Our much loved rescue dog, Dylan, is (probably) a golden retriever/border collie cross.  He is 13 or 14 now and we are starting to think about what do when the inevitable happens.  If he is anything to go by the retriever/collie mix is excellent.  Our first port of call will probably be a rescue centre again and to widen our search by breed.  But if we wanted to find a golden retriever/border collie puppy any suggestions on how best to find one?

Highly unlikely as those who purposefully cross breed don't tend to health test the parents. Chances of a reputable breeder who have both breeds and end up with an oops little is very slim too.
Crossing as I'm sure you're aware gives massive differences within a litter and within litters. You may have a pup which has the brains of a collie which is the size of a golden or Vice versa. It's a complete lottery when people cross breed as you will probably see from the many poodle crosses. Their coats and temperament vary massively. Even size to many degrees.
I would consider rescues or do research on actual known breeds. Is there any reason why a border collie or a golden isn't suitable?

^

There used to be someone breeding this cross under the Coltriever affix but I can't  find any recent information and web page is gone.
They were bred for obedience and were successful in that field. Sorry not much help.

Perhaps look onto Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retrievers, they look a bit like a collie/golden cross and often get mistaken for one if they turn up at a rescue who are not too hot on their dog breed identifying.

Alternatively look at the working bred goldens

In both cases you will be able to find well bred health and temperament tested dogs

Margaret Bradley is the name of the lady who bred the Coltriever obedience dogs. She lived in Sutton in Ashfield, Notts. There was also another breeder using similar bloodlines in the same area, sorry can't remember the name, but her affix was Retcoll.

Had forgotten about Retcoll no up to date info for them either

If you search she is on Facebook.  Margaret Bradley (Coltriever) she has pics of her dogs too.

There used to be someone breeding this cross under the Coltriever affix but I can't  find any recent information and web page is gone.

Sadly the lady who holds the Coltriever kennel name is no longer breeding & the person who advertises calling his dogs coltreivers does no health testing & basically breeds for money.

Patricia Kirk of Pepsanner Golden retrievers has bred a few collie x goldens in the past but not for quite a while I think.

In about 99% of cases, the idea of a "responsibly bred crossbreed" is a contradiction in terms.  It comes down to why people are breeding.  People breeding crossbreeds are not breeding them to show.  Nor to "better the breed" - since there is no definition of what the breed should look like or perform like.  They are USUALLY not breeding for performance either.  In fact, the reason that 99% of crossbred litters occur, is SOLELY for money.  And breeding solely for money, is not the mark of a responsible breeder.

HOWEVER, there have been historically a very tiny number of breeders who breed for performance events where crossbreeds can compete (ie working trials, or agility) who deliberately breed crossbreeds and are responsible breeders.  Finding them is difficult and they are rare as hens' teeth, but looking at either ads on Working Trials site or Agilitynet might show some deliberate and responsible crossbred litters.  In addition, you might find some responsibly bred sprocker litters (springer x cocker) which have been bred for the field - they won't be able to compete in gundog events but are quite a popular cross on shoots and for working gundog folk.

So basically - you are always looking at the REASON behind a litter being bred and ensuring this is not for MONEY, but to produce puppies designed to excel at some performance sport (since as crossbreeds it definitely won't be in the show ring!), and then making sure they are responsibly bred in other ways - health-tested and raised well.

But in short, I think you will have much more success trying to identify a pedigree dog you like which is responsibly bred rather than trying to find a responsibly bred crossbreed....

> In about 99% of cases, the idea of a "responsibly bred crossbreed" is a contradiction in terms.  It comes down to why people are breeding.  People breeding crossbreeds are not breeding them to show.  Nor to "better the breed" - since there is no definition of what the breed should look like or perform like.  They are USUALLY not breeding for performance either.  In fact, the reason that 99% of crossbred litters occur, is SOLELY for money.  And breeding solely for money, is not the mark of a responsible breeder.

I'm glad you said this because I hesitated to, and enter the fray

LOL

Food for thought.  Thanks to everyone who took the trouble to post.

With any of the Top Ten breeds or crosses, the majority of breeders are only breeding for money, and with no or few health tests done.

Some of the "breed clubs" and forums for Cockapoos, Labradoodles, etc actually have a minimum requirement for health tests before you can advertise a litter. I'm not sure if they take the breeders word or verify the results, but it is better than the listing done on the KC site.

With any of the Top Ten breeds or crosses, the majority of breeders are only breeding for money, and with no or few health tests done.

Please don't generalise! I breed one of the top 10 breeds and I can assure you that I, along with many who work my breed are not breeding for money! I know there are many bad breeders, but please don't tar us with the same brush!

They didn't - they said that the majority of breeders were breeding for money, not all of them.  And unfortunately, it is true - and it's true of most breeds IMO, top ten or otherwise.

OP - I suspect you are going to have real difficulty in finding a responsibly bred pup of this particular cross, because it isn't a popular one.  While popularity does encourage the greeders, a few will jump on the band wagon but do it with health testing - but at the moment, crossbreed-wise, that's doodles.  I've not heard of any non-doodle crosses that have been bred from health tested parents apart from one maltese cross litter.

I think you'd have more luck looking in rescues for that cross or, widening your parameters and looking for other similar crosses.  Collie crosses in general tend to come out as really good dogs, depending what they're crossed with - I've got a lab/collie and I had a GSD/collie, and both have been absolutely brilliant.  Same of the ones I've met.

Looking at the prices asked (if not obtained?!) for my breed these days, it would be hard to not go to 'doing it for money'.   Of course, asking and getting are two different things and I was amazed really, to learn that bartering happens within the dog world these days.   In my day () the price asked was the price asked.   And for us, the HOME was always way ahead of income.   We bred only for our next generation so provided I got that, a good puppy or two (or on one occasion, three), going forward, I was satisfied if we broke even.   Which if anybody adds up what is involved in breeding, from foundation animal to puppy on ground, is unlikely ever to happen.

Pound Puppy in Poole seem to get in a lot of young collie X puppies - I'm sure you'll find lots in rescues around the country though.

I have tried very hard over the years to find a well bred goldie x border collie (my very first dog was this cross) but was never successful.  Good luck :)