Golden Retriever Dog Forums banner

Breeder in Northern California

24K views 36 replies 18 participants last post by  Friend2282 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello! Tomorrow we are going to visit a breeder we found on the AKC website. The breeder's name is Darcy Dumont and they are located in Modesto area. We have been texting them, and they are very friendly and informative. They have only been breeding for three years, but we are wondering if anyone has ever heard of them, or maybe even bought one of their pups?
Thanks!
 
#2 ·
I couldn't find the breeder or the dogs information in K9 data. I also looked on OFA for clearances and there are no records for either dog. Did they provide you all the health clearance information for the parents? If they didn't and health clearances are important to you I would pass on this breeder.
 
#3 ·
If I were in your shoes, I would not go.

First, is health. Please take some time tonight and research Golden health problems and the testing responsible breeders do to give their puppies better odds if escaping these known breed issues.
Here are some links to help get you started.
Canine Health Information Center: CHIC Information
https://www.grca.org/about-the-breed/health-research/health-screenings-for-the-parents-of-a-litter/
https://www.grca.org/about-the-bree...r-obtaining-a-healthy-golden-retriever-puppy/
Orthopedic Foundation for Animals
Also I will include a visual learner friendly infographic and screenshots below.

This breeder is doing none of them. If they did it would show on thier AKC ad in parentheses after the parents names and on OFA. There is nothing. That is a lot of risk they want you to shoulder. Do not fall for the "we'll show you when you visit. That is a nasty way to try to get your heart to override your brain. It is hard to walk away from a cute puppy especially if you have kids with you. Ask them to send them now.

Next is price vs. value. The puppies are at least twice the price they should be. All Golden puppies are cute. Well bred, poorly bred, sick or healthy, all of them are cute. AKC registration is the only value they have to offer. All that means is they are AKC registrable, that is it. AKC is not an indication of health or quality. Health is as I mentioned measured in bulk by health certifications. Quality in some sort of competition. Though most families have no desire to have a 'show dog' most want a dog that meets the standard of the Golden Retriever and/or a dog that is train-able that is what titles prove. These puppies are priced on the pall bark of breeders who will have full verifiable health certifications for generations and dogs that have proven in competition that they are good examples of the breed. In a gross analogy, this pricing is like some one charging a new Lexus price for their use Kia.

Finally, most people who are after tens of hundreds of your dollars are going to be nice. Especially when they have a mediocre product they are peddling in the hopes of getting top dollar. Being nice and responsive have little to do with being a responsible breeder.

Do your research on health, ask for the certifications (that don't exist) and scrutinize their response. I'd guess a breeder like this will all of the sudden sold all their puppies, they will say they have them and will show you when you come (which will not be OFA certifications) or they will claim their dogs are magically healthy and have never had problems so they don't test.

If health is important to you run from these folks.
If your okay with risky health rescue or find a more reasonable cheap puppy on kijji.
 

Attachments

#24 ·
If I were in your shoes, I would not go.

First, is health. Please take some time tonight and research Golden health problems and the testing responsible breeders do to give their puppies better odds if escaping these known breed issues.
Here are some links to help get you started.
Canine Health Information Center: CHIC Information
Health Screenings for the Parents of a Litter - Golden Retriever Club of America
Improving the Odds for Obtaining a Healthy Golden Retriever Puppy - Golden Retriever Club of America
Orthopedic Foundation for Animals
Also I will include a visual learner friendly infographic and screenshots below.

This breeder is doing none of them. If they did it would show on thier AKC ad in parentheses after the parents names and on OFA. There is nothing. That is a lot of risk they want you to shoulder. Do not fall for the "we'll show you when you visit. That is a nasty way to try to get your heart to override your brain. It is hard to walk away from a cute puppy especially if you have kids with you. Ask them to send them now.

Next is price vs. value. The puppies are at least twice the price they should be. All Golden puppies are cute. Well bred, poorly bred, sick or healthy, all of them are cute. AKC registration is the only value they have to offer. All that means is they are AKC registrable, that is it. AKC is not an indication of health or quality. Health is as I mentioned measured in bulk by health certifications. Quality in some sort of competition. Though most families have no desire to have a 'show dog' most want a dog that meets the standard of the Golden Retriever and/or a dog that is train-able that is what titles prove. These puppies are priced on the pall bark of breeders who will have full verifiable health certifications for generations and dogs that have proven in competition that they are good examples of the breed. In a gross analogy, this pricing is like some one charging a new Lexus price for their use Kia.

