re: Advice on buying a golden retriever.

I don't have much advice on breeders, but we bought a female (red one) in Moss Point, Mississippi about three years ago and a male ten months ago in Jena, La. We only paid $500 for each one of them and they are both AKC registered. They are very smart and make the best dogs. They recently started mating and I guess time will tell.

We found both dogs on Facebook and I guess you really never know what you get when you buy a dog. Our first golden was 14 years old before we had to put her down because of a tumor. But she had no other issues. The two current goldens are issue free at this time (knock on wood); but ten years down the road can be a different story. Nothing in life is really guaranteed.

I wouldn't trade our goldens for anything and it's true; they are like family.

Our family Golden Retrievers

Regarding "inbreeding" and "overbreeding" with Golden Retrievers, read a little bit into the Coefficient of Inbreeding (COI). The COI can be found on the dogs pedigree from K9data.com. Breeders use this as a quantitative method to weigh the risks and benefits of breeding a particular dog. In short, the higher the COI, the more consistency you would have in a breed (e.g. coat color) but at the detriment to health. This is why I didn't focus on a breeder who breeds dogs for a particular coat (English Cream). Breeding for coat color would typically mean a higher COI and thus, a higher risk for health issues resulting from inbreeding/mutation of genes. Goldens in general have a higher than average COI, which contributes to their health issues.

Doesn't have a hunting blood line that I know of but love mine. Some of you may have seen him in (small) picture on cover of La Sportsman in Nov





https://www.puppiesinlouisiana.com/
in Amite, La

Tough to find the dark colored ones