8 week old puppies from Ch. Birnam Wood Aardvark N No Play and Ch. Sunbeam's Heaven Can Wait OD

If you are in doubt about whether you are dealing with a puppy mill or backyard breeder, tell them that you are trying to visit a few litters to make up your mind.

Ask them for referrals to other breeders who may have puppies. Or ask them for a breeder referral phone number for the local Golden Retriever Club. If you have found a backyard breeder or puppy mill they will either be unwilling or unable to help you with this.

Most Golden Retriever Clubs do insist that the sire and dam of the puppies on their referral lists be 2 years of age and have all clearances. So check with your local Golden Retriever Club to see if the person you are considering is on their list. They may be constrained from telling you someone is a puppy mill but their silence should speak volumes!

The address for the local Los Angeles Club is www.grcgla.org.

Ch. Toasty Sunbeam Five Star General as a puppy winning the 6-9 class at the GRCA National Specialty.

PUPPY MILLS AND BACKYARD BREEDERS

The difference between puppy mills and commercial breeders is not in the number of litters they have or the dogs they own. It is in their motivation, how they interact with dogs and their commitment and responsibility to the purebred dog community and the health and care they provide to dogs.

Puppy mills and Backyard Breeders have the same motivation; making money by selling dogs. If Tupperware were more profitable, they would be doing that. They breed multiple litters a year, have no involvement with their dogs other than breeding them, are not part of the purebred dog community and may or may not be selling the dogs with appropriate paperwork or contracts. It's hard to say whether these dogs have clearances or not; it's easy to falsify clearances when you are not in the mainstream. These people usually operate from home and cut costs whenever possible to increase profit. These are the people who will not talk to you about contracts and guarantees or send you paperwork on just an inquiry. Their goal is to get you to their establishment, hoping you will fall in love with the puppies. Think of them as farmers; and their product is dogs.

We've had reports that some of these people are actually abusive to potential customers who visit and then do not agree to buy on the spot, following up with phone calls and threats.

You'll find that these people almost always have puppies, have a presence on every web site that lists breeders, probably have a great web site of their own. They typically advertise in the newspaper as well as the low-end consumer dog magazines such as Dog Fancy. These people are typically not eligible, as a result of their breeding practices, to belong to local Golden Retriever Clubs. They will tell you that they don't belong because people are jealous of them and their dogs. Their dogs from untitled parents usually cost significantly more than quality dogs from a hobby or commercial breeder. These are the people selling the special European dogs and those "rare English creams".

Backyard breeders are the people who have Muffy or Tex and think it would be nice to have that yearly litter, often starting at about a year of age to make the extra money. They are often uneducated about pedigrees, clearances or health issues. Again, you'll find these people advertising in the local paper.