Finally, most people who are after tens of hundreds of your dollars are going to be nice. Especially when they have a mediocre product they are peddling in the hopes of getting top dollar. Being nice and responsive have little to do with being a responsible breeder.

Do your research on health, ask for the certifications (that don't exist) and scrutinize their response. I'd guess a breeder like this will all of the sudden sold all their puppies, they will say they have them and will show you when you come (which will not be OFA certifications) or they will claim their dogs are magically healthy and have never had problems so they don't test.

If health is important to you run from these folks.
If your okay with risky health rescue or find a more reasonable cheap puppy on kijji.
I saw Darcy's listing on AKC and thought they seemed okay. I called them about it and they sent us OFA information of both the mom and dad of the litter. From what I could tell, both parents looked healthy. However, they did not include the elbow report for the mom, and it is not available on the OFA database either. Should we trust them?
 
#4 ·
The breeder was nice and the dogs seemed healthy but they don't own the sire nor do you get to meet them! Their is no health checks on the parents and they do all the vaccines and dewclaw removal themselves, A SERIOUS HEALTH RISK, as well as their guarantee of "health" for the puppies they don't have them checked by vets and are infected with a severe case of coccidia. If I would have waited an extra week to pick up my puppy a, most likely, she would have died! The parents are not trained at all and are really hyper, and out of 12 pups only 1 was even calm (the 1 pup is the one I own), when we got her she only provides regular cheap dog food and a can of wet dog food, no puppy food or anything! The puppy will be on antibiotics for up to 6 months just to get better! All of the dogs owned by this "breeder" are infected with this coccidia! The breeder is nice but you actually never get to see the place the puppies are raised, they tell you to meet them at their parents house not the breeders!!!!
Do not buy from these people they are nice but lack any proper knowledge of breeding dogs or keeping them healthy!!!!
 
#8 ·
Thank you, if you could provide any information you've found, i'd greatly appreciate it!! I've looked into the parents and was able to find them in the AKC database, but nothing in regards to health. She did mention the parents were not OFA certified. SR84738702- Betty Brooke and SR79597702- Sir Bobo of Grisworld Ave. Thanks again!! This could be saving me from making a huge mistake.
 
#9 ·
I would absolutely not pay over $1,000 for one of these puppies. As LJack already stated, it's like paying new Lexus price for a used Kia. Neither dog has health certifications so puppies are more likely to have serious heart, eye, hip or elbow issues. Either parent could be dysplastic, you'd have no idea just by looking at them. I was able to find the sire on k9data. He has a typical backyard bred dog pedigree with basically 0 health testing or titles for generations. https://www.k9data.com/pedigree.asp?ID=842759
 
#11 ·
Please do Not buy from these people I beg you they will not offer you anything but trouble!!!! Please just adopt a dog!!!!!! Pleaseeeeeeee these dogs are unhealthy and the owners are only money grubbing thieves! They change the listing constantly and lie about anything to sell you a sick and dying dog! Please just go to a shelter for a dog who wants to be loved, because this person is an animal abuser!
 
#13 ·
Please dont get a Puppy from her... One of our friends got a pup from them and since the day he has come home they have been having problems starting with coccidia and then kennel cough and now elbow dysplasia.. and not to forget sooo many behavioral problems like food guarding anxiety and car sickness.. and the pups parents were betty and sir bobo... their pup currently is just about 8 months old...
 
#15 ·
I just bought a dog from this "breeder". She was a golden-doodle. I was told the dog was 2 years old, a golden-doogle, but she may be in fact much older. She would not socialize with us, or with my family. The dog immediately barked and growled at my Maltese when we got home. We've had her for one month, and she still wants nothing to do with any males. She runs away from my husband, and doesn't go near any men. She was anemic when we got her, with two double ear infections. Don't think she was ever bathed or had a hair cut. She was in horrible shape. She is now doing better health wise, but I just don't think she was loved or cared for at all. She told me she wanted to get rid of her because she only produced one to two puppies each litter. So sad. It's definitely a puppy mill situation. I am glad we rescued her.
 
