Wife and I have decided that we will most likely replace our recently passed dog with a Golden some time later this year. Wife is not a huge fan of large dogs, but had Goldens growing up. I like pretty much all dogs and I like the breed a lot.

Realized, in thinking back, that I have never really gotten to actually pick any of my family dogs even though I generally bonded with them the most in the family. Loved them all. Decided, maybe selfishly, that I want to pick this one. I want to start at puppy. Most we have had have been rescues. I don't want to adopt a large breed puppy from a rescue because I don't want them fixed too early.

Having never done the buy a dog from the breeder thing, I have no idea how the process actually goes. Would love some advice. Don't really care about pedigree, will have them spayed or neutered, but want to have the line be solid and checked for the known issues of the breed. Don't hunt. Don't want to break the back. Really just want a well adjusted, sweet natured, playful companion pup.

Any recommendations on breeders? We are in Dallas. Understand we may need to travel a bit. Definitely want to meet the puppies and pick. How does the process actually work? Looking around online, it seems that many want you to pay upfront before anything is actually on the ground. Information on the process on most of the websites is sketchy to me. Kind of wary of just picking a random breeder online.

Texags has generally steered me in the right direction on things like this.....

TIA

Tracy Garner in Edom. Not too terribly far from Dallas. I've had 3. Wonderful dogs! Goldens are her life. Excellent bloodlines. Does it right. DM me if you want her info. Others on here have dogs from her.

+1 Tracy

Smart and loves people and kids.

We're on our second set of Goldens. Love the breed. That being said, don't skimp on who you get one from. I've gone "cheap" on all 4 we've purchased over the last 25 years and purchased from backyard breeders. All 4 were great dogs but 2 have had health issues that I'm not sure if its just bad luck or possible genetic issues from inbreeding? One had severe skin eczema. Sweetest dog ever but couldn't keep her inside because she flaked skin everywhere. Our current male dog has food allergies. We believe we narrowed it down to chicken but when he eats certain foods he has skin problems as well and develops hot spots and looses hair.

When our current set passes one of these years, if Tracy is still breeding, I'll probably get one from her.

No genetic health problems that I have ever saw from Tracy's Goldies. We did some due diligence asking people on TexAgs before we got ours 6 years ago. So many positive comments on the health of her dogs long term. Made us feel confident and so far ours has been super healthy. We had to find the right food for her and that's really it.

Oh they shed but you know that already.

Our golden from Tracy is now 7.5 and she has no health issues either.