I've joined this forum so i apologise in advance if i have posted in the wrong area,
After 3 years since our last dog died and much sole searching of which breed we would get, we have decided on a golden retriever, but am at a loss as how much you should have to pay for one, We dont want to show, i just want it as a pet and to do obedience with. Any advice much welcome

Welcome to the forum lynniex, I am sure that someone knowledgeable will be along in a minute to give you some good advice.

You're looking at around £600 or so for a wellbred dog from a good breeder -anything much cheaper and you need to ask yourself why they're cheaper. (Usually the breeder has cut corners.) Make sure parents have been hip scored (19 or below) elbow scored (0) and eye tested clear.

Welcome lynniex

If you do a guided search on CD, you will find breeders with litters, and you can easily see which people have had the relevant health checks done.
Hope that helps.  :-)

Hello, I like you had lost my faithful friend and then set my heart on a golden retriever, my first port of call was the CD search area, where I found a local breeder. We went to meet her and the 6 hairy beasts ;o) - we hit it off straight away and although I had to wait 12 months before a litter was due I knew I was getting him from a good breeder who cared for her dogs. Kez came from show stock but I was very honest that he was just a family pet. I've never looked back he has been perfect in every sense. Have a look in my name there are some pics :o) Good luck

It costs exactly the same to properly rear a pet puppy as a show prospect.

The costs of the litter start long before they are born with the costs of health testing, showing or working the dog, conditioning the bitch and the costs of the travel to the stud, possibly ovulation tests and stud fee etc.

I would be very suspicious of any breeder that sold their puppies at different prices unless one was non standard completely, and even then it still cost the same to rear etc.

A well bred pup of my own breed is around £600 and I expect that Goldens may be similar, but with such a popular breed there may be more than the very little variation we get in price based on geography etc.

I would contact the breed clubs and ask them for a ballpark figure for a well bred puppy.

More importantly ensure the relevant health tests have been done on the parents, which off the top of my head at the very least would be hip Scoring (with total score below high teens), Elbow scoring (no more than 1 for each elbow, ideally 0) and eye tested within the 12 months before mating.

You would expect to pay the same amount for a pet dog as a show dog, as they are all reared the same . It really depends on where in the country you live but I would say for a nicely reared dog you would pay £650.00 minimum. This can raise up to £800.00.