#16 ·
This is an old discussion, but I wanted to comment in case anyone does an Internet search for Darcy Dumont like I did. We bought a Bernedoodle pup from Darcy in Sept. 2019. She showed up pics of his parents, but they were not there at pick up. I had to ask for some food and a blanket with the mom’s scent to comfort the pup. Darcy never checked in to see how he was settling in. Milo had 3 types of worms and a bad case of giardia. The vet said it was the worst he had seen. We had to treat our older dog, too. Lots of $$, vet visits, and headaches! I let Darcy know what was going on, and her reply was that was all “normal” for puppies. I might expect those issues with a shelter dog, but not from a breeder who supposedly has 15+ years experience. Darcy looked to be in her early 30s with a baby and toddler. Her house was a mess. Milo has aggression issues and is quite wild (even for a pup!) With lots of work and love I think he’ll be a great dog, but I would not recommend buying a pup from Darcy.
 
#20 ·
Please run away from this breeder! I emailed her to ask about her upcoming litter and she immediately responded that she has puppies available, then I asked her if she can share the parents health report with me, after two days she responded back that she no longer have puppies..hilarious isn't it? :D I think simply asking about health reports will filter out a bunch of these kind of breeders!
 
#21 · (Edited)
Hi all,
From what I've read above everything checks out for me, as I have gone through the entire customer experience and purchase agreement with Darcy Dumont and now have a puppy from one of their recent liters. First off, I asked if they do health checks on the sire and dame and she told me that they've never had any problems with their dog and since they're both pure bred its highly unlikely the puppies will have any genetic issues, so thats why they don't test. Should've known that's unacceptable when looking to purchase a $2,000 dog - there should always be some sort of parent health checks available for customer review.

Anyway, we brought a female f1 minigoldendoodle home at 8 weeks and the night we brought her home we noticed red dots on her stomach - turns out she had a staph skin infection. She had to wear a cone for a month and have a medication injected at the vet's office to clear it as well as topical cream applied at home twice a day. BUT, that's not the worst, hardest part of it all...

My best friend used to be a vet tech and (thankfully) suggested we get a fecal test done ASAP. We took our puppy to the vet the day after we brought her home where she was diagnosed with the staph infection but we also took a fecal sample to them that day, which was her wellness exam day. We luckily got the fecal test results back the following day and she had giardia, with cysts - meaning its contageous. My best friend, and all the vet techs, reassured me that its super common in puppies - about 50% of all puppies have giardia. However, since 8 weeks of age to NOW, 23 weeks of age she STILL has giardia. She's been on 3 rounds of panacur and flagyl and we have her on supplement powders from her seeing a k9 nutritionist. The supplement powders have helped bind her stool and minimize her frequency but she still has cysts, its crazy. Our puppy has not been able to live a normal puppy life by any means. We have been very responsible and haven't let her interact with other animals yet or have any playdates - which makes me sad. We've steam cleaned our carpets, gotten her anal trail shaved, wipe her every time she goes #2, bathe her 3 times a week and she still has such a persistent case of giardia.

Everything felt like a dead end so our vet referred us to an internal medicine specialist recently who recommended a new-ish medication that was recently approved for dogs; it was initially approved for cats. I have been in communication with Darcy throughout the past few months so she's fully aware of our pups ongoing issues and actually suggested this mediciation herself, months ago. When I heard about it from the specialist recently though it made me think - why does Darcy actually know about this fairly uncommon, new-ish med for treating giardia anyway?
I'm grateful our pup is seemingly happy, smart and gaining weight through this all.

I'm writing this lengthy review because I feel responsible to let others know our frustrating experience. As it was our first time working with a breeder we were definitely not expecting such a sick puppy to come to us. It's unfortunate that this happened; Darcy seems to be apologetic and bothered because they "do their best to produce healthy puppies", but that hasn't been our experience. I would suggest looking elsewhere. If you're going to pay thousands of dollars for a "healthy" puppy you deserve to see health checks, etc.

Reach out to me if you have any specific questions regarding my experience.
 
#27 ·
Hi all,
From what I've read above everything checks out for me, as I have gone through the entire customer experience and purchase agreement with Darcy Dumont and now have a puppy from one of their recent liters. First off, I asked if they do health checks on the sire and dame and she told me that they've never had any problems with their dog and since they're both pure bred its highly unlikely the puppies will have any genetic issues, so thats why they don't test. Should've known that's unacceptable when looking to purchase a $2,000 dog - there should always be some sort of parent health checks available for customer review.

Anyway, we brought a female f1 minigoldendoodle home at 8 weeks and the night we brought her home we noticed red dots on her stomach - turns out she had a staph skin infection. She had to wear a cone for a month and have a medication injected at the vet's office to clear it as well as topical cream applied at home twice a day. BUT, that's not the worst, hardest part of it all...

