WestBen Golden Retrievers review: Bad Breeders, Hip Dysplasia, Bacteria, Dogs dying, cancer 31

I thought your name was Toby? Or Loxy? Sorry but you have some real issues!
I hope you get sued for defamation of character.

Tricia,
hmm...you forgot to change your user name when you "ran into the same situation not long ago with the same breeders"
Some people amaze me! What a fraud!

let us all get together and create a reputable web site and exploit all bad breeders if interested my email sp.mdy@att.net

About the medicines you say are being sent to new owners with the puppies ~ it's given to prevent coccidiosis (an illness caused by coccidia, tiny, COMMON parasites that are easily passed from carrier to carrier). The stress of going to a new home can set off coccidiosis, and since pups don't have an immunity to it at this young age, it is best to treat them BEFORE they leave. Treatment generally ranges from seven to ten days, depending on the medication and the vet's recommendation. SO JUST BECAUSE A PUP IS BEING GIVEN METRO AND ALBON, IT DOESN'T MEAN THE PUP IS SICK YOU [censored]! The breeder is practicing prevention and plain old common sense!
About line-breeding, inbreeding, and genetic illnesses, you make it sound like every single one of their dogs has cancer, and ONE dog who dies at the age of five due to heart complications does not mean the line is faulty, or unhealthy, or in any way inferior to any other line.
About the sexual ### ~ who gives a ###?
You've proven only that you are petty and completely ignorant of what you're talking about!

I bought a beautiful, healthy puppy from Westben Goldens. It is sad that you had a bad experience, but my coworker and I have nothing but great things to say about Bryan and Craig. They are very professional and willing to help if you have any questions.

Do not buy bullgogs or valley bulldogs from this woman! Regina Mcburney [protected] www.theroyalbulldog.com McBURNEY, REGINA M –AC-05-09-10 – Complaint 26801 /IR # 8078 . Issued She is a dog thief and should not be anywhere near your dogs! Bad breeder. Gina Mcburney Queen Creek, AZ

roses unique breeds has 130 pups per year, dogs not health tested before breeding takes place and history of hip problems buyer beware of cindy roses unique breeds. thanks beware racine wis, sells multi breeds beware save your money look else where!

this breader is a small local breader and have less then 10 dogs. They are very honest and helpfull they have gone out of there way to help me with many questions I have had. Anyone who has acctually talked to this family would now they are great people and care as much for their animals as most do thier children. This complaint is not only 100% not factual but jsut sounds like someone complaing to complain. Things happen with animals just as things happen with people, and you can blam that on anyone. I ahve done some reading about this breader and they are recognized by vets along with the city of racine as a very reputable breader.

Do not buy puppies from www.savannahriverkennels.com. They advertise the dogs as pure bred but they are in fact a puppy mill. They never gave me my papers for the dog and for months I emailed and called and they always promised they would send the papers but never did. I had to get the BBB involved and also take them to small claims court. The owners are Ben and Kelli Deen. They are rude and when asked for the papers they used profanity..I waited patiently but they have angered me. DO NOT BUY FROM THESE BREEDERS!

Sounds like you are just trying to put these breeders out of business I don't see any proof that their puppies are sick.

I bought a puppy from a breeder and my dog ended up having hip displaysia on both sides. Both patellas were also bad. I called the breeeder, he did offer to give me another dog but I refused, I told him I did not want to go through that again. He refused to give me money back. Do not buyfrom this breeder. Leroy Yoder in Utica Minnesota

He made the remark that other people always took another dog, and he had the gall to say I must not of loved my puppy since I did not want another dog.

It was very hard to put her down, she was in so much pain.

It is up to the potential buyer of ANY pup to do as much research as possible on the breeder before buying ANY pup. If you buy a pup from someone...you are 1/2 responsible. NO ONE made you buy it.
Ask for past buyers names and numbers of pups going back several years... If a breeder will not give you this info, move on. Simple as that. There are many breeder who breed wonderful pups and are willing to give you all the info you are looking for. Ya just have to do your homework!

