[Ljilly28]

I am so sorry to read this? What is the elbow DX requiring all that surgery for a 12 to 16 week old puppy? Tally's contract specified a second opinion from a board certified specialist for health issues( he never had any). Did you follow the contract? My experience with Goldiva has been wonderful, so I hope this gets resolved well.

 

[vessey82]

We received an 8 week old female puppy from Goldiva Golden in September. By 12 weeks old she was diagnosed with a very rare and serious bone condition in her front elbow. It was so rare the doctors had never actually seen it in a Golden and we had to go to a specialists. When we contacted Goldiva to inform them about the situation they did not respond to us at all. The surgeons were adamant the breeders should never breed our dogs parents again. We tried contacting Goldiva Goldens via phone, email and even through certified letters with again zero response. For the last 4 months our dog has been unable to walk and has endured over 7 surgeries to try to save her leg. Some of her surgeries were over 8 hours long. We will be lucky if we are able to even save her leg.

The fact that these breeders pride themselves on being so excellent is disgusting. I would never recommend a someone getting a dog from breeders who don't even have the courtesy to call and check up on the dog.

We feel fortunate enough to have our beautiful dog and lucky to be her parents, but even would I have expected the lack of professionalism we received from Goldiva Golden.

Your assessment of the situation is far from accurate. There was one emailed communication from you regarding the concern with Sadie and to which I responded. Per your contract I asked you for a copy of all of Sadie’s vet records from the time you brought her home. I shared my grave concerns about doing surgery on a 15 week old puppy because joints/bones had not fully developed and asked that you seek a second opinion at the breeder specialist I recommended and trust, a visit that would have been at my expense. You have ignored the three requests I have made for the vet records and ignored my request for a second opinion choosing instead to do surgery the day after emailing me about the issue and not following your contract. Yet I have still been willing to work with you and have offered financial reimbursement towards your purchase price. These remarks and fabrications are uncalled for.

 

[vessey82]

I am sorry. Pain is never a good thing.
I'm curious- what is the name of the condition?
I like to 'know things'.....study stuff, ya know?

Thanks for your question. The condition Sadie was diagnosed with is a radial head subluxation of her left elbow. From what I've learned in researching it this is a condition where the radial head has become dislocated or misaligned (subluxated) at the elbow. This can be the result of a traumatic injury or something puppy was born with. It is most common in small breeds of dogs but can present in Goldens.

"Puppies with radial head luxation are typically presented between 2 and 4 mo of age for forelimb lameness with varying degrees of elbow deformity and carpal valgus. The diagnosis can be made by palpation of the laterally displaced radial head and is confirmed with radiography, particularly with a straight cranio-caudal view of the elbow. Bilateral involvement is common.
The etiopathogenesis may occasionally involve trauma to the distal ulnar growth plate at a young age resulting in a shortened ulna and a radius that continues to grow. Developmental instability of the annular ligament, joining the proximal radius to the ulna, may also play a role in the condition. Regardless of the underlying cause, the functional problems result from an ulna that lags behind the growth rate of the radius.
Surgical treatment provides the most positive results. The first factor to consider in surgical planning is the animal’s age. Some corrective osteotomies may need to be repeated if done at 4 to 5 mo of age or less since the asynchronous growth between the radius and ulna will continue."- US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health


Due to the concern for repeated surgeries if done before 5 months of age I asked for a second opinion to confirm that surgery on a 12-15 week old pup was the best course of action. I also requested a copy of all vet records to determine that this was not the result of an injury/abuse and so that I could have the information for my breeding records. Both the request for a second opinion and for the vet records have gone unanswered. Let me know if you have any other questions or feel free to send me a message.

 

[vessey82]

so sorry you had to go through that. May I ask who the parents are?

Hi Collette! Thanks for your question. The parents of Sadie are Goldiva's Song of the Sirens and Goldiva's Hoist the Colors. Both parents have all their health clearances as well as many generations going back. Here are links to their OFA page:
Orthopedic Foundation for Animals
Orthopedic Foundation for Animals

It was nice talking with you this morning! Let me know if you have any other questions I can answer.

