFA verifying the clearances. I think it costs something like $15. So there's no reason not to have an OFA record (though I honestly think if one lives in the US one should use the US methods). People falsify things all the time. If there are no checks and balances there is no way to develop trust.

In Feb 2016, Leila was owned by Red Fern Goldens. They are in the US, and she at that point had an AKC reg #. In 01/17 she was owned by this Krista Kauffman - who also input into k9data the foreign clearances and a foreign title. One might presume (THIS one would, anyway) that the first breeder who owned her, Red Fern ,Riley Alred in Utah, would have input this info if it were accurate, since she was a part of their program prior to being a part of this program. I feel sorry for these dogs who are moved from place to place, valued only for their coat color and uterus.
edit: Leila carries Thevenet as her kennel name. Thevenet is in Spain. The breeder listed is Clear Passion's owner, a Romanian kennel, who appears to own several girls w the Thevenet prefix. Which all makes me wonder if this poor girl was born in Spain and shipped to Romania, then to the US... or born to a Thevenet bitch in whelp shipped to Romania whose sale required Thevenet's kennel name on the offspring... sigh...

 

[GRGUY1]

Hi Everyone,

I am so excited about my decision to get a Golden puppy! Now comes choosing a breeder, which is harder than I expected. Does anyone have experience with this breeder? Their website is texascreamgoldens.com and it looks good to me, but finding someone that has experience with them would be ideal.

Thanks so much!

I would not use them. They provide no pedigree information and get mad when you ask them. Lady accused me of trying to undermine her trade bc I asked for pedigree. Sent me a scathing email. Very nasty pepole. I would avoid 100%