Golden Retriever Puppies - How To Find A Healthy Puppy With The Ideal Temperament

Golden retriever puppies must be the cutest looking creatures in the world! But, these lovely little bundles of fur grow bigger. And unless you know what their background is you could end up with an unfriendly, unhealthy grown up dog. Let's look at some of ways to make finding a good natured golden easier, that will also minimize any future health problems that may appear in later life

Where should you get your golden retriever puppy from?

Well, first of all let's look at 3 main places that prospective dog owners have to purchase their new golden from.

1 - Pet Store – This is probably one of the worst places to even consider buying your dog from. Although the pet store in essence should know all about the animals they supply to a customer,(and some do) in truth lots of them just want to sell as many as they can and are not bothered where they came from! Many stores just want to sell and make a profit. There's usually not much thought gone into the quality of breeders that they have acquired them from.

2 - Home Breeders – This is another poor option. These tend to be people who have dogs and they are maybe considering getting the female spayed. The thought of making some quick money comes to mind before they do this! Typically this kind of breeder doesn't really have a clue about looking after the puppies or even how to check their health. They just see it as a way to make some quick cash. Once the puppies have been bred all they want to do is sell them for as much as they can.

3 - Reputable Breeders – Finding these breeders is not so easy but it is well worth the time looking for them and investigating them. They are usually dog lovers who may make some spare income from selling some of their puppies but money is not in the forefront of their mind. The welfare and health of their dogs however is! They will most likely show their dogs and will have plenty of trophies and awards that they want to proudly show off to you. Because they are committed to their golden retrievers their main objective is for the puppies to go to a good kind caring home. This sort of golden retriever breeder would be where you would want to get your new puppy from.

When it comes to choosing puppies with a nice temperament you need to start by looking at the traits of the breeding pair. A caring breeder will be more than happy to let you see the breeding pair and let you get to know them. This way you can see what sort of temperament they have as this will be passed down to the puppies.

Health problems in later years can be minimized by asking the breeder if you can see any papers they have that shows that the adults have been checked for any inherent problems or diseases. A hip problem in elderly goldens is known as hip dysplasia and is common in this breed of dog. You should check with the breeder if the parents of the puppy have been checked for this problem by the OFA. This is a test that is based around using an x ray diagnostic tool. If the breeder tells you that you don't need to bother with things like that, hear those alarm bells ringing and move on!

In simple terms, finding the right golden retriever pup is down to choosing a reputable caring breeder. While I'm not saying all pet stores are uncaring and the same would be said for your "backroom or home breeders" , but the sensible choice would be to find yourself a reputable breeder. Take the time to get to know the parents of the puppy you are looking to buy and you will know basically what sort of temperament the puppy will have when it grows up. None of us has a crystal ball to look into the future to definitely say there will be no health problems. But by asking to see any certificate of proof to show there are no known diseases or in-bred health problems that may exist in the parents, you shortening the odds of there being any major future risks.