Please help me find a golden retriever puppy!

[EightToSixer]

Hello. I grew up with golden retrievers and have been waiting to be in a position where I could own one without having to leave it when I go to work. I am now in that position as my work has moved to home, and I’ve been working really hard in lockdown to lose excess weight, losing 5 stone so far in order to be fit enough to do long walks with a dog.
I’ve contacted about 80 KC registered breeders within 120 miles of home (Cardiff) and they all have very long waiting lists of up to 2 years.
Can anyone here recommend a breeder or a legitimate rescue centre? I have had a picture of a golden boy on my weight loss chart for 8 months now and was devastated to get back so many emails from breeders saying their wait lists were closed with 2 year waits.

Following. They are my favourite breed, but I'm not in a position to look after one yet.

Getting the popcorn ready .....

But that's amazing weight loss, well done OP. I hope you manage to find a lovely golden retriever.

Well done on the weight loss and yes Goldies are the best dogs ever
Unfortunately demand really is outstripping demand and at the moment you run the risk of falling for a scam or puppy farmer.
If you use FB join the Golden Retriever group on there, they don’t advertise puppies but there is a section where you can register interest
As for rescues I do know of a couple but again due to demand any on offer are likely to have major issues sadly. A rescue Goldie with no problems will be very rare, they get snapped up immediately
You could try Many Tears, they occasionally have Goldies and are reputable but I have heard mixed stories about others, especially ones who bring dogs from abroad. As people seem to be charging £2000 plus at the moment it will attract unscrupulous people
Good luck, it will be worth it when you get one (despite the mud and hair)

You could try the Guide Dogs organisation as lots of young ones don’t make the grade-though I suspect there’s a massive demand there too.

Wait 2 years and sign up to a reputable breeder. Also contact breed rescue.

Demand is insane this year. Anyone who miraculously has a litter ready to reserve or buy right now is 100% going to be a puppy farm. All the good breeders have waiting lists and may not have bred at all this year.

We have leonberger (that people think are giant GRs ) and I did find that making friends with breeders was the best way to go about getting a puppy.

I asked lots of questions and rang to chat about the breed in general, spoke to the breed secretary, went to breed meets, followed some breed pages, stalked a couple of people in the show ring and asked and gradually got to know people. Once you know people generally they always know someone who has or is planning a litter and recommendations are the best way to skip the lists!

Rescue wise I can really recommend black retriever x rescue although you may not get a purebred GR most of them are retrievers of some sort.

I'm afraid if you want a decent breeder, you really will need to wait. Even in non-COVID times, waiting lists for reputable breeders fill up 6-12 months in advance, and lots of breeders will have stopped breeding temporarily too.

I would get your name on some waiting lists now. You never know, people might drop out or litters may be bigger than expected and you may not be waiting as long as you think :)

Oh, and a huge congratulations on the weight loss, that's amazing!

I was on a waiting list for 18 months for my girl I was also on the waiting list with the West Mids breed club for if a suitable re-home came in (either directly to them or to one of the breeders registered with them). She was worth the wait, she fitted in perfectly with my Bernard & has adapted well since to being an only dog. I have a good relationship with her breeder & we're still in contact now, 4.5 years on. She has no litters planned until the Pandemic is over, she doesn't want to have to sell unseen if restrictions etc change.

We tried to get a failed guide dog but they have stopped breeding at the moment due to Covid

I spent 6 months joining online golden groups, not in a "hey I want a puppy " way - but making sensible contributions and becoming a known group member.

I then mentioned wanting to go on a list. I was contacted by a breeder who suggested we become fb friends (so she could check me out). She was planning a litter in a years time.

I was lucky and got the bitch puppy I wanted - about 18 months from starting to look. If there had not been enough pups in the litter I know the breeder would have recommended me to others.

Do your homework and be patient is my advice.

Contact the breed club. Be prepared to wait and/or travel further too.

Thank you all for your responses. I’m on several Facebook groups, champ dog and KC but hadn’t thought of breed clubs so will try that.
I’m also happy to try further afield as well, so will look in to that.

Good luck OP. In the meantime, have a pic of my boy.

And use this time to prepare for the puppy years, which are pretty full on indeed.

@EightToSixer unfortunately FB groups may not be the best place. And KC just means pedigree. Definitely breed clubs. They can also advise about the health tests parents should have prior to breeding. Good luck.

We did what you did and phoned all the KC assured breeders within about 150 miles. We had some great conversations with some great breeders. We also talked to one, met the puppy, but felt that despite being KC assured, was too much like a puppy farm (she lied to us about the need for the elbow scores). We were very lucky and managed to get our amazing puppy about 5 months after we seriously started looking and contacting people. We decided our minimum expectations were:

1. Must have good hip and elbow scores and eye tests (we decided against a lovely lady whose bitch had elbow of 1:2)
2. The breeder MUST ask in detail about us and our circumstance - we wanted a breeder who cared where his/her dogs went.
3. The breeder MUST be prepared to send us the kennel club names of the dame and sire so we could look up the health tests and scores (which we checked using an amazing FB group, with assured breeders who really helped with advice and guidance as to what was required and what wasn't).
4. We didn't want a breeder who was insistent that the puppy should go at 7 weeks (if it is an assured breeder, then it will be 8 weeks minimum).

Looking on Champdogs, we found that sometimes the health checks were missing, or if they weren't, the cost for the dogs was very high (£3800 for one). But, it is a good place to look for stud dogs, and then you can contact the owners to find out who their dogs have been breeding with.