Buying a Puppy
The Type Of Dog We Breed
We believe strongly in versatility in the Golden Retriever and that philosophy is the foundation of our breeding program. We strive for Goldens that are true to the breed standard—Golden Retriever puppies that grow to be attractive, active, balanced dogs with good temperaments.
Breeding healthy dogs is extremely important to us. We spend a tremendous amount of time and money making sure we test for hereditary health issues as well as breeding dogs whose pedigree we know well enough to know the health and longevity of the dogs in our puppies’ backgrounds.
You can’t have an active, balanced dog without good conformation. To us, that means a structure that allows a dog to work all day without having physical limitations that would cause the dog to tire or break down. Our breeding dogs mostly have conformation championships or certificates of conformation assessments (CCAs).
Breeding the true Golden temperament is important to us. We are looking for smart, friendly, outgoing, biddable, confident dogs who are happy to work all day, whether that work is hunting upland game or ducks, participating in hunt , agility or obedience tests or amusing a couple of 5 year olds. The same dog needs to have an “off” switch that will allow him to come in the house at night, and settle down at your feet.
Our dogs do well with amateur trainers, weekend hunters and active families who are willing to provide the training and mental and physical stimulation that this type of dog requires. Because we’re breeding balanced dogs, our dogs do not do well at either end of the spectrum. They don’t have the frenetic energy nor the tolerance for the high pressure training required for a competitive field trial dog. Neither are they low energy enough to lie around all day without needing a good walk every single day, often multiple times a day.
Our dogs tend to be medium gold to dark gold/red but we don’t breed for colour. We believe that matching owners with puppies who meets their needs takes precedence over colour.
Reserving a Puppy
It’s extremely important to us that our puppies are well matched and well suited to their homes. You can expect to have a number of conversations with us and to come meet our adult dogs in our home. We’ll ask you questions about your lifestyle, your experience with dogs, what draws you to our type of dogs and we must be very confident that the type of dog we breed is suited to you. Because we don’t breed a lot and because there is a pretty good demand for the type of dog we breed, you can expect to be on a reservation list for some time, often 6 months to a year. We expect to have a relationship with you for the lifetime of your dog. And often, that relationship lasts the lifetime of multiple dogs.
Once we’ve mutually agreed that your home is a good fit, you’ve made a decision to purchase a puppy, we ask for a small, non-refundable deposit as a reservation. This deposit does a number of things. First, it indicates to us that you’re a serious buyer and gets you on our reservation list. Secondly it helps us recover some of our costs if you decide down the road that one of our puppies is not for you. We really and truly breed our dogs because we love to. We really and truly don’t make any money at it. In order for us to continue to do it, we have to cover our costs. If we’ve spent all the time and effort we spend to start to build our relationship with a puppy owner and that person decides to go elsewhere, the deposit compensates us for our time and effort in having to re-jig our reservation list. That’s not to say we’re inflexible. It’s most important to us that the timing works well for you and for puppy. If something has come up in your life and when the litter is due is not a good time for a puppy, please give us a call and we can explore options together. And if Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate with us and we need to have a litter at a different time, or we don’t get what we’re expecting for a litter, we’ll do the same with you.

What You Get
All our puppies are CKC and UKC registered. They come with a health guarantee, have been examined and cared for by our veterinarian. That includes a thorough examination, scheduled deworming and vaccinations. All our puppies are microchipped for identification.
We spend a tremendous amount of time socializing our puppies in the living area of our home to pretty much anything we can think of that they might experience in their new homes. By the time you pick your puppy up, he or she will have been introduced to dogs (other than their littermates and dam), cats, game birds (depending on the season, these may be live), water (summer puppies), people of all ages, sizes and physical attributes, crates, car rides, obedience and agility equipment. The will have spent lots of time outside on various surfaces (wood, grass, gravel etc). They will have explored new places and loud noises. They will have been bathed, had their nails trimmed regularly and have been handled A LOT. They will have started their housebreaking and will be sleeping in a kennel at night.
It is extremely important to us that our puppies are well matched to their new homes. Since we know our puppies better than anyone, we use all the information we’ve gathered from you about your lifestyle, your experience, your expectations and plans with the puppy to determine who goes where. We have an outside breeder or judge evaluate conformation when the puppies are 8 weeks old.
We have a lifetime commitment to every single puppy we breed. We expect to remain in contact with you throughout the puppy’s life. You can call us any time, with any question or concern. We will take any dogs of our breeding back at any time for any reason.
We have shipped puppies, but we’re finding that regulations for flying dogs as cargo have gotten to the point where it’s tremendously costly and difficult to do. In most cases, it is less expensive for an owner to fly to us and pick their puppy up, and fly home than it is to ship. It’s certainly less stressful on everyone that way as well. If you live a fair distance away and wish to discuss getting your puppy home, please call us and we’re happy to talk to you about that.
Contact Us
Mark Edwards and Mary Barrett
Debert, Nova Scotia
(519) 993-1345