Puppies

Important Note: We receive a lot of inquiries for puppies and because we are not commercial breeders, we usually have a waiting list and puppies are occasionally available to approved homes only. To be considered for a puppy, please complete the puppy questionnaire and return to us. We are trying our best to respond to all puppy inquiries but we are not able to help everyone with a puppy. We follow a strict screening process for prospective puppy owners and will only consider an application for a puppy upon receipt of a completed questionnaire.

Where to Start

Try answering the questions below and if you have answered “yes” to all of them, you then need to make a decision on what kind of dog to adopt: -

Will there be someone at home to give sufficient quality time to your dog?
Have you sufficient space for a dog?
Does your lease / complex allow you to keep a dog?
Are you prepared to exercise your dog sufficiently?
Is there open space either near your home or that you are prepared to drive to where you are allowed to exercise your dog if your grounds are not big enough?
Can you afford veterinary fees?
Are you prepared to give up time to ensure that your dog has the necessary training to socialise and to learn to obey basic commands like “sit” or “stay”?
Do you know that some types of dog are more noisy or more energetic than others?
f you decide to adopt a puppy, are you prepared for some damage in your home (“toileting” accidents or chewing items, for example)
Have you the time to groom a dog properly or can you afford grooming fees/
Can you afford to feed your dog properly – and we do mean “properly” – not makeshift diets, the cheapest food available of left-overs!
Do you appreciate that dogs, like people, grow old and may need special care and attention later in their lives?
If you cannot leave your dog with responsible relatives or friends when you go on holiday, can you afford the cost of boarding kennels?
Are you prepared to love and care for a dog all its life, which is often more than ten years: - and not just when it is a cuddly puppy?

And Other Decisions
It isn’t unreasonable to make a decision relating to the size of the dog. Don’t forget that even within breeds, sizes vary so (measuring from the shoulder) Standard Poodles can be over 38cm, Miniature Poodles between 28cm and 38cm and the smallest, Toy Poodles coming in at 28cm and under. Then bear in mind that the tallest breed of dog is the Irish Wolfhound at around 81cm. The smallest is the Chihuahua at between 13,5 and 18cm. Libraries and breed clubs are wonderful sources of additional information. But don’t forget that if you decide to adopt a cross-bred Great Dane at your local SPCA, you will be looking at a rather a large dog when the puppy grows to full adulthood!

Adoption fees vary from SPCA to SPCA depending on what is included (sterilization is ALWAYS included and is compulsory). Some include a collar and disc, others microchip identification etc.

Prices of purebred dogs vary and may also depend on availability or background. A Bill of Sale and any conditions attached to the sale should be obtained in writing. There have been cases of people who spent hundreds, if not thousands of Rands on purchasing a cuddly puppy with no receipts or anything, and then they wonder what to do if anything goes wrong.

Many “breeds” of dog are advertised on the Internet at lower prices (can’t believe we are talking about “advertising” and “prices” in relation to dogs) than those of reputable breeders. Be cautious, to say the least. Online shopping may be the norm now but it is certainly not recommended for the adoption of pets. Complaints about such purchases continue to proliferate, including the common complaint that the dog was not purebred at all.

Words of warning also go out in relation to gimmicks such as advertising “Labradoodles” as if this was a recognized breed and asking high prices. Many a time, people are fooled and find themselves paying way over the odds for the progeny of an unplanned mating between a Labrador Retriever and a poodle.

Male or Female?
This decision falls away if the dog or puppy is sterilized, regardless of whether it is male or female. Bitches come into heat, attract males for miles around and can be a nuisance to you as well as the neighbors. We all know that un-neutered males wander – or try to if there is a sniff of a bitch on heat.

There is simply NO EXCUSE for breeding with dogs with known problems or not doing health checks. As a prospective puppy owner the following should be NON NEGOTIABLE when you are considering buying a puppy:

ALL HEALTH CHECKS FOR BOTH PARENTS TO BE DONE - INCLUDING HIP AND ELBOW GRADINGS, EYE TESTS AND DNA TESTS. BREEDING OF ANY SCORE BELOW A - "C2/D1:2" IS UNACCEPTABLE.
WHERE POSSIBLE ASK ABOUT PROBLEMS THAT THE PARENTS OR THEIR PARENTS MIGHT HAVE HAD OR PRODUCED - A GOOD BREEDER WILL BE OPEN AND HONEST ABOUT THIS.
VISIT THE PUPPIES AND SEE WHERE THEY ARE RAISED - THEY SHOULD NOT BE RAISED IN KENNELS.
WHEN VISITING PUPPIES THEY SHOULD BE HEALTHY, CONFIDENT AND HAPPY TO INTERACT
ALWAYS ASK TO SEE THE PARENTS OF THE PUPPIES (WHERE POSSIBLE)
ASK ABOUT HEALTH CHECKS AND BREEDING PRACTICES AND AFTER SALES SUPPORT
ASK IF THE BREEDER IS ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN ANY DOG SPORTS - SHOWING, OBEDIENCE, TRIALS, ETC

