My partner and I are looking to get a golden retriever puppy in the next few months and we would greatly appreciate any information or advice for choosing and caring for a golden puppy.

Here's a few questions we have:
What food would be recommended for both puppy and adult stages of life?
What hip scores should we ideally be looking for in the parents of our pup?
What grooming regime should we be doing with our pup?/What tools do we need?
Should we get him professionally groomed?
Does anyone recommend the furminator de-shedding tool?

Any other invaluable products/tips for golden retrievers or puppies in general?

We would really appreciate any responses :-)

1.   Your new puppy should be kept on the same food he was having with his breeder (who should give you a diet sheet and a small supply of that food).   If you need to switch, eventually, this must be done gradually to avoid a digestive upset.   I'd be advised by the breeder who if reputable, should know what works best for her breed and bloodlines.   I'd avoid anything with a high protein level - with big breeds nothing higher than 26% is normally best - higher and it's too much, too fast = bone growth problems, potentially
2.  We all have our own 'best food' ideas, from the huge selection of complete food, to raw feeding.   Again talk this over with his breeder
3.  Hip and elbow scores - as low as possible, but always remember part of ending up without hip/elbow problems rests with sensible rearing.   Keeping exercise early on to a sensible level and not allowing the pup to get too fat/heavy early on
4.  One for the breeder to advise
5.  Never used one - a daily grooming is good enough for mine, but then I have short coated breeds

My best overall advice is find a reputable breeder - usually via the Breed Club, and take all the advice they should be giving you.

Hi. I have and have had golden retrievers for the last 27 years, and by no means an expert as they have all been pets rather then show or working dogs.
I'll try and answer your questions as best I can.
I feed my dogs on a good quality kibble, currently Arden Grange. You will need to check ingredients making sure there is a named protein such as chicken etc and there are no meat or vegetable derivatives or additives. Or you can feed your dog on a raw food diet. I don't although my dog gets some raw bones a few times a week, but there is lots of information available if you decide that's the way to go.
The average hip score is just below 20 for Goldens. That is the total for the hips which will be expressed as 5/6 (equalling 11) for example. The lower the better. Also elbows are best scored and it's preferable that those are 0. Also eyes need to be examined annually for Progressive Rentinal Atrophy (PRA) annually under the BVA/KC scheme. It's not just about health tests, temperament is equally as important and I spent a lot of time talking and meeting breeders and their dogs before I finally selected 'the one'. I have a very friendly and gentle young dog who is a credit to her breeders.
Check out the breeders in your area on the Champdogs listings and contact them. Try and get to see them and their dogs and see how the dogs react to strangers coming to their house. The best breeders will welcome you and help you as much as they can to make the right choice of dog for you. I had a choice of four puppies this time who temperamentally were all very similar. In the end I took the advice of the breeders wife who had spent the whole of her time with the puppies and had come to know their characters. So far she has got it right for us with our girl.

Goldens seem to spend the entire year shedding their coat having a couple of periods when they shed more then at other times. You need to get your dog used to being groomed (and being washed down after a muddy walk) right from the very start so that you can keep the coat in good condition and free from matts. At the moment my pup has more of less finished her winter moult as she only has a slight coat at the moment. This year she will grow her adult coat and will require more frequent grooming then she's having at the moment. I don't have her professionally groomed although there may be occasions when I will take her to a friend who is a groomer and a golden breeder to have a proper going over. I normally keep her tail trimmed to stop it picking up twigs and leaves, I thin out the more profuse hair at the back of the dog (her bottom) and snip away the excess hair on the paws and keep her leg feathers more neatly trimmed. A Goldens untrimmed feet are like sponges and can bring a lot of mud and water into a house.
For grooming I use a dog rake which gets the undercoat out very easily. Not used a furminator so can't comment.

Goldens are lovely dogs, intelligent and easy to train, however if allowed to get away with things they will exploit that. Go to training classes to learn the best techniques and to socialise your puppy. They are sensitive souls and can get upset with hard treatment, I've found a displeased face is enough to floor my dogs and I rarely need to shout. As they love their food, they respond well to a reward style of training or clicker training.

Any further questions I will do my best to answer.

More important than choosing the puppy is choosing the right kind of breeder.

They should be heavily involved with their breed, belong to a breed club, and work and/or show their dogs.  In other words breeding should be the by product of their involvement with the breed, not it's purpose.

The reason for breeding the litter should be about more than reproduction and selling puppies, there should be 'an aim' for every litter bred, usually to keep a puppy themselves for showing or working, to continue their bloodline, or even fi not keeping a pup, planning to bring something from the litter back into their breeding program in future generations (applies more to rare/numerically small breeds, so with a popular breed like Goldens there would be no need for a breeder to breed more litters than they need pups from for themselves.

Some good breeders belong to the Kennel club Assured breeder scheme, but there are members who simply meet basic care and paperwork requirements whose reasons for breeding are more commercially driven, but they are still  better than the average 'Casual' breeders (many call them Back yard Breeders), and a world apart from Puppy Farmers (be they licenced by their council or not).

There are many good breeders who do not belong to the KC ABS scheme, but it will be obvious that they are deeply involved and caring of their breed, probably breed infrequently in a very domestic TLC way, and these are most likely to belong to their breed clubs working and showing their dogs.

It goes without saying do not even look at a litter where both parents have not been Hip Scored (with a result under 20 total, but preferably no higher than low teens), Elbow Scored with a 0 outcome, clinically eye tested within the last year, and DNA tested (or clear by parents being DNA tested clear) for relevant eye conditions.

