One of the most popular breeds of dog that routinely make a great pet is the Golden Retriever. They do demand regular grooming, daily exercise and a lot of socializing, but they will return love and companionship that is priceless. You'd expect a breed like this to be in high demand - and you'd be right.



If you have no idea of what you are getting yourself in for, stop and go check out the requirements for these big energetic dogs. There's no point in getting a Golden Retriever if you can't be sure you can commit to his or her proper care.

The best places to find Golden Retriever puppies for sale is from licensed breeders or from Golden Retriever breed rescues. Technically, a breed rescue will not have Golden Retriever puppies for sale, but they will have adoption fees of a few hundred dollars. The adoption fee is to discourage those who would use the dogs for nefarious purposes. Breed rescues rarely have young puppies and usually have males.

These puppy mills not only treat the adult breeding dogs very cruelly - often never taking them to see a vet in their short, miserable lives - but the puppies produced are usually sickly, mentally challenged troublemakers instead of good pets.

If this is your first dog, then you are advised to go to a breeder. You will have to be put on a waiting list until your puppy is born and weaned and you will pay a lot more, but you will also get a lot more. You get a limited contract, you get beginning training for your puppy, you get to meet the puppy's parents and get to check out the health certificates of the parents. You also get a place to call for help after you pay for the puppy.

The best place you can go to find Golden Retriever puppies for sale is from an AKC licensed breeder. You can find them on the web, by going to dog shows, through classifieds in dog magazines or from personal recommendations by people you know with well-behaved Golden Retrievers. When looking online, ignore any site that has puppies 365 days of the year. That's a puppy mill (or puppy broker) in disguise as a breeder.

A Golden Retriever breeder knows the personalities of all of his or her puppies and knows how to best match a puppy to your home, lifestyle and level of Golden Retriever experience. Fortunately, there are far more breeders who love dogs and treat them well then there are evil breeders.

Go to see the parents of your prospective puppy to see what kind of dogs they are - and what conditions they live in. Never buy a puppy you have never met.