Frequently Asked Questions

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 Most importantly, If you purchase a puppy with limited registration your puppy will be AKC registered.  The limited registration designation would limit your ability to register any puppies that your dog might produce. In other words, limited registration means that you do not have breeding rights.  

So why would we differentiate between limited and full registration?  There are a few reasons.

1.  Our breeding dogs DNA tested so that we can ensure any lineage starting from our farm will better the golden retriever breed.  
2. It encourages people to have their dogs "fixed", which we absolutely believe results in dogs that are more obedient, more loyal, and less likely to run away from their families.  
3. It encourages people to consider whether or not they wish to breed dogs, gives us an opportunity to discuss responsible breeding practices, and ensure that our puppies will not become part of puppy mills.  We only issue breeding rights to people who we believe will be fair to the dog and want to work with us to "better the breed".  

If you have additional questions, please feel free to comment or send us a message. We look forward to working with our customers to help find the right dog to match their families!

This is really a question of personal choice but for family pets to live inside with us, we've always had better luck with male.

Look at our pictures of Spankie.  He was the first dog we shared as a couple.  Spankie is the reason we love Golden Retrievers more than any other breed.  He lived with Brian in college including keeping him company the full year we spent living 4 hours apart while Susan began her career and planned a wedding.  He kept Susan company for the 9 months when Brian was transferred to Louisiana for work.  He was there when we brought home our first 2 babies.  Spankie was the best behaved and most perfect dog EVER!  I say that to share that our love for him may bias our opinion somewhat.  

However, in our experience and in the experience of family members we trust, male dogs (especially neutered male dogs) are more obedient, more loyal, and generally better behaved than their female counterparts.  That's not to say that a female golden wouldn't also be a great dog.  We currently have 3 females goldens and they are amazing dogs as well.  But they don't hold a candle to Spankie.  

I'm certain you could find someone who would tell you they preferred female goldens.  But when we're asked, we have no problem saying that we prefer male dogs to female.  

So there you have it.  Our honest opinion.  Take it or leave it.  If you are looking for a male or female dog to add to your family reach out to us via private message.  We'd love to help you find the right companion for your family.

Unless you plan to breed your dog, we would highly recommend getting your dog fixed.  We are firm believers that this will be great for your dog and your family in the long-run.  In the past when we weren't breeding dogs we always had them fixed around 9 months old.  

Getting a male dog neutered will help with behavioral issues and will generally keep dogs from wandering as far from home.  Dogs are pack animals who understand authority.  In our experience, fixed dogs are more inclined to allow their people to be the "alpha" or leader in the pack.

According to petplace.com, a male dog can smell a female in heat from up to 3 miles away.  Dogs aren't limited by roads either, that means a male dog "chasing tail" could be anywhere inside a circle 6 miles wide!  That's a lot of ground to cover looking for your pet who is now acting on instinct instead of obeying his master.  

Fixing female dogs eliminates the likelihood of producing unplanned puppies, prevents her from being chased by male dogs at the park, and eliminates inconvenient bleeding every 6 months in addition to the behavioral benefits previously mentioned.  

According to the ASPCA dogs are typically spayed or neutered at 6-9 months old though it can be done anytime in life.  The AKC webpage has some documentation that there may be benefit to waiting to 12-24 months old for some breeds.  Either way, we'd strongly encourage you to have any dog that you don't intend to breed "fixed".  

While we are happy to provide our opinion on pretty much any topic related to your Golden Retriever, please understand we are not animal health experts.  Your vet is the best resource for information about the procedure and can provide you all the details. 

We've mentioned once or twice already that our breeding dogs are DNA tested.  DNA testing for dogs involves taking a swab of saliva from inside the dog's jaw and sending that to a company who performs DNA sequencing to evaluate and provide us a report listing potential genetic markers which have been indicative of health conditions.  It's completely painless for the dog and only takes a couple minutes.  

The value of DNA testing is that we have information about what genetic markers for disease (if any) the parents might have and can use that information via selective breeding to produce the healthiest puppies possible.  For example, if a dog with a recessive marker for a given health condition is bred to a dog without the marker for the health condition, the puppies they produce will be healthy and most won't even be carriers of the disease. Isn't it amazing that science can help us breed out disease and heath conditions to produce healthier happier puppies? 

We use Embark DNA testing which tests for heath conditions in 16 different areas as well as 6 other trait markers like coat color and body size.  If you have questions or want to find a puppy from DNA tested parents contact us and we'll be happy to help.