Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, my young golden is chill but we do walk him 2-3 hours per day.
OP, I was concerned about your first breeder with the Ukrainian golden parents….and now I’m concerned about this breeder who does not have clearances and is apparently telling you there is some distinction between “American” goldens and other goldens that relate to barking and tail wagging? This sounds insane.
I’ve had two goldens who didn’t bark. But it was basically random and unpredictable. I’ve never heard of a golden that doesn’t say it’s tail. We love the tail wagging—we can tell exactly what he’s thinking by the height, velocity and range of his tail. (Right now, relaxed and down as he is contemplating a nap. Update—he decided on the nap and is curled up on his pillow.)
It just feels like this breeder is feeding you a line of bullsh-t. I don’t know.
One of my siblings got an Amish farm golden and I was really negative about it (behind their back) but the dog has actually been great. So you can definitely get lucky even with weird breeders.
I think given the age of your kids and your anxiety, the older dog is better. For others, I advise the puppy for bonding purposes—-our golden totally thinks he is a human child and we are his parents. That might be good or bad depending on your perspective.
I put no weight in the cream versus red distinction for temperament—I recognize some breeders do, though. I’m suspicious of any breeder that focuses excessively on color or size, though.

Thanks so much. How old is your golden? Who was the breeder with the Ukranian? I'm into older trained dog but my daughter heart set on puppy. Which who cares but I will be so mad if she's not excited. Also I wonder if me not being a dog person would bond more w a puppy.

Anonymous wrote:Well, my young golden is chill but we do walk him 2-3 hours per day.
OP, I was concerned about your first breeder with the Ukrainian golden parents….and now I’m concerned about this breeder who does not have clearances and is apparently telling you there is some distinction between “American” goldens and other goldens that relate to barking and tail wagging? This sounds insane.
I’ve had two goldens who didn’t bark. But it was basically random and unpredictable. I’ve never heard of a golden that doesn’t say it’s tail. We love the tail wagging—we can tell exactly what he’s thinking by the height, velocity and range of his tail. (Right now, relaxed and down as he is contemplating a nap. Update—he decided on the nap and is curled up on his pillow.)
It just feels like this breeder is feeding you a line of bullsh-t. I don’t know.
One of my siblings got an Amish farm golden and I was really negative about it (behind their back) but the dog has actually been great. So you can definitely get lucky even with weird breeders.
I think given the age of your kids and your anxiety, the older dog is better. For others, I advise the puppy for bonding purposes—-our golden totally thinks he is a human child and we are his parents. That might be good or bad depending on your perspective.
I put no weight in the cream versus red distinction for temperament—I recognize some breeders do, though. I’m suspicious of any breeder that focuses excessively on color or size, though.

Anonymous wrote:An 11 month old is a teenager, and this is a teenager with a partially unknown socialization and training history (you will never know exactly what was done or not). What does trained mean? Does it walk on a loose leash all the time? Can it walk by strange dogs, people, bikes etc without pulling or barking? Is it crate trained? Is the dog good in the car? What the heck does stoic mean? Doesn’t wag her tail? I would personally run from this dog, unless the breeder is ready to provide significant documentation to justify the extra expense, and to prove that you are indeed getting a “better” dog.

The whole reason to go with a breeder is usually to get an 8 week old puppy that you can raise. It’s a ton of work, but the bond is worth it.

If you want an 11 month old, just go to a shelter, they are full of them. No dog experience is not a good reason. Try HRA, they’re great.

Finally, it sounds like you just want an easy dog that will be all joy with minimal work. An 11 month old golden is likely not that.

You might like a stuffed animal.

Or, at least go with a smaller breed, like a CKCS.

Be prepared to do tons of work with whatever dog you get. If you go into this knowing you will be anxious, disappointed if the dog is difficult, then you shouldn’t get a dog.

Do you really want to walk a golden 1 hour 2x per day? Do you have 2 extra hours a day? Every day? Rain, shine, snow… Plus brushing, training…. Goldens have SO MUCH HAIR. It will be everywhere, all over your furniture and clothes. Many are messy drinkers too, there will be water on the floor and “shared” with you and furniture. Don’t even get me started on the spit/slime covered tennis balls that they love to hoop around in their mouth and drop everywhere.

Most of them are very friendly, but the young ones tend to pull, jump, and sometimes mouth. Are you ready for that? They are not as “bull in a China shop” as most labs, but their no Maltese.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“ If I knew the dog would be good and chill I'm not opposed to walking it and caring for it. When I'm an empty nester maybe I would like it? I don't want to deal with a lot of stress but I see some friends with dogs and wish I took the plunge.”

