Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My sister has a female dog who is probably about 2 years old. She bought the dog for $300 from a lady who told her the parents are purebred but she did not want her puppies going to show homes so she was selling the puppies without papers. I live about an hour and a half away from her and did not see the dog very often, but I noticed the dog had a really short coat. I asked her why her golden retriever had such a short coat and she told me the lady said the dog is a flat coated golden retriever. I had never heard of this, so I looked it up and found a Flat-Coat Retriever and a Golden Retriever and an article that said the Golden Flat Coat Retriever was renamed the golden retriever in 1911. Now since flat coat retrievers and black or chocolate and hers is yellow it is not a pure bred though it looks just like a flat coat retriever just yellow. I wouldn't really mind just letting her think she got a deal on a golden except not she is talking about breeding the dog to a golden retriever and selling those puppies for $300 as un registered pure goldens. I worked at a shelter for 2 years and have the death of countless dogs over my head every day because there are not enough homes for all the pets out there. I thought of her breeding mutt puppies and selling them for $300 a piece where these dogs will take up a space in a home were a shelter dog could have been saved really bugs me. She thinks people deserve to get golden retriever temperments without paying a high price. I guess my question is, is there a such thing as a golden retriever having a flat coat like she is thinking? Also for sisterhood sake, should I just leave it and let her do what she wants? I am a horse person, into Paints so pedigrees mean a lot to me. I can trace part of my own horses pedigree back to the 1890s and she is a gelding. Thanks for any info you can give me.

Did your sister see the registration of the parents? Sounds to me that the breeder is trying to hide something. I'm not sure what the breeder was concerned about, it sounds like the breeder didn't want to go through the hassle of registering the litter, which isn't a lot of work. I'm thinking that the parents are not registered. It is all very questionable. Either way her dog is not registered and there is no way of proving if she is a purebred unless you go back to the breeder and verify that both parents are indeed registered. It sounds as though your sister bought a dog from a puppy farm.

What are your sister's reasons for wanting to breed? Breeding is a huge responsibility. Breeding medium to large dogs she will need a brood box, which is a box that is designed to prevent the mother from laying on and subsequently suffocating one of her puppies. I had a friend that bred Rotties. Two of her puppies were killed this way. I used one when I bred my Labs and I truly believe that it saved one of my puppies lives. I was checking on the litter and one of the puppies was missing. Sure enough she was between her mother and the wall of the brood box, fortunately, the design of the brood box keeps the mother from being able to lay completely against the wall.

Hip dysplasia is a common problem with retrievers. Before she breeds, she needs to get her hips certified through either the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (www.offa.org) or through PENNHIP (University of Pennsylvania Hip Improvement Program - www.pennhip.org). This entails having your dog anesthetized and having x-rays taken of her hips. With OFFA, she will need 1 x-ray and PENNHIP requires 3. The cost can run from $100-200. Plus, with OFFA certification, she will need to permanently mark the dog, this is done with a tattoo or more oftenly a microchip. But that is an added cost. Secondly she needs to insure that the stud used for breeding also has been certified.

She also needs to know that most breeders are lucky to break even. There is very little money in breeding. Also, good breeders work very hard to find their puppies good homes.

If I was in your shoes, I would do everything that I could to talk her out of breeding, especially with all the circumstances that are involved. And if nothing else will convince her to not breed, maybe have her visit a Golden Retriever rescue group. There are plenty of good "pet quality" goldens in rescue groups with out adding another breeder to the mix.

Good luck.