What do I need to know about getting a golden retriever?

[Tilllly]

As a puppy

From a reputable breeder

Advice gratefully received ☺️

Yes I know, am just doing my best to maximise chance of healthy dog

I'm meeting puppies, parents and breeders in 3 weeks 😁

Champ dogs is best of a bad bunch website wise but no cast iron guarantees of a healthy mating anywhere really.

you can run the dam and sire KC name through the KC breeding coefficient checker. Anything more than about 8 is higher than breed average and when you get beyond low teens we are generally talking deliverance levels of inbreeding.

picky owners is a good sign.

one thing I have noticed on champdogs and also other websites recently, with ages, is a high number of stud dogs and bitches from Ukraine, Russia, etc. now, that might be an excellent thing for inbreeding if the lines really are from outside the UK, but it makes it very hard to reliably track risk of hip and elbow dysplasia and any genetic diseases unless you have full confidence in the veracity of health records and those records also go back several generations.

Thank you for posting. I am in the early stages of researching what I need to know about getting a GR puppy. 😊 Hoping to get one towards the end of summer/autumn. I have joined Champdogs and there are a couple of FB groups with knowledgeable people too. Will keep an eye on this thread!

I'm going to visit on 21st when they're 5 weeks old
Am excited 😁

Exciting! Tell us more, are you basically committed and just going to meet/ be matched with the right pup? That’s such a fun visit if so. I look at might huge floof now and can’t believe we ever had that tiny fluff ball on our laps. You will not regret a retriever, there’s a reason they are so popular.

I'm committed tho don't pay anything till collection

I've got the last girl

Collection will be 3 weeks after this visit, at which point I'll know which is my fluffball

Of course, something might go wrong in btwn, hope not! Breeder is lovely and picky. Hip scores etc all check out

Looks good

Sounds good! You have loads of fun ahead of you. And loads of hair. I don’t know if anyone mentioned that yet, did they?!

very cheesy US video but 100% accurate

Please turn off the awful AI audio on that video -embarrassingly bad but the subtitles say it all

I've had three GRs and love the breed but despite your checks it's still hit and miss whether you get one that will be healthy. All three of ours checked out but first one died just before her 2nd birthday from a faulty heart valve. She also had epilepsy. Second girl lived to 14 but had to have a mast cell tumour removed from her head (they're prone to tumours and lumps). Looked like a doggy Frankenstein after her op 😢

Current GR is 13 but has had to have a specialised diet all her life as she developed pancreatitis at a very young age and anything slightly fatty would give her d&v.

My tips therefore are - as above, get a good vacuum and outside tap; make sure you have good insurance; consider giving the dog joint supplements when older (7/8 onwards) as they also can be prone to hip problems.

I hope you manage to get one that has a long and healthy life. They're adorable dogs.

Goo

I have no advice as I’ve never had a golden, but did consider the breed, when looking for my next dog. Decided there’s too much hair for me. But I’m in love with them, especially the working line dark ones. I’ve gone for a lab. Picking him up in the summer, when he is ready to come home. You must post pictures if it all works out for you.

this is the health checker thingy from kennel club, not sure if you found it. https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/search/health-test-results-finder/. You just enter the kennel name (and it brings up all the dogs from that kennel) or the dogs kennel name (as in a specific dog, such as the parents) and it;l show you want they have on the dog.

I am super duper excited for you, OP!!!! Enjoy your bundle of hairy joy!

I second this. Champdogs is one of the few websites that shows you breeders and their litter's parents health tests. If a breeder isn't prepared health test both mum and dad, don't hand them a penny.

www.champdogs.co.uk/?classic_site=1

Avoid Pets4Homes like the plague.

This

I once calculated how much my Newfoundland cost me on the first year (purchase price excepted); it was over £1k on leads, beds, toys, food, etc. Of all the money spent, the best £70 of it went to a plumber who installed a hot tap outside for me. Use it every day after sea swimming and muddy walks, and when I found a hosepipe attachment with a shower head and shampoo container, I was ecstatic. Total game changer. I rough dry her most winter days and air her fur/skin with a 'doggy blaster dryer (£50ish Amazon) like they have in the groomers. It prevents skin getting irritated in all this wet weather. Wishing your family and potential pup a wonderful life together!

Just because a dog is KC registered, it is no guarantee of health whatsoever. I know from bitter experience. You need full health testing proof from the breeder for both sire and dam, first and foremost. If they're not prepared to pay for this, they are not good breeders.

www.champdogs.co.uk/?classic_site=1

Is as good a place as any to start to browse breeders who care enough to health test.

Oh yes I am aware. I was just sharing the link, as people had mentioned the inbreeding coefficient thing but I couldn’t see a link, so thought I would share it. If that makes sense

You will go through a lot of vacuum cleaners. Enjoy though, they are beautiful!

Hi, I've used those links thanks and initially found breeder thru champdogs
They've got the health tests on parents and grandparents and everything checks out as well as possible
Appreciate you can only do so much but they seem to have done everything that can be done to ensure a healthy litter so am not going to be too negative about it

And I will get insurance - all our pets always had insurance - tho haven't looked into that yet. One of my cats had a lump in her throat and ended up costing over £3k, we paid £150 of that. Definitely a fan of insurance

(Except on the myriad of gerbils and hamsters when the boys were young 😁 Actually Bambam cost a fortune with a partial tail amputation- a tumour on his tail... cost as much as buying about 10 new gerbils but he lived another 15m. And bit the vet)

@BuffaloDance2000
Tell me more please?

I've an outdoor tap for the hosepipe which I vaguely thought of using but it's just cold. Hot tap sounds good? And I could have a drier thing in the garage

Beautiful?
Dog or vacuum cleaner?😁

Oh no.. why didn't anyone mention the hair?! 🤣

I liked that video... the bum cleaning is a new one on me!!

I don’t suppose you are getting them from a breeder in Beverley? Only the person we got both of our dogs through has had their first litter in a few years and they were born in mid December.