Let me start by saying that I'm not complaining about my breeder. I recently purchased a Labrador Retriever (Black) through a brokerage type website called North Carolina Labrador Breeders. We searched for a while to find the perfect puppy and finally we found him. We had been planning this for a while as we already have two other labs. The price for the dog was close to $1600. We followed through with the process, and were told that the puppy was coming from a breeder in New Hampshire and that a $300 shipping fee would apply. We recieved the dog in perfect health, and he is pretty much incredible. However, things started to not add up. When we got the puppy's papers in the mail, it said that the breeder was not in New Hampshire, as we were told by this company, but in Kernersville, NC. Less that 2 hours from where we live! WE contacted the breeder because the puppy did have fleas when he arrived. It was then we learned that the price she sold the puppy for was only $600. We were outraged to say the least. We contacted North Carolina Labrador Breeders and presented them with this evidence and demanded our $1300 back. They proceeded to try to explain that we paid for all this different stuff including a lifetime guarantee, this and that. So we did some research. In order to not void this 'warranty' you have to give your dog vitamins sold through their company, take the dog to a vet approved by them, just a long list of unreasonable requirements. And the guarantee only covered a replacement dog, and there was no way to get money back. Anyone with a heart who has ever owned a dog kows that you can't just 'replace' a beloved friend and family member. We contacted them again and told them that we had evidence of interstate fraud in the way that they charged us $300 to 'ship the dog from New Hampshire' when in fact, we could have driven to pick him up. When the actual words 'interstate fraud' came up, they immediatly refunded our $300. However, they adamantly refused to refund the $1000, which when you boil it down basically amounts to a finders fee. I have called and went on the website trying to find a feedback section, and surprise! There isn't one. I would warn anyone and everyone away from this site, and if anyone knows anywhere I could post this, please let me know. I'm attaching my email at the bottom of this post. What this company is doing is so immoral I can't believe that it's not illegal. They put a pemanent stain on what should have been one of the greatest experiences of my life. Let me reitterate, I'm not complaining against the breeder, who upon recieving this news promptly withdrew her name from the site, and I'm not saying anything about my puppy, who I have loved with everything I have since I first held him. This is a complaint against the website www.northcarolinalabradorbreeders.com. They are doing nothing but ripping people off. Tell your friends!

If you really stop and think about it... animal breeders aren't in it for the welfare of the animal, if they were, they wouldn't sell the animal for PROFIT at all... money is what animal breeding is all about, it isn't about the animal... I don't see this any different than trafficking life for the sake of money...
there is plenty of GREED with animal breeders, and that's why you read all these horror stories... if a person really cares about an animal they wouldn't just give it away for the sake of money, would anyone worth their salt do this with their children?... so why is it different for animals?
Taking away baby animals from their mothers for money is about as low as you can get... next time you think about adopting an animal, why not think about going to your local animal shelter, and save a life...
instead of lining the pockets of animal breeders...

it's sad that so many animals in shelters are put to sleep simply because there is insufficient space for them, and yet animal breeders flourish in bringing in more animals, many of them with known health problems due to unhealthy and excess breeding...
animal breeders don't really care about you or the animals, but they do care about getting ahold of someone else's money... each of these stories here only demonstrates that... let the truth speak for itself..

Do NOT buy a Presa Canario (Canary Dog) from a breeder in Grand blanc Michigan. I got one through someone who had bought him without realizing how strong he was. She bought him from the breeder and then sold him to me. The breeder said that he was vet checked de-wormed and had all of his shots. He wouldn't send us the vet records or even speak to us once he got his money. Took him to the vet to have his shots redone so I could get his liscense and found out that he had EVERY intestinal parasite you can imagine and HEARTWORM. The dog not only cost $2, 000 (which I paid $900 to buy him off the orginal buyer) but the treatment consists of the vet injecting him with arsinic (yes poison) to kill the parasites and is extreamly painful and costs well over $1, 200. (and we haven't even done the next treatment, yet we have to wait a whole month and may even have to repeat the arsinic treatment) I am on day two of the treatment and the puppy was screaming in pain all night long. I have never heard anything like it in my life and I am a dog groomer who sees a lot of strange conditions. The other parasites have cost me well over $200 to treat and we are finally rid of those. Not to mention the fact that a trainer and behavioralist evulated him and stated that it was her professional opinion that he had been physically abused. This was an absolute nightmare. I don't have the name of the breeder but stay away from Grand Blanc Presa Canario breeders.

We also purchased a Golden from Westben. He is beautiful and a wonderful dog, but he does have hip displasia. The breeders have been very nice and gave us a lot of hints on ways to make his life easier just as the Vet has done the same. We are hoping that it will not affect him until much later in life. It was found out accidently when they had to xray his bowel looking for an abstruction because we though he ate something he shouldn't have. We had an older Golden who suffered his last year of life with his displasia and it is a hard thing to watch.

What frustrates me the most when it comes to breeders is when they knowingly inbreed their dogs. Example (mother to son/brother to sister/ uncle to niece) I literally can’t wrap my head around the way these people think… their incompetence is overwhelming. It’s because of these ignorant dunderheads that so many lovely lovely breeds of dogs develop more and more health problems within their breed. There’s a reason why people don’t inbreed. It makes you more susceptible to diseases because of your limited gene pool and increases your infertility rates. Not only that, but deformities become a common occurrence. If a breeder really and truly loved their dog, they would import/export dogs to insure stable bloodlines. And for the one’s that unfortunately can’t afford to do that, they could at least search for a sire from a different state.

