Male or Female Golden Retriever Puppy?

[MrsChatalot]

We have been planning to get a golden retriever for several years and have waited until both children are at school so would have enough time to train a puppy and for the puppy to have some peace! Our 2 boys are 5 and 7 and the elder one is autistic. Grandparents have always had dogs (but not retrievers) so kids well used to them. Would a male or female be better or does it make little difference? Since we live in town (but with access to lots of wooded walks nearby) and wouldn't be breeding we would plan to have either sex neutered. All advice welcome.

We have just had a yellow lab (10 weeks ago) and have a dd 10 and a ds 8 (ASD).

We were given a lot of conflicting opinion on male / female from dog owners. We had a long talk with the breeder and explained our circumstances to her. She was worried initially due to her lack of knowledge on autism but after she had got to know us as a family she allowed us to have one of her pups. The breeder actually picked the pup she felt would be most suited to us - a chilled but confident little guy.

We knew of the breeder and knew people with her pups from previous litters - that was our starting point.

Good luck

My advice would be similar to Tibni's. Find a really good breeder with good health screening results (hips/eyes) and choose a puppy whose character suits you.

I've had dogs and bitches of various breeds and can't honestly say there's much difference

Best of luck.

Girl , we have 2 girl 4 and naughty boy who is 18mths

girl much calmer boy full on all the time ( but lovely shhhhh dont tell DH i said that ) he he ...

choc lab retrievers , great with DC to .

Thanks for your advice. My feeling was that either sex would be ok and that temperament mattered more but DH keen to get a dog now. Not entirely sure why - maybe because he had male dogs as a kid or because they tend to be a bit bigger and DH ideally wants a big dog! Is spaying as straightforward as castrating a dog?

Spaying is a bigger op (ovaries and uterus removed) so more expensive and longer recovery period. Young bitches tend to pick up very quickly after the op but you then have to work hard to stop them overdoing it while they heal.

Bitches tend to be slightly more expensive to buy and harder to come by too.

Am sure you'll end up with a lovely dog either way