Thank you for your interest. We are not breeding again until 2025 for a 2026 litter.

SEND AN EMAIL TO PUPPY@GOLDENSHEPHERDPUP.COM TO BE ON A WAITING LIST IF A PUP YOU WANT IS TAKEN

BLACK COLOR PUPS USUALLY HAVE OUR SHEPHERD’S TRAITS-craves structured days/routines, needs socialization to avoid being overly protective, smarter to learn tricks fast with high energy to loves run/play. Herding the family is common. Needs higher protein dog foods (25% or higher with good omegas) from a sensitive digestion to avoid allergy issues.  

CREAM/GOLDEN COLOR PUPS USUALLY HAVE OUR GOLDEN’S TRAITS-super friendly but still needs socialization to avoid over protective behaviors. Shedding will be very heavy but regular brushed grooming helps. Dislikes heat and has absolutely no understanding of human personal space. Needs higher protein dog foods (30% or higher) to avoid skin and ear yeast issues from high grain foods. These are the most desired pups. 

The parents are both AKC pure breeds. These pups are a unique breed usually just right for those that can’t decide between getting German Shepherd or a Golden Retriever. Both parents are AKC Purebred parents. We search for quality bloodlines. We have been breeding this breed for about a decade with different pure bred parents and we ALWAYS get either full color cream or full color black. Other Golden Shepherd breeders that we have met all over the US get the same thing.  We never see straight ears and no multi colors (exception to a rare tiny white spot on the chest of the black pups). Mixed parents could change the look but we don’t use mixed parents for breeding. 

REHOMING COST WILL INCLUDE:

• licensed vet visit is done by a vet at 6 weeks of age to get first shots/deworming. Their next visit is due at 9 weeks of age.  They need at least 3 vet visits to get 2/3 & 3/3 parvo vaccines (to be able to go to public potty areas where unvaccinated dogs may have used the potty). Parvo is serious and deadly PLEASE keep your puppy away from public potty areas until after their 3rd vet visit. 
• microchipped (a $20 one time registration fee is not included in our cost)
• early initial bell/potty training using the pine pellets in a litter tray for the “scent” recognition but if you have carpet invest into a carpet cleaner, pull up rugs and prepare for mistakes in the first six months home. 
• top quality high protein food during pregnancy and puppy growth and no human food will be introduced (except pure raw pumpkin from a can and frozen green beans for fiber to ensure a healthy clear digestive system)
• nexgard flea/tick protection lasts for 2-3 weeks after pickup (only for summer/spring litters). Request your next dose at your vet visit.
• AKC pure bred parents with pedigrees upon request
• About a week of puppy food included (to prevent diarrhea in the first week-if no human food/cheap treats are given). We use Diamond Large Breed Natural Puppy
• Health certificate for flight carry will cost $50 extra and we must be notified before 6 weeks of age or a second visit later will have added cost. Check weight rules for carry on puppies because these puppies will be too big as a carry on and should not be in cargo to avoid long term trauma. Notify us ASAP to start carrying the pup in a carry bag a few times a day (in week 5-7) to build comfort in it and decrease whining in the cabin.

PAYMENTS
Puppy cost ranges from $1,000-$1,500 depending on the colors/sex totals at birth. Golden color males are $1,500 and they are the most desired. Golden females are $1,250-1,500 depending on the amount available at birth. Black females and males range from $1,000 -$1,250 depending on the quantity available at birth.
A $500 deposit can be made online and the balance is paid as cash only at pickup. Full payment is due at pickup. Optional added boarding fees start at 9 weeks of age and is due by 8 weeks of age.  The $10 is starts at 12:01 of each day after their 9 week birthday.  A $75 second vet visit fee is required for any pup here after 8 weeks old.  

PICKUP OPTIONS 
We are located in Central Virginia. We do not ship our puppies out but we can meet in an area around 90 miles or less from zip code 22942. If you already know where or what days you want to meet to pick up your puppy let us know asap. We need to plan this before 7 weeks of age. We will do our best to decrease your puppies ride time by meeting at a public location if you don’t want to drive all the way to us. Plan ahead to make an appointment with the most flexibility.

FLYING
If you are flying with your pup contact us by 5 weeks of age to get a health certificate for $50 extra. After 6 weeks of age it will cost up to $25 more for a rescheduled vet visit. We will also start training with a carry on bag to build comfort being in a small pet carry on bag. We do not ship our puppies.