ASK ABOUT PEDIGREES AND CoI (COEFFICIENT OF INBREEDING)
PARENTS AND PUPPIES MUST BE REGISTERED WITH KUSA (The Kennel Union of South Africa) - NO other registering body is accepted.
Don't fall into the trap where the breeders advise you to refer to the parents of the Dam and Sire for health checks - this does NOT mean the parents of your puppies will NOT have health problems.
Beware of Breeders that always have puppies READILY available - reputable breeders dont breed often and usually have waiting lists. Its best to WAIT for a well bred puppy!
Research different breeders and their dogs and select adults that YOU like as the offspring will end up looking like the parents.
Interact with the parents (where possible) as the temperament of your puppy will most likely be similar to the parents.
Ask for Temperament Assessments to be done by Accredited Animal Trainer / Behaviorist to match the correct puppy to your home, family and lifestyle. If you are an active family you would not want the most placid and calm puppy necessarily and vice versa.

WHAT IS A REGISTERED DOG?
Only the Kennel Union of South Africa is an accepted registry of Purebred Golden Retrievers. Any other organization is not affiliated to FCI.
The Kennel Union of South Africa - www.kusa.co.za

What Does Health Checks mean?
As all purebred dogs suffer from certain genetic and hereditary conditions, it is always required to do the necessary health checks required for the breed. In Golden Retrievers the following Health Checks must be done:

HIP and ELBOW Displaysia Grading
Eye Certificate
DNA Testing

How to Decode Puppy Adverts
Unfortunately in every country and with every breed there is inevitably those that dont have the best interest of the breed at heart and their only motivation is to line their pockets with the income from breeding litters. Golden Retrievers are one of the world's most popular breeds and it is therefore very easy to make a lot of money from puppy farming.

In the 20+ years that I have been involved in Golden Retrievers I have heard and seen horrifying things happen to the Golden Retriever Breed in South Africa and since the breed is one of my greatest passions in life, I dont just stand by and let things happen.

There is not a lot that one single person can do, but we try by educating the public NOT to support these breeding farms and to rather go to reputable, respective and accredited breeders - yes, you might end up paying a bit more for your puppy but there is no price that can be put on a healthy, well bred golden retriever that should live a happy, healthy life up to +-15 years.

Throughout the years I have had a lot of distraught puppy owners contact me with issues with their young puppies - puppies dying at a very young age, having eye problems, etc.

We are dealing with "live stock" here and although we can never guarantee a perfectly healthy puppy, reputable breeders do the utmost to ensure that we breed with the healthiest dogs possible AND that we provide the owners with all the help, advice and guidance that we can.

Purebred, Crossbred or SPCA Special
Adopting a purebred dog means that you will know how big the puppy will grow, what kind of coat it will have, the general temperament to expect etc. But there is no guarantee you will have the world’s best specimen. Any dog may fall prey to some disease or have social problems although most of the latter are caused by inadequate training and irresponsible ownership.

With a purebred dog, a responsible breeder will provide you with sight of the registration papers of the mother and perhaps also the father, showing the ancestry. If the puppy has been registered, you will be able to get a Registration Certificate and Certified Three Generation Pedigree as issued to the breeder by the Kennel Union of Southern Africa.

A “crossbred” dog is the result of the mating of two distinct recognized breeds (for example, the mother a Border Collie and the father a Labrador). The crossbred puppy make take the characteristics of either or both parents. You may have a rough idea of how your puppy may grow but there is no guarantee as to size, coat or anything else.

“An SPCA Special” is often taken to mean a mongrel or a “brak” but SPCAs often have purebred dogs available for adoption. Purebred or not, each dog or puppy adopted from an SPCA must be sterilized. If you take your definition of an SPCA “special” to be a mongrel, then the literal definition is a dog born of parents which already have a mixture of breeds. Mongrels can make ideal pets but, no-one can guarantee anything about size, temperament or coat: - it depends which breeds are dominant.

And if you DO go the Purebred Route

Some questions to ask the breeder which anyone reputable will answer without hesitation and give accurate, informed answers: -

What are the upsides and downsides of this breed? (all breeds have downsides)
How often are puppies available? (It takes devotion to breed dogs successfully and so be cautious of any breeder who always seems to have puppies available or on the way)
What are the genetic problems of this breed? (No breed is free from genetic problems)
Can I see where the puppies were raised?
May I see the mother and her registration papers?
Do you provide any written health guarantee on a puppy and over what period of time?
Do you provide any written offer of compensation against hereditary defects?
Do you provide a record of vaccinations?
Do you provide a diet sheet for any puppy I might purchase?
Could you provide me with the names of any previous puppy buyers from whom I might obtain a written reference?