 

[sadiethegoldenone]

Sadie was diagnosed with congenital subluxation of the left radial head. We received 3 opinions from Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeons, one being the surgeon who performed the surgery at Tufts University. Her surgeon specializes in this condition, although its uncommon in Goldens and very common in bull dogs. Her surgeon's professional opinion was that if we waited until she was 5 months old, the bone would be too far gone to try to place it back in the elbow joint. The other specialists recommended amputation, but we wanted to try to save her leg. We are hoping for the best!

 

[Prism Goldens]

Thanks for your question. The condition Sadie was diagnosed with is a radial head subluxation of her left elbow. From what I've learned in researching it this is a condition where the radial head has become dislocated or misaligned (subluxated) at the elbow. This can be the result of a traumatic injury or something puppy was born with. It is most common in small breeds of dogs but can present in Goldens.

"Puppies with radial head luxation are typically presented between 2 and 4 mo of age for forelimb lameness with varying degrees of elbow deformity and carpal valgus. The diagnosis can be made by palpation of the laterally displaced radial head and is confirmed with radiography, particularly with a straight cranio-caudal view of the elbow. Bilateral involvement is common.
The etiopathogenesis may occasionally involve trauma to the distal ulnar growth plate at a young age resulting in a shortened ulna and a radius that continues to grow. Developmental instability of the annular ligament, joining the proximal radius to the ulna, may also play a role in the condition. Regardless of the underlying cause, the functional problems result from an ulna that lags behind the growth rate of the radius.
Surgical treatment provides the most positive results. The first factor to consider in surgical planning is the animal’s age. Some corrective osteotomies may need to be repeated if done at 4 to 5 mo of age or less since the asynchronous growth between the radius and ulna will continue."- US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health


Due to the concern for repeated surgeries if done before 5 months of age I asked for a second opinion to confirm that surgery on a 12-15 week old pup was the best course of action. I also requested a copy of all vet records to determine that this was not the result of an injury/abuse and so that I could have the information for my breeding records. Both the request for a second opinion and for the vet records have gone unanswered. Let me know if you have any other questions or feel free to send me a message.

Very interesting! I had a girl once who had a shortened ulna, unilaterally, and she never had a lame day- in fact, it was when I went to do her OFAs that we saw her legs had apparently developed oddly. I spayed her. But like I said, she never presented w any pain/lameness and maybe it had no relation to this condition but I've always wondered about what'd make bones grow unevenly. That bitch had zinc poisoning as a puppy. While I don't doubt Tufts is 'in the know' on things, and probably this puppy did need surgery, I do hate it when puppy people's vets don't touch base with the breeder so we can all learn from things that happen.

 

[Ljilly28]

Sadie was diagnosed with congenital subluxation of the left radial head. We received 3 opinions from Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeons, one being the surgeon who performed the surgery at Tufts University. Her surgeon specializes in this condition, although its uncommon in Goldens and very common in bull dogs. Her surgeon's professional opinion was that if we waited until she was 5 months old, the bone would be too far gone to try to place it back in the elbow joint. The other specialists recommended amputation, but we wanted to try to save her leg. We are hoping for the best!

It is sad Sadie has this, and I have walked both in the shoes of a puppy buyer with a medically problematic pup, and a breeder with all pups passing clearances except one Lush puppy failing one out of the blue despite all her clearances and all the father's. I was heartbroken and the family involved was WONDERFuL. Breeders do not make widgets but living beings.

It seems like you tried to do your best for your puppy , but also that you kind of viciously attacked your breeder without following your contract.

 

[puddles everywhere]

Forgive me but feeling very grateful and regretful for complaining about the trivial UTI & parasite problems my girl dealt with. What a horrible thing for the pup, breeder and owner to deal with. I can't imagine having such a serious problem so early in the life of my pup. My heart goes out to all involved. Prayers to the Dr's doing this surgery and the pup. My hopes are for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.