VISITS
Visits are allowed once per week by appointment to spend up to an hour with your puppy.

PUPPIES NOT PICKED UP BY 9 WEEKS OF AGE
Pickup is before 9 weeks of age to avoid bonding with us.  Any puppy staying with us past 8 weeks must pay a $75 second vet fee.  Boarding plans MUST be planned so that we can have someone at home with them 24/7. Boarding is $50 per week (or $10 per day) after 9 weeks of age. 

REFUNDS
Deposits are refundable up to 11pm on their 5 week birthday but after that it is not refunded (to lower their rehoming costs) to find a last minute parent for an older puppy.  Email Puppy@GoldenShepherdPup.com to be on a waiting list for any taken puppy in case parents change their minds! Deposits are not refunded after 4 weeks of age to reduce the rehoming cost for the pup to find a home before 7 weeks of age.

We will post videos weekly when we have litters on our youtube channel. We can do video chats for those not wanting to visit our home to see their puppy weekly. Go to the youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@goldenshepherdpup to see new videos and videos of the litter before. The pictures at the bottom of this page are the puppies in the older videos for 2021. These pups will look the same.

We feed our puppies DIAMOND NATURAL LAMB LARGE BREED PUPPY FOOD
Mix 1/2 cup of Puppy Chicken & Rice Purina Pro Plan Can Food with 1/4 cup dry kibble diamond (AM/PM)
We leave Diamond kibble out in a dish for all day grazing as needed
We leave fresh water in a clean dish all day for drinking
We give Virbac CET Enzyme, Better belly and Cow Hoofs (nothing in them) for treats. 
For clearing digestive systems we occasionally give a few green beans or pumpkin to ensure a clean system but not to interfere with their stomach being full and not getting nutrients for food space.
We do not introduce puppies to human foods (except pumpkin/green beans) so that you can decide if you want them to develop a taste for it.  

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HOW WE RAISE THE PUPPIES 
We specialize in puppies with top mental & physical health. Top quality food starts before pregnancy.  High protein and fats during nursing with 24/7 inside-our-home supervision to watch for fair/equal nursing.  Puppies will have open 24/7 access to high quality puppy food (to prevent future hoarding eating) and all day fresh filtered well water. Our diet promotes healthy brain, bone and organ growth for a healthy adult puppy in your home.  Puppies do not live/sleep outside. They live indoors with us in our living room and we never leaving them alone. We are with them 24/7 to love being in a clean living environment to potty train faster. We handle them daily for good mental health and innocent trust. We give them regular open non-gated outside play every day (weather permitting) to feed curiosity, build strong muscles/joints and trust to come to calling humans.  Both parents live/sleep with them 24/7 to learn healthy dog play. We supervise them 24/7 to understand human communication, quiet/low lights to understand bedtime, unruly/destructive behavior from being left alone too long and anxiety from fear of being left alone.  Please read chewing issues when their teeth come in up to 1 years of age. 

HEALTH OF THE PUPPY
We have been breeding Golden Shepherds for almost a decade.  We first look for quality parents without any issues and clean blood lines without in-breeding. We do not do hip exams but our parent dogs/puppies have never reported hip issues and we make sure the sire/dam parents have not hip issues, in-breeding or other health issues. Our puppies are known to have small heart murmurs during their vet visits until they are about 4-5 months old  when it goes away. Puppies eventually become about 70-90lbs. A high protein dog food (30% or higher) is important until six months of age. Since these are big sized dogs they may have slight heart murmurs (common in the males biggest in the litter). Their heart growth needs to catch up to their body growth.  Some of our bigger male pups have a light murmur at their vet visits but in ten years of breeding, ALL them grew out of it by 4-5 months of age.  We have never lost a puppy in any delivery, never had a puppy with a issue for a vet concern and none of our puppy parents have reported any issues about problems (with exception to allergy sensitivity to some dog foods). The mother gets high fat/protein during her entire pregnancy.

