Hi all:
I'm looking at a Golden Retriever puppy from a local professional breeder. The puppy's pedigree is very good health wise. Good in hips, heart, and eyes back several generations. The only hereditary health issue I can find is that his father has developed degenerative joint disease in his elbows at about 3 years of age (diagnosed after these puppies were born). My question is would you advise buying or not buying the puppy? Is the one instance of joint disease enough to say no? Thanks in advance.

GoldenFan wrote:

Hi all:
I'm looking at a Golden Retriever puppy from a local professional
breeder. The puppy's pedigree is very good health wise. Good in hips,
heart, and eyes back several generations. The only hereditary health
issue I can find is that his father has developed degenerative joint
disease in his elbows at about 3 years of age (diagnosed after these
puppies were born). My question is would you advise buying or not
buying the puppy? Is the one instance of joint disease enough to say
no? Thanks in advance.




DJD is a form of elbow dysplasia. Elbow dysplasia IMO is more crippling
than hip dysplasia, because a dog carries most of his weight toward the
front, and lands on his front. I would be very leery of buying a puppy
from a known dysplastic sire.

Thanks for the insight Rocky. If you don't understand the big words go buy a dictionary.

Thanks for the comment Robin. It is a pity about this sire, beautiful dog from very clean lines including all ancestral siblings. This one issue showed itself and is pretty much it. I was just trying to determine whether the clean large sample of ancestors outweighed the fact that the problem was close in lineage as this is the puppys sire. Thanks again.

on Sun, 25 Mar 2007 00:33:45 GMT, GoldenFan
wrote:

I'm looking at a Golden Retriever puppy from a local professional
breeder.

Are you looking at puppies from someone who makes their living breeding
puppies? That's usually what's known as a puppy mill.

The puppy's pedigree is very good health wise. Good in hips,
heart, and eyes back several generations.

Are all the dogs in this pup's pedigree registered in the appropriate
databases, or are you taking the word of the breeder? Don't trust
someone who can't produce proof.

The only hereditary health
issue I can find is that his father has developed degenerative joint
disease in his elbows at about 3 years of age (diagnosed after these
puppies were born). My question is would you advise buying or not
buying the puppy?

You should definitely pass on this puppy.

Is the one instance of joint disease enough to say no?

The "one instance" is in a YOUNG dog who is also the puppy's sire. It's
MORE than enough reason to say no! Don't succomb to a cute face, because
the heartbreak and financial burdon of having a sick dog is simply not
worth the immediate gratification.

Find a better breeder. Start with your local Golden Retriever breed club
and ask for referrals. Branch out into adjacent areas/states if you have
to. Go meet the breeder's dogs, go to shows, talk to other breeders,
learn about the breeder you are considering. And then when you think you
have found the perfect breeder for you, ask for names of folks who have
dogs from him/her and talk to those people about their dogs and about the
breeder. A good breeder will still be in touch with those people and
will be happy to get you in touch with them.

This is how I found my breeder. My GR pup is coming home next week!

There is a good GR forum on AOL, he
http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_...=164756&func=3
&channel=Pets

Good luck!

--
Lynne

GoldenFan wrote in news:GoldenFan.4e1564
@dogbanter.com:


Rocky;295137 Wrote:
GoldenFan said in
rec.pets.dogs.health:
-
I'm looking at a Golden Retriever puppy from a local
professional breeder.-

What is a professional breeder?

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

Thanks for the insight Rocky. If you don't understand the big words go
buy a dictionary.

Before you cop a crappy attitude to a long time regular (and very helpful)
poster, you might want to get educated about a few things.

Like, anyone who is a "professional breeder" by most people's definitions
is a Puppy Mill. Those are the only real people making profits off of
breeding dogs.

Since I assume that's not what you meant, asking you to define your term
isn't at all unreasonable.

I have no idea what *you* meant by that either.

Tara

Thanks for the insight Rocky. If you don't understand the big words go
buy a dictionary.

Nice.

Let me help. Professional puppy breeder = someone whose main source of
income comes from breeding and selling puppies..... mill

Rocky knows what it means, but I assume is wondering what your meaning is.

"GoldenFan" wrote in message
...

Hi all:
I'm looking at a Golden Retriever puppy from a local professional
breeder. The puppy's pedigree is very good health wise. Good in hips,
heart, and eyes back several generations. The only hereditary health
issue I can find is that his father has developed degenerative joint
disease in his elbows at about 3 years of age (diagnosed after these
puppies were born). My question is would you advise buying or not
buying the puppy? Is the one instance of joint disease enough to say
no? Thanks in advance.


Personally?
I probably wouldn't get this particular puppy.

The problem may or may not be genetic, if it is genetic, it may or may not
be passed on, even still, do you really want to take the risk?

As far as people bad mouthing the breeder, I get the impression (which may
be totally out to lunch), that this may be a fairly responsible breeder (the
use of the term 'professional' breeder may have been unfortunate).

How did you find out about Dad's condition? I'm assuming through the
breeder. I doubt and irresponsible breeder would have told you about that.

Things to look for as far as responsible breeding:

1. How many dogs does the breeder keep? Few dogs doesn't necessarily mean
good, but many many dogs are VERY hard to give adequate care to.
2. What kind of conditions are they kept in? Are they part of the family? Or
are they lawn ornaments?
3. Are the puppies registered with a competent organization (AKC, CKC etc).
(although this is not a guaranty of quality, it does denote a certain
seriousness on the part of the breeder as far as what they are doing)
4. Read through the contract that they get you to sign. Important clauses to
look for - "No Breeding" - a responsible breeder isn't typically going to
want you breeding your dog willy nilly. Standard is a 'no breeding'
contract. If you're serious about it, they may waive this clause, (although
in this case I would hope they wouldn't, due to known potential problems in
the line). Another clause I really like is the "No surrender" clause. This
one states that you can't surrender your dog to an organization without
first talking to the breeder (they want right of first refusal). This to me
is a big one. They are willing to take responsibility for the puppy after it
leaves their premises.

Just some things to think about.

Dale