[littlemoonbeam]

What she said. ?

I completely agree. I have been looking for a brother for my boy who we brought here from England. He is not white. He's very healthy 14.5 years and still can drag me to every place that has every he can get a treat. In England they do not refer to golden retrievers as English Creams. Mine started of a beautiful light gold color and now is much lighter. I love is blocky head and body shape but a lot of the "english creams" I have seen here are snow white, seem to come from eastern europe and are much more slender looking. I also heard that these dogs are not given as stringent health tests as the one I have from the UK.
I am not a dog expert and do not claim to be one but breeders in the US do not seem to offering dogs that look like mine.
If anyone knows of a breeder who has actually imported a dog of good health from the UK I would love to know.

Thank you!

 

[HaliaGoldens]

I completely agree. I have been looking for a brother for my boy who we brought here from England. He is not white. He's very healthy 14.5 years and still can drag me to every place that has every he can get a treat. In England they do not refer to golden retrievers as English Creams. Mine started of a beautiful light gold color and now is much lighter. I love is blocky head and body shape but a lot of the "english creams" I have seen here are snow white, seem to come from eastern europe and are much more slender looking. I also heard that these dogs are not given as stringent health tests as the one I have from the UK.
I am not a dog expert and do not claim to be one but breeders in the US do not seem to offering dogs that look like mine.
If anyone knows of a breeder who has actually imported a dog of good health from the UK I would love to know.

Thank you!

I have imported a few puppies over the years from Western Europe (Austria and Holland), and shipped frozen semen over from stud dogs in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Holland, and they have been very healthy dogs with excellent pedigrees. But it takes years of building a relationship and trust with a quality breeder over there. The ones that are good are going to require you to demonstrate your knowledge and good intentions, so they can be confident that you won’t diminish the quality they’ve worked so hard to create over the generations of their breeding program. My breeders in Europe have become good friends and mentors over the years, so it can be done. But it’s not common, and most European goldens in this country now are unfortunately from unscrupulous breeders that will sell to anyone willing to pay enough.

 

[littlemoonbeam]

I have imported a few puppies over the years from Western Europe (Austria and Holland), and shipped frozen semen over from stud dogs in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Holland, and they have been very healthy dogs with excellent pedigrees. But it takes years of building a relationship and trust with a quality breeder over there. The ones that are good are going to require you to demonstrate your knowledge and good intentions, so they can be confident that you won’t diminish the quality they’ve worked so hard to create over the generations of their breeding program. My breeders in Europe have become good friends and mentors over the years, so it can be done. But it’s not common, and most European goldens in this country now are unfortunately from unscrupulous breeders that will sell to anyone willing to pay enough.

Hi I would love to be updated when you have a new litter coming up! I’m currently on the search for a little brother for my guy.

 

[rfuk808]

Just want to say thanks for posting the recommended ethical breeders. After reaching out to 5+ breeders (found on google and AKC) and coming away only feeling 'ok" at best about 1 of them we reached out to Sallie at Darrowby Goldens. I came away from our initial conversation with her feeling great and very excited about potentially getting a puppy from her next year.

 

[annef]

Also worth knowing English cream isn’t a thing in the UK. There is no great preference for cream GR’s here, it’s just one of the permissible golden shades. We love all Golden shades, lighter is not better.

UK breeders very rarely export to the US. One reason being the demand for puppies here is sufficient, so they don’t need to. Secondly ethical reputable UK breeders are wary of the obsession some, mainly unethical for profit breeders over the pond have for the lighter ‘cream’ Golden’s.

One of many reasons I won't export to the US (although I did breed one that had a wonderful home as a pet and has just died at well over 13 years of age) We have all shades of gold and cream here and nothing nicer than to see a lineup of all colours in the show ring, all meeting our breed standard.Annef

 

[Ali Palmos]

I agree Robin. W/ regards to breeders who don’t send stuff in (I don’t get it). I went through most (not all) of those breeders in depth at one point, and all of them had the core 4 clearances done appropriately and publicly verifiable. We can only hope they remain consistent.

There is a website that boasts a long list of English-type breeders in North America who abide by the GRCA, and when I found it and went to vet a few of the breeders, there were a bunch of clearances that I couldn’t find. Of course I’m a novice...but less so than the average puppy buyer, so there’s no way the average puppy buyer would be able to know for sure whether they truly are done.

I recommend people just ask the breeder for a copy of their clearances, this is so easy this day in age, just snap an iPhone pic and send them.

 

[Ali Palmos]

One of many reasons I won't export to the US (although I did breed one that had a wonderful home as a pet and has just died at well over 13 years of age) We have all shades of gold and cream here and nothing nicer than to see a lineup of all colours in the show ring, all meeting our breed standard.Annef

I don't really know of any UK breeders. I normally import from Serbia, Ukraine, Russia and Romania. I don't know anybody that has imported a dog from UK. Didn't know it was due to a bias in UK against breeders in USA. Interesting.

 

[Ali Palmos]

Thank you for saying this...a good rule of thumb for any breeder/litter.

Totally forgot to mention Kernow in VT...I am in handling classes w/ her daughter and she's awesome.

And Anasazi in AZ of course.

I have friends who paid far too much for a very poorly bred "English Cream" puppy who has all sorts of issues/things going on. Knowing what they are going through with their boy, and being a member here I think it's important that if people know they prefer English type that we educate and provide them with those breeders who do it right.

What kind of issues?

 

[Megora]

I recommend people just ask the breeder for a copy of their clearances, this is so easy this day in age, just snap an iPhone pic and send them.

False - people should ask the breeder for a registration number and or name. If they have either, they can look the dog up on OFA.

If there are no hips/elbows listed on OFA for a dog raised and being bred in the US - it means the clearances have not been done or the dog failed.

 

[FurdogDad]

I don't really know of any UK breeders. I normally import from Serbia, Ukraine, Russia and Romania. I don't know anybody that has imported a dog from UK. Didn't know it was due to a bias in UK against breeders in USA. Interesting.

Wow! The best Eastern Europe has to offer.....