WHAT WE FEED THE PUPPIES
We use Diamond Natural Large Breed puppy with added Stella & Chewy’s Beef meal mixer for the extra protein since they double in size each week. SEE UPDATE ABOVE. We will also give them frozen green beans and raw pumpkin (frozen as patties) for the fiber. We treat ONLY with Better Belly rawhide, Virbac CET Enzymatic Dental Chews or Top Dog Beef hooves. Buy better treats for now until they are 1 year old to prevent chewing other things.  Other treats could cause diarrhea or very loose stools. We also occasionally give them a PetHonesty Digestive Probiotics Duck flavor once a week. We will not introduce them to human food since it can cause diarrhea and to allow you to decide if you want them to taste human food.  Our adult dogs eat Taste of the Wild Wetland dog food for it’s higher protein content to prevent allergy and skin issues. We noticed puppies are not usually fond of the puppy Taste of the Wild. 

We can’t leave them alone unsupervised 24/7 or they could be covered head to toe in their own waste! We are absolutely exhausted when they start solid food from Nov 15 up to them leaving. They have 24/7 care because we believe in 24/7 open feeding to ensure PLENTY of nutrients during growth spurts and build trust knowing food is always available to avoid hoarding food as adults.

WHAT TO BRING AT PICKUP
Bring a leash, a few old towels, water dish/bottle, wet wipes in case there is vomiting from being car sick, a crate is optional but the pup will cry (from fear of the new space/smells) if not held on a very long drive. These dogs may not want too much holding since they normally have a hot body temperature (a golden retriever trait) and will be uncomfortable as they get warmer from human holding. Avoid taking your puppy to dog parks or public potty places until they get their 3rd shots (two more vet visits) to protect them from Parvo. We will offer the option to be added to a litter group text chat after all pickups are made. It has been fun for our past litters. If they are whining it is probably because they are hot or need to potty. 

CHEWING
Their gums hurt so bad during the first 10 months of age and chewing things makes it feel better (until their baby teeth fall out) so they WILL chew like crazy until they are about 10 months old, then they usually stop at about one year old. They love the pressure on their gums from chewing wood corners of furniture/stairs and leather shoes. Supervise them during teething or gate them in an area without things you don’t want them to chew when you can’t watch them. GIVE them things to relieve the pain like old shoes, CET enzyme chews, better belly chew sticks or collect lots of empty water bottles now! They LOVE the crinkle noise and poking them with their teeth to put the perfect pressure on their gums. Discard all bottles after a few hours of use.  Remove the caps & labels to avoid choking. 

THINGS TO BUY
Fireplace safety fence baby gate that makes like an octagon like shape and is tall enough to block them in. Door gate for stairs or areas you don’t want them in. Puppy pads or a potty tray with pine/paper pellets. If you use a washable pee pad know this: it can smell just like clothes (to pee on too) if you use the same fabric softener or the same laundry detergent!  Washable pee pads should be washed without any fabric softener/scented detergent. CET Enzyme LARGE, stinky cow hooves or better belly may be pricy but cheaper than lots of your nice shoes & furniture.  They HAVE to chew for about 8 months after taking them home so give them something good or you can buy cheap stuff that gives them diarrhea like dry meat bones that can also crack their teeth. Dog crate and the 42″ will be big enough for them. New crates come with a divider to make the crate smaller so they don’t feel overwhelmed with all the space as a puppy. If you get a mat they will probably shred it to pieces during the first year of age so get a nice one later when the are about one.  The kong mat is more durable but pricy but Tractor supply has similar version that is cheaper. We feed our dogs “Taste of the Wild Wetlands” for it’s high 32% protein to avoid skin issues and it keeps a firm waste easier for pickup.  No mat makes scratchy noises in the crate. They have a puppy version but the protein is not as high. We will be feeding your pup Diamond Puppy. They have a “natural” version if you are interested.  We can’t live without our Frisco shedding rake, bissell furget it all-in-one and our flexible slicker brush. We even got a grooming vacuume attachment for serious grooming days. Of course water dispenser, stuffed animals and a food dish. Big investments is a groom tools like a nail dremel 7760 with a big clipper, shaver like wahl 5 style to keep longer hair short on a golden. 

PUPPY POTTY INFO
Puppies are unable to hold pee too long but as they get older they can hold it longer. When you pick your puppy up it can be left alone for about 2-3 hours without a place to potty (add one more hour for each added month of age until 6-7 hour max). If you need to leave them for a longer time you should have a gated “potty area” by/outside their crate. We like the “Wee Wee Patch” with fake grass or the “Wee Wee Pad on Target” tray. We work hard to train them to recognize the scent of the “Wee Wee GRASS Scented Puppy Pads”. Other pee pads won’t have the same scent so they could make mistakes. Puppies are still learning so they WILL make mistakes in the first year so invest into a small carpet cleaner if you have carpet/rugs in your home. They learn faster when you take them out every 2-3 hours. Changing puppy food brands, cheap treats and human food WILL give them loose stools. 

