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Hi Mary - we have gotten two of our goldens as retired breeder dogs - in fact,one of them, Sunshine Hill's Bumble Bee, who is now 11, was from Sunshine Hill in Bridgeville, DE - I highly recommend them, and if you go on their Website, www.sunshinehill.com, e-mail Gwen about any older goldens she might have We got Buzz 5 years ago - she is lovely.
The only thing I would caution you about - with retired breeder dogs, they may or may not have been sufficiently socialized, and may be very set in their ways. For example., Buzz had never had to deal with stairs (she learned really quickly though). She didn't know what a lot of things were. You want to make sure they are housebroken, since if they are kept outside more than in, you may have a real issue with that. Also, it took I would say about 1 year for Buzz to be fully socialized to everyone and everything, but then we already had 2 other goldens, and so there was a ready-made "pack".
However, I know Gwen has placed older puppies that simply were not cut out for the show ring, or who had a kink in the tail that would disqualify it from showing, or other very non-critical "flaws" that make them wonderful pets, but not show or breeding dogs. So you could certainly inquire about that if you thought you'd want a younger dog but not a puppy. Breeders, even the best ones, simply cannot keep every dog and the two we'd adopted were very reluctantly parted with.
Good luck!
Diane
The only thing I would caution you about - with retired breeder dogs, they may or may not have been sufficiently socialized, and may be very set in their ways. For example., Buzz had never had to deal with stairs (she learned really quickly though). She didn't know what a lot of things were. You want to make sure they are housebroken, since if they are kept outside more than in, you may have a real issue with that. Also, it took I would say about 1 year for Buzz to be fully socialized to everyone and everything, but then we already had 2 other goldens, and so there was a ready-made "pack".
However, I know Gwen has placed older puppies that simply were not cut out for the show ring, or who had a kink in the tail that would disqualify it from showing, or other very non-critical "flaws" that make them wonderful pets, but not show or breeding dogs. So you could certainly inquire about that if you thought you'd want a younger dog but not a puppy. Breeders, even the best ones, simply cannot keep every dog and the two we'd adopted were very reluctantly parted with.
Good luck!
Diane