My best friend used to be a vet tech and (thankfully) suggested we get a fecal test done ASAP. We took our puppy to the vet the day after we brought her home where she was diagnosed with the staph infection but we also took a fecal sample to them that day, which was her wellness exam day. We luckily got the fecal test results back the following day and she had giardia, with cysts - meaning its contageous. My best friend, and all the vet techs, reassured me that its super common in puppies - about 50% of all puppies have giardia. However, since 8 weeks of age to NOW, 23 weeks of age she STILL has giardia. She's been on 3 rounds of panacur and flagyl and we have her on supplement powders from her seeing a k9 nutritionist. The supplement powders have helped bind her stool and minimize her frequency but she still has cysts, its crazy. Our puppy has not been able to live a normal puppy life by any means. We have been very responsible and haven't let her interact with other animals yet or have any playdates - which makes me sad. We've steam cleaned our carpets, gotten her anal trail shaved, wipe her every time she goes #2, bathe her 3 times a week and she still has such a persistent case of giardia.

Everything felt like a dead end so our vet referred us to an internal medicine specialist recently who recommended a new-ish medication that was recently approved for dogs; it was initially approved for cats. I have been in communication with Darcy throughout the past few months so she's fully aware of our pups ongoing issues and actually suggested this mediciation herself, months ago. When I heard about it from the specialist recently though it made me think - why does Darcy actually know about this fairly uncommon, new-ish med for treating giardia anyway?
I'm grateful our pup is seemingly happy, smart and gaining weight through this all.

I'm writing this lengthy review because I feel responsible to let others know our frustrating experience. As it was our first time working with a breeder we were definitely not expecting such a sick puppy to come to us. It's unfortunate that this happened; Darcy seems to be apologetic and bothered because they "do their best to produce healthy puppies", but that hasn't been our experience. I would suggest looking elsewhere. If you're going to pay thousands of dollars for a "healthy" puppy you deserve to see health checks, etc.

Reach out to me if you have any specific questions regarding my experience.
I just read about your experience and I am sorry you had to go through all of that, but I am glad the puppy is doing well. I recently saw their listing and contacted them about it. Although many reviews said that they don't give parent certification, they did for us. They sent us the OFA approved certification for both the mom and dad of the litter. I checked the registration number on OFA's website and both puppies were registered. After reading all these reviews, I was hesitant to continue the process of getting a puppy from them. However, if they provided us with certification is it worth going to these people? Thank you so much in advance.
 
#22 ·
Hello! Tomorrow we are going to visit a breeder we found on the AKC website. The breeder's name is Darcy Dumont and they are located in Modesto area. We have been texting them, and they are very friendly and informative. They have only been breeding for three years, but we are wondering if anyone has ever heard of them, or maybe even bought one of their pups?
Thanks!
I know this post is old but the content is still valuable.
I live near this breeder and it is a full fledged puppy mill. He has 20 dogs on site at all time. They live in kennels without interactions. The dogs have to wear shock collars to be in compliance with noise ordinance. If you google his name you can see his persists for the building and can read about how the dogs are handled.
Stay away from them. It’s animal cruelty.
 
#25 ·
No. If it's not on OFA, they didn't pass or it was done underage. How can you be sure that the dogs you saw and looked healthy are really the parents? It sounds like they breed at least Golden's, golden doodles, bernedoodles and corgis. This has all the makings of a high volume, commercial kennel.
 
#31 ·
think of it this way- to get ED (or any other thing we don't have genetic testing for) imagine there has to be a certain threshold over which the animal will exhibit the condition. The threshold can be crossed by environment's effect and can be crossed by the combined load the parents (who presumably do not exhibit the condition) carry. Everything you can do to keep your dog from crossing that threshold will reduce chances of the condition. So, if both parents come from backgrounds that do not shelter them (in order to protect joints) and do not have a heavy load (as shown by a long line of clearances) unless those two were both just under the unknown threshold, it's far less likely you will have an ED issue in your puppy unless you artificially change the load by, say, running pup 5 mi a day...
The whole deep clearances thing is useful to guess at load in the pedigree- if there are a multitude of half sibs whose OFA page shows there is an elbow problem, that indicates to me that the dog might have a very close to threshold genetic possibility of ED. I'm not going to breed him to a bitch who also appears to be close to the threshold even though I do not know where that lies.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LJack
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top