Do not visit litters if your easily swayed by cute, until you have thoroughly checked the parents (use the kennel Club health test checking tool) and breeder (google for result on their dogs, showing they are actively involved in canine events, contact breed clubs for an idea if they have a good reputation within the breed) out.

There are many breeders of Goldens ( even those on Champdogs) who do not elbow score, presumably because they feel that a less than perfect score will affect their income. Elbow dysplasia is most debilitating so I would advise not to touch a puppy from unscored ( or a higher than a 1 score) parents. It won't be worth the heart- ache to you and pain to your dog. Please remember that the K.C. Assured Breeder scheme requires breeders to test but they can then ignore the results! There are many good breeders who are not "Assured". Feel free to ring any breed club committee member for advice.

I went to a seminar of a well known orthopaedic vet.  His take on Elbow scores was that it was not proven.  Three generations of clear 0 elbow scores and then litters of elbow problems started from them. Vets I have spoken to since believe that diet and exercise are more to do with it.  While I do hip score I have stopped elbow scoring as there is nothing proven yet. Temperament is first and foremost. Far too many people take puppies out far too young, over exercise them, over feed them or underfeed them as vets say keep weight down, forgetting the puppy has to grow first. As for mean score, well that would be a lot higher if every dog was scored. When looking for a puppy go with your gut instinct.  There are some lovely breeders out there but some sharks as well.

Just because both parents scored 0 doesn't mean there isn't something lurking in the pedigree that comes out in that particular mating. Maybe if another stud from a different line had been used the puppies' elbows would have been fine. There might not enough evidence to say for sure, but why put a litter at greater risk by not testing the parents' elbows?

Thank you all very much for your replies, we really appreciate it.

We are constantly thinking of new questions so would appreciate all the help you can give us as getting a puppy isn't something we have taken lightly.

Firstly, my sister has a chocolate lab, 14 months old (up-to-date with her boosters). We wondered, how long should we wait before we introduce the puppy to her? Do we have to wait until our puppy has had all his vaccinations and is able to go on walks before we introduce them?

Does anyone have any tips on toilet training?
Has anyone had any experience with pet insurance, the best ones etc?
Any particular toys that have been helpful when teething or training?
At what stages should we start training? - I have read that for the first few weeks just love them and start training later on but I have also read to start training straight away. If this is the case, what should we try and teach him and at what age?

Thanks again :-)

No need to keep pup away from vaccinated canine family members.

It is very unlikely that the pups will have been kept in isolation, their mother and other dogs will have been socialising with the pups and still leading normal lives, even with some  extra care when outside the home (like avoiding high dog traffic areas).

In fact socialisation with family and friends dogs with known health background is vital for the pups socialisation before they can fully mix with other dogs.

As Brainless has already said, no need to keep apart if the the other dog is fully vaccinated.

House training CAN be a nightmare, or it can be so easy you wonder what people are complaining about. I would say do NOT use newspaper to house train. The pup is just learning that paper is there to be pee'd and poo Train a bit then play 'd on and you have to then teach pup to go outside, making double the work. Take pup outside as soon as pup is awake and immediately after eating. You will soon learn the signs of when puppy is ready to go to the toilet. Stay outside with puppy until you see them toileting.

I believe that training starts the minute you get the pup. Little and often though, not long sessions. Playtime is part fun part training anyway ;-)

>>We wondered, how long should we wait before we introduce the puppy to her? Do we have to wait until our puppy has had all his vaccinations and is able to go on walks before we introduce them? Does anyone have any tips on toilet training?Has anyone had any experience with pet insurance, the best ones etc?Any particular toys that have been helpful when teething or training?At what stages should we start training?

At the top/bottom of this page, you will see a Search facility. This will give you many interesting threads on all of these subjects :)

Yes, training does start from the moment you bring your puppy home. Teaching a sit, a wait (can be tricky,but you can do it), teaching a puppy to take food from your fingers gently and not snatching - there are some very good videos on this especially Kikopup. It's all training in one form or another. More formal classes can't be started until your pup has had all it's inoculations.
Toilet training. As has been said, don't use paper or puppy pads in the house as this leads the puppy to think it's ok to eliminate in the house and may well decide to wee on your unread newspaper. Take your pup outside at regular intervals, when the pup wakes, after a meal, after a playtime and at least once an hour. Within a few days you will start to see a pattern of when your pup needs to go, I even made notes of timings and she was remarkably regular. If your puppy suddenly becomes distracted, starts sniffing the floor, starts going round in circles, then it is about to toilet so whiz them outside quickly. I have a particular spot in the garden where my dogs are trained to toilet. You can teach them to toilet on command very easily. When your puppy starts to wee or poo, say a particular word. I say 'be good' others use, go wee's, be busy, or similar, it's up to you. After a while your pup will connect the dots and realise when you say those words it means go to the toilet. You may find yourself waiting around outside for your puppy to go to the toilet, but keep waiting or they may go once you are back in the house. If the pup has an accident, don't shout at it or tell it off or that will scare the pup and it won't toilet if you are watching. Just clean up using a product that will take the smell away.
I have used a crate for my puppy his time. She sleeps in at night and is safely closed into it if we are out for the day. It also speeded up toilet training as it is unusual for pups to foul there sleeping area. Puppies need to be gently introduced to crates and need to feel they are a place of safety. Feed your pup in there and toss treats into the crate to encourage it to go inside. Make it cosy and inviting. Very useful piece of equipment.