Hi, we live in edinburgh and have a beautiful 7 month old golden retriever dog (murphy).

We are looking to get  bitch anytime from 15th December onward.

I realise that it may be hard as we don't want to support someone breeding them specifically for the Christmas season and althought we don't mind we would prefer the darker or the traditional golden retriever.

If anyone knows of upcoming litters from a good breeder please can you let me know?  thanks

Julie & Steve  

Guest,

I give you this advice with the best of intentions, please do not feel that I am patronising you.

I believe that you will possibly regret your decision to add a bitch puppy to your family when you already have a male puppy which will only be 9 months old in December.

Your male puppy has not yey reached adolescence and could cause you some problems in another 6 months or so, especially if you do not have a lot of experience with young male dogs. To add a female to your household, who is likely to come into season around the time that you male's hormones are surging is not a good idea and is asking for problems.

You would be much better to wait until your dog is around 2 years of age and then add another male to your family. If you ignore this advice, it means that you will need to either castrate the male (not a good idea or necessary with a Golden Retriever) or spay the female (this should not be done until at least 18 months of age), unless you have a 100% foolproof method of separating them for up to three weeks.

I think that you may have a hard time finding a reputable breeder that will sell you a puppy in your present circumstances, we certainly would not.

Enjoy the puppy that you already have and don't rush to add to your canine family.

snomaes

hi, thanks for your reply.

Unfort when i tried to reply (as i obviously hadnt registered) i put on another message.

Its on the board named creatively re golden retriever puppy.

You werent patronising as you only get a snippet of info when posting your messages. thanks for your reply

Hi there Julie & Steve,
I hartily agree with the advice that 'snomaes' has already given to you.
Don't really understand why the '15th December' date is so important, if as you say this bitch is not to be a 'Christmas Present'.  Almost all good and responsible breeders will NOT be selling puppies at this time.  So if you buy any puppy at around that date the chances are that it will from a 'Puppy Farm' with questionable parentage.

Best wishes,
Harry C

Please see my message above.

15th onward was for hols and finances. The important part was onward so includes the new year too.

When we got Murph we spoke to the golden retriever secretary in scotland and one in england too so we know to be careful

I do agree with the advice given above, two pups are extremely hard. My dogs were both wonderful at 7 months, but at 2 1/2 (border collie) and 18 months (golden retriever) now they are extrememly difficult. For the first year or so they will need seperate walks to learn to behave well on their own, and also eventually together. Although i was very careful my dogs have bonded closely (despite walking, training and sleeping seerately for hte first year) and so can be difficult at times. I waited until my first dog was 18 months and even this was not an easy age gap. Retrievers are slow to mature so you may be in for a difficult time.

Thanks for this, will take all on board.