And finally, if you decide to go this route, two questions to ask yourself:

Is the breeder caring and friendly?
Is this a breeder with whom I want to deal and with whom I can have rapport?

Before Buying a Golden Retriever - please give careful consideration to the following:

Is there somebody at home most of the time to look after it, especially while it is still a puppy? – a quick visit at lunch time is NOT ENOUGH.
Do you have sufficient space to have a dog? Remember, a big dog needs adequate space to live and exercise in. (and Goldens are active dogs with working brains)
Is your property adequately fenced, so that the dog is safe and can not get out into the street?
Is your garden safe? (i.e. is your pool fenced off? Are there any high places where your puppy could fall off?
Can you afford vets’ fees if the dog is ill?
Can you afford to feed the dog properly?
Is a Golden suitable to your surroundings & life style? (GOLDENS ARE MORE PEOPLE ORIENTATED THAN OTHER BIG BREEDS AND CONSTANTLY NEED CONTACT WITH PEOPLE)
Do you know that if a Golden does not have people contact constantly it becomes withdrawn, destructive and miserable?
Will your Golden be allowed indoors during the day and to sleep?
Are you prepared for some digging & damage in the garden while you Golden is growing up? (puppies go through the delinquent teenager stage before they grow up)
Do you know that a Golden is a compulsive “retriever” and that punishment or a reprimand for retrieving can be detrimental to the dog’s attitude and to your relationship with the dog?
Do you have time to groom the dog regularly?
Are you prepared to take time (and money) to train the dog to ensure it is a pleasure to live with? (All dogs should be obedience trained even if you don’t wish to train competitively)
Do you realize that dogs, like people, grow old and may need special care and / or medication?
Are you prepared to love and care for your Golden for all of its life, and not just when it is a cuddly puppy?
Do you commit yourself never to physically punish your puppy? A stern voice and a finger pointing close to his nose showing your displeasure will do more wonders than all the smacking in the world.

In order to secure a puppy, please provide us with the following information

Please go through all the information provided on the website regarding our dogs, about Golden Retrievers to ascertain whether a Golden Retriever is suitable for your lifestyle. Take everything into consideration - from your current situation, possible future relocation, current family and future family plans, work situation as well as financial situation.
Then please complete the puppy questionnaire that provides us information about your family, lifestyle, location, home and current situation in order for us to determine if a Golden Retriever will be a suitable addition to your family. Golden Retrievers are not the ideal dog for every family and we provide information on the website regarding this.
Please send us the questionnaire and we will be in touch, advising you of our current litters or future planned litters and if we can consider you as a prospective owner.
We charge a premium price for our puppies (between R15,000 and R20,000, depending on the dogs used and the number of puppies in a litter) and details of what is included and what we offer is also provided on the website. All our puppies are registered and options for non-registered puppies is not available. We also sell our puppies with breeding restrictions and discourage irresponsible breeding practices.
Once you have been selected as a prospective puppy owner, we will keep you up to date on the progress of the pregnancy, litter and puppies. We will also provide regular updates on our Facebook page.

Important Note: Due to the popularity and demand of Golden Retriever in South Africa, we are not able to provide everyone with a puppy. It is important to note that we screen our puppy owners and that we are only able to consider you as a prospective owner if all the information requested is provided. We spent a lot of time to make our website as comprehensive as possible to answer all the questions that you might have and therefore there will be a delay in response if all the requested information is not provided. We do receive a lot of inquiries and we are doing our best to respond to all.

We feed Hills to our own dogs and recommend Hills to all our Puppy Owners. Our puppies are raised on Hills from birth to weaning and they get their Hills Welcome Pack together with the Puppy Pack. We also feed our females Hills Puppy from the time that we start planning a litter and return to the normal Adult food after the puppies has gone to their forever homes! We have proven that by feeding Hills, our puppies grow up strong, their health checks for Hip and Elbow displaysia is improved and the puppies "grow" a bit slower, allowing for their bones and growth plates to close accordingly to their age. We have found that by feeding Hills Puppy kibble and Hills Puppy tins, also prevent runny tummies once they start their weaning from mommy! We provide all our puppy owners with a large bag of Hills Puppy food to ensure that our puppies remain on Hills (to avoid any tummy upsets by changing over to a different diet in their new homes). We recommend that all new owners keep feeding their puppies on Hills - at the very minimum until they are 18 months old!