Can. Ch. Sunbeam's Unlimited Potential at the Golden Retriever National.

The cost of our Sunbeam puppies depends on the breeding. We charge more if the parents are in the SDHF or have other special accomplishments. We typically charge $1800 - $2000 depending on pedigrees and accomplishments.

Sophia, Sunbeam Toasty Calico Ciabatta Love Her at ten months.

You are not actually purchasing the puppy since here is no transfer of ownership as we remain as co-owners. You are paying us a fee for the raising and socialization of the puppy we will co-own.

We consider these prices to be at the low to middle end of what purebred Golden Retriever puppies are being sold for in Southern California.

If you want to get a rescue Golden Retriever, the best place is at the Golden Retriever Rescue that is affiliated with the local Golden Retriever Club. In Southern California that is here. It's also a great place to make a donation.

Sunbeam's Fontina Turner in agility.

 

GETTING A SUNBEAM PUPPY

If you are specifically looking for a Sunbeam Golden, we do have litters from time to time and usually place our puppies from a waiting list. As one of our key interests is in breeding dogs to compete in the show ring, we are breeding for dogs that typify, for us, the standard in conformation, temperament and movement. If we are fortunate, we get one or two show candidates in a litter and of course the rest go to wonderful pet homes.

All the dogs we breed have eye, hip, elbow and heart clearances. We are happy to provide you in advance with information on our contracts and guarantees. Our preference is to breed only Goldens who have already achieved their AKC Championships. Sometimes there are wonderful animals that either don't like to show but excel in other areas or sometimes we just cannot get the shows we need to go to. Exhibiting dogs is time consuming and expensive.

THE PROCESS

If you are on our list for a puppy

(a) we will tell you when we are expecting a litter and

(b) we will advise you when we know puppies are on the way (after we have done an ultrasound). At that time we would appreciate the courtesy of a response that you have found another puppy or that you are still interested in the litter. We do this so if there are puppies available, we can notify others.

(c) when puppies are two days of age, we contact you again and if you are still interested, we ask for a $200 deposit. That deposit is non-refundable if you change your mind. If for some reason we don't have a puppy for you, then we do refund the deposit. At that point, if we have more people interested in puppies than we have puppies available, the order of deposits determines who stays on the list.

If we have not actually met you in person, we would ask that we get together at that time to talk in depth about your living situation for a puppy and how you plan to raise it. If you have children, we would want to meet them at this time as well. And you should want to meet us ahead of time to make sure you want to have a long-term relationship with us.

Puppies are ready to go home at about 8 - 9 weeks weeks. We microchip all puppies before they leave. When we get your deposit, we will email you your "puppy packet" which has a list of the "stuff" you'll need to have on hand for your puppy.

WHY YOU MAY NOT WANT A SUNBEAM PUPPY

You cannot pick your puppy.

We encourage you to come out and interact with puppies as often as you would like once they are three weeks of age. You can give us your preferences. But please remember this is not a business where you choose your product. Until puppies are eight weeks of age, we cannot tell which one we would like to have to show. And until we decide, it's hard to assign puppies. We try to work with you but please keep this in mind.

We are often asked what the difference is between a show puppy and a pet and it is hard to quantify. First of all, you need to know we make mistakes in our choices as do most breeders. Slight variations in structure, attitude and movement usually make the difference. Those puppies that are available as pets will then be placed with the families to whom we have agreed to sell based on family situation and puppy personality. We are with the puppies 24/7 and so feel we are in the best position to do the matching.

In litters of the quality that we are breeding, there are not "bad" puppies; naughty perhaps, but not substandard.

We are your co-owner for life.

Pets are placed on Limited Registration which means that you can register them with AKC and they can participate in all AKC activities except conformation (dog shows). Should they ever be bred, their offspring cannot be registered with AKC. We do this to make certain that we do not have Sunbeam dogs being bred without clearances or that there is no value in reselling our dogs to puppy mills and commercial breeders. Dogs that are placed with potential as show dogs are sold on full registration which means their offspring can be registered.

There is no alternative to this. Again, this is the way we protect ourselves against someone buying a Sunbeam dog and re-selling it or breeding it without clearances. We don't want puppies back or breeding rights. We do this to make sure that dogs are not passed on and that bitches are not bred without clearances.

You cannot alter your puppy at an early age.

We all know the common wisdom is that you can spay or neuter early and it is fine. If you have not read this section under health, I would urge you to do so now wherever you decide to get a dog. I would also recommend this page of health information on early spay and neuter. In all dogs there are many adverse effects from early spay and neuter and in Goldens there are life threatening issues. So if either socially, as there is a great deal of peer pressure or to make licensing less expensive or for convenience reasons you are planning on altering a female before she has a season or a male before 14 months, you will not want a Sunbeam puppy.