I do hope the OP gives us an update and knows we are all concerned.

 

[sadiethegoldenone]

We received an 8 week old female puppy from Goldiva Golden in September. By 12 weeks old she was diagnosed with a very rare and serious bone condition in her front elbow. It was so rare the doctors had never actually seen it in a Golden and we had to go to a specialists. When we contacted Goldiva to inform them about the situation they did not respond to us at all. The surgeons were adamant the breeders should never breed our dogs parents again. We tried contacting Goldiva Goldens via phone, email and even through certified letters with again zero response. For the last 4 months our dog has been unable to walk and has endured over 7 surgeries to try to save her leg. Some of her surgeries were over 8 hours long. We will be lucky if we are able to even save her leg.

The fact that these breeders pride themselves on being so excellent is disgusting. I would never recommend a someone getting a dog from breeders who don't even have the courtesy to call and check up on the dog.

We feel fortunate enough to have our beautiful dog and lucky to be her parents, but even would I have expected the lack of professionalism we received from Goldiva Golden.

I wrote to on Golden Retreiver Form back on 1/25/2017 regarding my terrible experience in purchasing a golden retriever puppy. I did not realize at the time I wrote to you that Goldiva Goldens, LLC located at 12 Wildflower Way Cumberland, ME 04021 and Goldiva Goldens & Gardens LLC located at 1 Redmond Road, North Yarmouth, ME 04097, although situated on the same website, are separate companies. The puppy I purchased and the subsequent issues that I have described in my previous correspondence did not involve Goldiva Goldens, LLC.. My business dealings were solely with Goldiva Goldens & Gardens LLC.

 

[Prism Goldens]

Are you saying there are two Goldiva Goldens in the same state who are unrelated?

 

[puddles everywhere]

I'm so glad you asked... that's what I have been trying to figure out. Left Twix or Right Twix?? Both have the same pics on the websites and reference the same dogs but they do have two different Facebook pages. I'm confused.

 

[CnCFusion]

I'm so glad you asked... that's what I have been trying to figure out. Left Twix or Right Twix?? Both have the same pics on the websites and reference the same dogs but they do have two different Facebook pages. I'm confused.

One company is owned by the mother, Mary, and the other owned by daughter Lauren. They co-own Goldiva.

If you look at the puppies page, Lauren has some litters, and Mary has some.

 

[Our Golden]

Hi,

I am new here. We just lost a Goldiva Golden. Farley died May 18 from pancreatic cancer. He would have been 10 on July 22. I have been reading posts from other members and it helps to know you are not alone.

Our new Goldiva is due tomorrow! I highly recommend Goldiva Goldens. Farley was incredibly healthy until the day he was diagnosed. Our Vet was impressed with his overall health, especially his hips.

He was a great dog. He loved pretty much everyone. He was great at frisbee, loved the water, and really enjoyed hiking. He knew when you were sick and would be a snuggle dog until you felt better.

Mary has an open door policy. Once the pups are old enough, she said drop by anytime, no need to call first. My husband used to have a client who was autistic and they would stop by occasionally to spend time with her dogs.

Both the mom and dad have all clearances.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much Jane...As We are looking into a Boarding contract with the...They seem like super sweet People and their Goldens are Beautiful and are Happy Dogs ~ So Far after sitting and chatting with Mary... We are Impressed.

 

[Ljilly28]

This post came back for a while ago. This is a little off topic, but time passes in the twinkling of an eye. Sally's Mom , who commented, passed away from pancreatic cancer quite a while ago, and I lost my Tally True Love. I loved the dog to the degree that it expanded my whole ability to love. He was and is part of me 💖

 

[puddles everywhere]

Thank you so much Jane...As We are looking into a Boarding contract with the...They seem like super sweet People and their Goldens are Beautiful and are Happy Dogs ~ So Far after sitting and chatting with Mary... We are Impressed.

Boarding contract? Is this one of those you get a bitch from them and they are allowed to use her for breeding? If it is... run, this is a really bad plan for you and your girl. This never ends well for anyone but the breeder.