NEW Golden fan Help

[jaymil9]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this forum. Love to hunt and hunt with dogs. My golden Copper hunted with me and my family and my friends for 12 of her 13 years. This winter was her last and the only year she didn't hunt with me.

Copper was a great hunting partner and friend. I feel we were very lucky to get her she was our first dog and we got her for $250 and she was worth 10 times that. We got copper when I was in 8th grade and now I have a family of my own and want to get a hunting/family dog. I can't imaging getting any other breed.

I have been shopping around a little and am trying to find some breeders on the Internet. It seems that the only dogs I can find are $850 to $2000 and all with deposits of $250-500. I know you can't put a price on a good dog but I am on a budget. How do I go about looking for a good breeder of Golden Retrievers? How much should I expect to spend?

Thanks.

Below is a pic of Copper's last pheasant, She trailed, flushed, and retrieved this rooster for my father and I. She could only make a short loop and we missed 2 others but still an amazing day!

[admin]

Welcome to GDF!

We might want to move this to CHAT to get a response? MODS?

[jaymil9]

I was thinking I needed to move it. What does MODS? I am very green when it comes the the lingo and jargon Sorry.

[proudag08]

There are moderators here on the forum that can move your topic without you having to repost anything. Hopefully a MOD will move it over soon.

For clarification "MODS" doesnt stand for anything, its just shord for moderators...

[kninebirddog]

ok I moved it over to Chat hope it helps
here is a post from Dog Dr earlier this month on a litter of some goldens
viewtopic.php?f=69&t=26220&p=239802#p239802

[Dave Quindt]

Unforuntately demand for field-quality Goldens outpaces supply, so prices do get a bit steep. Golden breeders have had to deal with a number of health challenges in their breed, cancer particularily in the field dogs, which has driven some of them out of the breed. Many of the trialers have moved to Labs in order to compete. As a result, there are probably fewer field Golden breeders than ever before.

My suggestion would be to put together a list of field-bred Golden kennel websites, contact each one of them and tell them what you are looking for and if they know if anything. Often there are litters that are not listed, or litters out of their studs or pups that they've sold that might fit your needs.

I wouldn't expect to find a field-bred Golden pup with basic health clearances for under $800 though; no need to pay $2k but the days of $400 quality pups are lone gone in that breed.

JMO,
Dave

[DougB]

I don't know much about Goldens.
1) If you think you have located one on the internet, be aware that puppy mills use the net a lot. They promise a lot, but you generally wind up with a poorly bred dog that is overpriced, with no recourse if anything goes bad. Some have really impressive web sites, and look like quality breeders.
2) If you are interested, there are breed specific rescues that have good dogs. You would have to probably wait to get what you want, but rescues are a good source and you get to meet the animal before buying.
3) There are some retriever forums that can recommend breeders and have listings of pups and started dogs. A started dog helps you avoid the joys of house breaking and teething.
4) Some rescues will not adopt to hunters-apparently they have never looked at the front end of a dog.

[jlp8cornell]

Below is a pic of Copper's last pheasant, She trailed, flushed, and retrieved this rooster for my father and I. She could only make a short loop and we missed 2 others but still an amazing day!

Thanks for posting. It is nice to see pics of the old dogs working.

[jaymil9]

Thanks for the help!