Ours was 2000 but that was just before covid.

Incidentally, I don’t know anyone with a Golden that died before 10 or 11 and I know lots of goldens.

And the PP story about the breeder mom is insane and I think not a legitimate breeder. For both our dogs, we visited the moms early in or before pregnancy and again shortly after birth. We were able to play with and pet the mom on the first visit — definitely no issues with the mom’s socialization or mobility! I would not get from a breeder far away where you can’t visit the mom in advance of putting down a deposit. For our current dog, we were at the home a total of three times. It was a two hour drive away.

during covid prices went up from about 1500 to 3-4k, I am now seeing prices go back down to precovid, look at https://www.greenfieldpuppies.com/

I wish there was still some kind of middle ground between for-profit puppy mills that run their animals into the ground and the super expensive “breeding for show” ten generations of champions breeders

When I was a kid, most friend circles would have the occasional “oops” litter come along you could keep an eye out for. Now it’s almost impossible to get an unfixed dog, so your options are to get a potentially traumatized shelter/puppy mill animal or pay through the nose for carefully curated dna.

Make sure to research your breeder. That you’re getting well socialized puppies from a happy home. We’re looking for a cat but we asked to FaceTime to see the mama cat at home interacting with her kittens. This way we could see her environment. Before that the breeder sent us goofy pics of her and her cats just hanging out. We also checked out the Facebook of the breed we wanted. Our breeder was a well respected contributor and was mentioned frequently by others as a good breeder. So do your homework! Find a trustworthy responsible breeder

Anonymous wrote:We paid $5000 for our pick of the litter lab puppy from an amazing breeder nine years ago, so this doesn’t seem high to me at all.

I agree generally, but AKC papers and a basic health check shouldn't be the start of it. Puppy mills can produce those docs. For these prices I want clean, Champion lines all around. I'd pay 4k from this breeder, for example, but 4k on Puppyspot is ludicrous.

http://www.hillockgoldens.com/

We paid $5000 for our pick of the litter lab puppy from an amazing breeder nine years ago, so this doesn’t seem high to me at all.

I’m on a lab rescue page and there was a post this week from someone who had taken in a breeder Golden retriever mom. This dog was 4 and was terrified of humans, never been on grass, or been loved in any way…. But was beautiful and I’m sure had beautiful puppies. This dog could barely walk. Please don’t support this cruelty. If you really want to go the breeder route pick the dog up in person and ask to see BOTH parents… if you can’t then don’t buy from them.

I would adopt via a Golden Retriever rescue group.

$4000 for a Golden Retriver puppy? More than I would pay.

We lost ours with health papers, AKC, etc. at age 2, so you never know.

Genetic testing and “ papers” means nothing….. does shipping a puppy from Maine seem ethical to anyone? My now 12yo yellow lab is going strong with no heath issues, still hikes an hour with me 3-4 times a week. Got him for $350 when he was 10 mos old from a rescue group..

That sounds way too high.

That seems a lot. They are unbelievable but also prone to diseases.

Anonymous wrote:Try Golden Rock Farms. Our golden is beautiful and was $1600 last year. I think the English cream goldens were a little more.

Thank you for this! Gorgeous dogs

Our Golden boy lived to 16! Don’t neuter before 2 (if at all), feed a top kibble without byproducts, and don’t give all the toxic “preventative” topicals (bathe them regularly!).

Goldens are really sensitive to toxins.