VET COSTS AFTER PICKUP
Puppies need vet checkups in the first year that can cost $100-300 per visit. There will be about 3-4 vet visits by the time they are 12 months old. After 1 years old they will only go to the vet once a year unless there is an emergency/injury. Tractor Supply store’s “PetVet” van visit days can offer cheaper puppy exams if you are on a budget.

FIRST THREE MONTHS HOME
Should not have them left alone longer than 2-3 hours to avoid chewing damage, other bad habits and limit time to hold potty. Expect lots of mistakes with potty while they figure things out and grow organs that can hold it longer. Puppies should not be crated longer than 2-3 hours during the first two months of arriving to their new home to avoid bladder issues, loss of social skills with issues playing with other dogs later, mistrust around strangers and aggression issues later in life.  Human food, cheap dog treats and switching dog food brands will cause loose stools/diarrhea.  Puppies put in crates for long periods of time throughout the week will have issues with playing with other dogs/being around strangers. Dogs are a lot more friendly later when they have a first year exposed to lots of time with other dogs play dates and lots of people to become a more friendly dog after one year old. The more they exercise with a full belly then the longer they sleep!

MONTHS 4-6 AT NEW HOME
Will have lots of chewing issues to sooth painful growing teeth and potty mistakes should be less with a hold time of 3-5 hours. Also the light heart murmurs will go away from your healthy protein diet that allowed the heart growth to catch up to it’s body size at about 5-6 months of age. Chewing can be worse when you are gone because they miss you and they are stressed.  Be patient! Put shoes away and cover corners of wood trim/furniture. The more quality chew treats you give the less they chew other things.  You can go cheap on treats after they are 1 years old. Golden males are known for happy pee dribbles on visitors so you can get them a male washable diaper that goes around their waist to use until they are about one years old to help them not pee from excitement seeing new people. 

MONTH 7-12 AT NEW HOME
Should have rare potty mistakes from previous loving patience and less chewing (unless from anxiety being left alone too long). Also cream males happy visitor pee dribble should go away or decrease dramatically now and go away at about 12 months old.  Costly vet visits will now decrease to once a year and at this point spay/neutering should be considered after a year old. Dogs that are 11 months or older can hold potty about 6-7 hours.  As your pup grows older past one year they will understand verbal direction more, hold potty well, chew a lot less and will become more calm. 

Things that probably will never resolve: chewing soft things when you are not at home because they miss you so much and an 80 lb dog that thinks it’s the size of a puppy and wants to sit in your lap. Their energy will decrease when they are about two but until then they want to play alot! Our dogs LOVE laser lights and playing ball. 

SPAY/NEUTER
These are AKC mixed puppies and “more” mixed puppies are not very desirable so to avoid adding to the unwanted puppy population, that is extremely high now (from COVID back to work returns) we recommend getting your puppy spayed/neutered between the age 8-12 months old when their organs are ready (too early could cause long-term weight/pee holding issues). Spay/Neuter can cost $300-500 but there are options for low cost services if you look around (there is one in Manassas and in Harrisonburg VA “Anicira” that spay/neuter for $200-250). https://anicira.org/

THE PICTURES BELOW ARE OF OUR LAST LITTER. SEE THEM ALL GROWN UP AT THE BOTTOM FROM OUR TEXT GROUP CHAT.

The mother and father are being spayed after this litter. We usually have our puppies homed in the first week and did not realize that the puppy market is saturated until the delivery of this 2022 litter. The dog “market” is full of dogs from COVID “back to work” parents that can’t keep their puppies (and lots of home rentals are not renting to pet owners now from bad COVID rental experiences).

WE ARE NOT BREEDING AGAIN UNTIL 2026-2027 when our boarding kennels are completed. We are working extra long hours at our jobs to pay for the kennels and our new location until then. We will be offering pampering pet boarding, grooming and breed Golden Retriever, Golden Shepherd and German Shepherd puppies.

We want to contribute and encourage people to give homes for the current market of grown COVID puppies needing rehoming right now from us choosing to back out of breeding for a few years.  Our waiting list will be completely deleted to start over when our we begin to take applications in 2026.