Matt Dillon sired my pup in 2002- when he was 7- get your facts right, please

Beware of Les and Melissa Burke! They breed Labs, Goldens, Great Danes, Cattle Dogs, Cockers, and starting to breed Russel Terriers and Yorkshire Terriers.
I had posted a complaint about these people on this site about 10 days after they moved out of a hours that they had rented for ONLY 4 months! The photos posted of the living conditions are TRUE and ACCURATE however when they found out about this, they decided to post a slanderous and very inaccurate complaint about us. The number of dogs they claimed we had was WAY off and MOST of the photos they posted stating they are of our home and dogs are NOT ours... I don't know where they got them but if anyone happens to see that post and recognizes any of the false photos, please contact the person or persons who own the publishing rights to these. These are very sick people to lie like this.
If you are even THINKING of buying from these people, PLEASE make think again! They will tell you how much they " love their doggies " and SOUND like they know what they are doing but nine times out of ten, they will INSIST in meeting you rather than let you come to their home. We do raise a few puppies to support our rescue efforts as we are NOT wealthy people but we KEEP our kids until we find GOOD homes for them. Les and Melissa however will drop their prices drastically if puppies don't sell fast enough for them.
As for the person stating that everyone should GIVE all of their puppies away, FIRST, if someone has NO investment in something, it becomes disposable AND it is NOT free to raise these kids, the cost of food, shots, advertising and Vet visits keep going up... Keep that in mind but DO consider rescuing ... But THAT isn' t free either AND not only do you have to PAY for a rescue animal, most of these places also take on THOUSANDS of dollars in donations.

Oh yes, their Kennel name is or WAS Blue Diamond Kennels, not to be confused with several other Blue Diamond Kennels out there. Sorry about a few errors on the above post... My so called " smart phone " insists on changing and sometimes adding words. It is difficult to go back and read before posting on this site using a cell phone but, at the moment, this is the only internet I have to work with.

Yes they raise a few puppies they have 300 dogs and they breed all of them don't take it from me check yourself. just google kathy mattison st johns arizona and look at the county records or click on the links below or call the local vet here is st johns. I have lived here for years and you would not believe how they treat their dogs just call the humane society. I can give you their address if you need them to rid this town of her puppy mill, I bought a dashound puppy from her and she refused to let me go to her property so I met her in town and got the pup. I had to take it to the vet only to find out it had cocidia and giardia not to mention worms. The vet wanted to know who the breeder was and when I told them it was kathy in st johns they told me it was a puppy mill and they had seen this over and over from her. Six months later the pup had a buldged disc and we had to put her down since she was in so much pain.

http://www.cofad1.state.az.us/memod/CV/CV090560.pdf
http://www.co.apache.az.us/PDFs/PlanningandZoning/P&Z30509/20509M.pdf this was on 2/5/09

http://www.akc.org/about/board_minutes/2003/0403.cfm akc 2003

I bought a puppy from them 4 years ago at 8 weeks old and he was the picture of health then and he still is today. They gave me a full health warranty on him but I have never need to try to use it. The is a chocolate blockhead lab and for what I paid for him I could not have gotten a better deal or better quality. I went to their home and picked him out. I recently bought a 8 week old yellow female to be a playmate for him and she is doing great at 12 weeks old now. I went to their home again to get her. They even microchipped both of them for free while I was there and let the two play together in their two acre fenced play area for an hour or so so I could make sure they would get along ok. I don't know you can say they did all of this stuff when they were still at the same house as when I got my male from them 4 years ago. It has got to be the same people because they were here in SD then and now and their names are les and melissa burke.

Trusting Fool Kathy Mattison Louis Louie We NEVER HAD OUR DOGS TAKEN BY FORCE EITHER and we do not run from anyone obviously there is our akc inspection which is more than you can say. Excuse us for want central heat and air conditioning that worked through the winter. The fact that we had a home that was paid for and had heat and we wer only renting month to month with you made for the wise choice of getting away from the crazies that you are and would bring on the property we were renting. Sorry if we did not want to put our babies in jeoperdy of being taken away since you were only allowed to have 15 of you family pet dogs not breeding dogs on the property since you breed all of your dogs good luck we were renting from you and you told us to find another place. Well since we already owned another place we got away from you. You can choose to have people renting rooms from you that carry baseball bats and beat your dogs but I prefer mine stay in one piece and if you want to keep yours out in the freezing cold all winter and desert heat all summer you have fun. oh I know your pugs and buggles and dashound and bulldogs can take it you left them outside all winter when you have a building you could have put them in and airconditioned or found them homes before they die of exposure. Oh wait I know you rescue dogs that is why you have over 200 of them so many you POA property owners association sueed you, and you have two 40 acres spreads of that that you hide them on. You can't possible build a kennel for yours like we did no that would cut into your profits yours have to live on dirt most cannot even get off of the dirt because they do not have shelter and if they do have shelter it does not have a floor. Your dogs are so nasty and skinny just look at the pictures you run a "grooming buisness" but do not groom you own they are matted and dirty with filth. you feed them feed store garbage and ol roy we feed iams and eukanuba and yes i have reciepts for the last 3 years to prove it.