An 11 month old golden retriever is by no stretch of the imagination going to be “good and chill.”

LOL this is so, so true. I currently have an 11 month old Golden Retriever who people always comment is "chill" and I can tell you, she isn't really. Or at least, to even approach chill she requires a TON of exercise and still needs to be watched most of the time when at home. Goldens are puppies til about 2 years old and 11 months is solidly in the "teen" years where often all of your training can go to sh+t and they enter a defiant stage. Mine is pretty great compared to peers but I am highly skeptical of this "trained, chill" dog.

Anonymous wrote:“ If I knew the dog would be good and chill I'm not opposed to walking it and caring for it. When I'm an empty nester maybe I would like it? I don't want to deal with a lot of stress but I see some friends with dogs and wish I took the plunge.”

An 11 month old golden retriever is by no stretch of the imagination going to be “good and chill.”

Anonymous wrote:An 11 month old is a teenager, and this is a teenager with a partially unknown socialization and training history (you will never know exactly what was done or not). What does trained mean? Does it walk on a loose leash all the time? Can it walk by strange dogs, people, bikes etc without pulling or barking? Is it crate trained? Is the dog good in the car? What the heck does stoic mean? Doesn’t wag her tail? I would personally run from this dog, unless the breeder is ready to provide significant documentation to justify the extra expense, and to prove that you are indeed getting a “better” dog.

The whole reason to go with a breeder is usually to get an 8 week old puppy that you can raise. It’s a ton of work, but the bond is worth it.

If you want an 11 month old, just go to a shelter, they are full of them. No dog experience is not a good reason. Try HRA, they’re great.

Finally, it sounds like you just want an easy dog that will be all joy with minimal work. An 11 month old golden is likely not that.

You might like a stuffed animal.

Or, at least go with a smaller breed, like a CKCS.

Be prepared to do tons of work with whatever dog you get. If you go into this knowing you will be anxious, disappointed if the dog is difficult, then you shouldn’t get a dog.

Do you really want to walk a golden 1 hour 2x per day? Do you have 2 extra hours a day? Every day? Rain, shine, snow… Plus brushing, training…. Goldens have SO MUCH HAIR. It will be everywhere, all over your furniture and clothes. Many are messy drinkers too, there will be water on the floor and “shared” with you and furniture. Don’t even get me started on the spit/slime covered tennis balls that they love to hoop around in their mouth and drop everywhere.

Most of them are very friendly, but the young ones tend to pull, jump, and sometimes mouth. Are you ready for that? They are not as “bull in a China shop” as most labs, but their no Maltese.

Anonymous wrote:They are not as “bull in a China shop” as most labs, but their no Maltese.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve dealt with a lot of breeders over the years, and I’ve never heard of a breeder keeping a puppy for “training” to sell at a 50% markup.

Girl, run away. That’s scetch as hell.

The 1-year-old puppy should be cheaper; 8-week-old puppies are in high demand.

You don’t really know how well that dog is trained. Also, the dog wasn’t trained by you, so you don’t know what you’re dealing with.

Get an actual puppy and watch YT videos about how to train a puppy. You’ll be better for it.

(I have to dogs—both from reputable breeders.)

What do you mean? There is a demand for trained dogs. I spoke with a breeder trainer today who said she gets annoyed when people want a discount on older trained dogs. She said she should charge 10k. This person is charging 4K. She sold two others. I think if the puppies don't sell she trains and sells as a trained dog. Why is that weird? Genuinely curious. She obv isn't some top of the line breeder with waitlists.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve dealt with a lot of breeders over the years, and I’ve never heard of a breeder keeping a puppy for “training” to sell at a 50% markup.

Girl, run away. That’s scetch as hell.

The 1-year-old puppy should be cheaper; 8-week-old puppies are in high demand.

You don’t really know how well that dog is trained. Also, the dog wasn’t trained by you, so you don’t know what you’re dealing with.

Get an actual puppy and watch YT videos about how to train a puppy. You’ll be better for it.

(I have to dogs—both from reputable breeders.)

What do you mean? There is a demand for trained dogs. I spoke with a breeder trainer today who said she gets annoyed when people want a discount on older trained dogs. She said she should charge 10k. This person is charging 4K. She sold two others. I think if the puppies don't sell she trains and sells as a trained dog. Why is that weird? Genuinely curious. She obv isn't some top of the line breeder with waitlists.