Goldberry's Sweet As Sugar CGC

My wife Martha or I {Charlie} will answer your e-mail questions as promptly as possible.  We raise mainly yellows ranging from pale cream to fawn but have been known to use yellow factored blacks if the quality is there.  Our kennel is mainly conformation because they are closer to the true multi-purpose dog and are generally sounder in my opinion.

We really stress calm at Goldberry.  I have found calm dogs make far superior upland hunting dogs.  The more hyper field trial type of dogs have a place which is mainly hunting big water for diving ducks over large decoy spreads.  We no longer do this type of dog as we have found most want to bring the dog in the house and this type of dog is not suitable for the house.  Personally I like a couch potato buddy that likes to chase pheasants for me on weekends.  We do ship nationally with air freight costs currently running $375, a little more to Alaska, for the vet exam, crate and air freight costs.

We compete with our dogs, putting many obedience and conformation titles on our dogs.  Any kennel that doesn't compete probably has a motivation of money and doesn't have the outside expert opinions to make a breed better.

The AKC standard for color of yellow Labradors is from fox red to light cream.  You will notice the majority of our dogs pictured are light cream, almost appearing white, in this web site.  This is not by choice, we breed for temperament, quality and soundness and in the past the best quality has come form the lighter dogs.  This can be seen on the show pages where light colored dogs are shown winning at major events.  In a recent litter we had 5 light creams and 1 fawn.  We kept the fawn and based on her performance in competition to date it definitely was the right choice.  We select our pups using the Puppy Puzzle method and having a Labrador judge come in and grade each pup then comparing the results.  The moral to this is pick your kennel based on quality, not color, a needle nosed white Lab with health issues is no bargain.

I received a call from a Waterloo, Iowa woman while writing this text.  She purchased a white labrador from a North Dakota kennel for $995 (that kennel has since raised it's prices).  She was told the dog was half English Show but when I checked the pedigree, it had exactly zero Labrador Show Champions in the first 3 generations.  The breeders don't compete, won't take the dog back and it's ugly and so hyper she just wants to get rid of it.

5 Simple Steps To A Quality Pup From Other Breeders

1. Quality kennels use quality sires, sires should be Champions for non champion dams. For calm in the house, upland hunter type dog champion should be a conformation dog designated by CH on front of name on pedigree. For field trial competition or large decoy spread hunting champion should be AFC or FC in front of name. Champion pedigree is not the same thing and usually is a meaningless phrase.
    
2. Good guarantee of at least 24 months on hip, elbow and eye.
    
3. Puppies should have a vet exam and CERF (CERF if Veterinary Ophthalmologist available in the area).
    
4. Sire and Dam should have hip, elbow and eye clearances.
    
5. Quality kennels don't meet you halfway when driving is possible. Good kennels want you to see care used in raising your pup. Also they will allow you access to their entire kennel if they don't you should run for your car.

Labradoodles are currently very popular but no Goldberry Lab will be used in the breeding of these mistakes.  My daughter Christa has informed me that grooming on Labradoodles can be hideous (Christa spent 2 years in grooming college, graduated, and is currently working as a professional groomer in the #1 rated grooming salon in America).  What's happening is a no shed top coat and a shedding lower coat on some Labradoodles, causing owners to shave the dog creating harm to skin and balding.

Goldberry Yellow Labs is located in south central Minnesota near Mankato.  Currently Minnesota has the toughest breeder laws in the country.  Our main competition area includes South and North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Canada.

At Goldberry we believe to raise a quality dog your puppy must get its protein from a quality source.  Noble uses only de-boned human grade chicken or lamb meal, you could probably count the number of dog food manufacturers that do likewise on one hand and have fingers left over.

We feed and recommend Noble, the show dog food of Canada.  If you are interested in my published article "Dog Food - The good, the bad, and the ugly", just email me with your request.

Goldberry's Jake
Remember they are around a long time.
Don't buy impulse puppies.

Non-refundable deposits of $200 are required to place you in the selection process.  You will pick according to receipt of deposit.  You must designate male or female and show or field.  I retain first pick on all litters.
 

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