You are trying to trade your property and move to OR go ahead i have family there that would love to meet you. Yeah good idea staying away from fl and ca they hate puppy mills.
http://domuswap.com/profile/KathyMattison
She is trying to sell puppy mill mutts here http://www.adpost.com/us/pets/183002/
http://www.domesticsale.com/Classifieds/a565838.html
Collie poos mutt dogs http://www.domesticsale.com/Classifieds/a565845.html

Go slander someone else or we will give you a lawsuit how does that sound to YOU!

please feel free to repost this ty Lane Rae perfect solutionThe issue of over population needs to be addressed at the county level. I think everyone that is producing a litter (PERIOD!) has to get a kennel license by inspection YEARLY but they also need to be required to chip every dog they own and puppy they produce in order to track it and give their kennel number in order to advertise ANYWHERE! If one of their dogs shows up in an animal shelter or side of the road then a record needs to be made, the breeder needs to take the dog back to find a new home or the owner or breeder has to pay a fine. That would seriously reduce the amount of animals in shelters if all breeders were required to actually be responsible for their dogs. As far as purchasing show dogs you can find reputable breeders that have high quality dogs through local all breed kennel clubs, parent clubs and so on. Since they do not advertise anywhere but the internet and through their clubs that is the only way to begin your search for a show quality puppy. Good luck getting one though because reputable breeders don't just sell those to anyone!

WESBEN GOLDENS ARE REPUTABLE AND AN EXCELLENT BREEDER

I am on my second pair of goldens from Wesben. They are excellent and responsible breeders who always adhere to GRCA standards. Their kennels are immaculate and they take care to assure that they breed a quality dog. As to cancer and dysplasia, these illnesses are unfortunately in the golden retriever bloodlines (just Google golden retriever cancer.) Veterinary medical schools are doing all that they can to identify the genes responsible for these illnesses so that they can be eliminated from the breed. Craig and Brian do all in their power to educate you on how to avoid hip and joint problems and they have full OFA and other health clearances for their sire and dames. Wesben is not a "puppy mill" as you describe, but a reputable breeder. If this were not so I would not have returned to them for a second pair of golden puppies when my older goldens passed away.

Do not buy any goldens from Asoros. My friend adopted a golden pup and at 4 months was diagnosed with severe congenital problems and had to have surgery at 6 months on his elbows. The breeder is calling her "a nut" and is saying awful things about her on the breeders facebook page. My friend is devastated and this woman said "I have not decided if I will demand the dog back. Now that you have crippled him with surgery if I take him back I will have to euthanize him. This is going to take some time for me to decide". Do not deal with these people. If there is something wrong with your pup, instead of being concerned, she is doing her best to make my friend out to be a horrible person, which she is not. Please beware.

I sure wish I had checked into this before my heart ruled over my head. I, too purchased a puppy and had these 2 meds given to me. I also had my puppy checked because I called about her ear and bladder infection and was told by the breeder that this could not be true. My vet confirmed my suspicions and she was treated for these infections. This is our third golden and first one that was sick when we got her. We were told she was just way laid back. I will not buy from them again.

A warning to anyone who is looking to adopt from any breeder. You do have the following rights: viewing ALL of the property, kennels, other dogs- look at the condition of everything you see. You should ask for x-rays and all records from their vet. You should have your vet review all previous vet records and x-rays before purchasing the new puppy. Make a list of serious questions before taking the puppy home, any reputable vet should be happy to spend as much time as needed with you and have the answers! Do not rely on comments made on-line by previous buyers and do not fully trust the words of the breeder. Do not be blind sided...be smart! It is worth taking the time to go the extra mile when researching!

I would like to advise people to stay clear of Shadetree Border Collies in North Carolina. We just lost a pup that had digestion issues from the day we got him, which was @ 5 1/2 weeks because the breeder, Kathi Majors and her husband Ryan wouldn't keep him until he was 8 weeks old, insisting his mother had nothing to do with the pups after they were 4 weeks old. We initially thought it was the worm medicine working when he had diahrreah at first. It would get better and we thought he was healing but then it would hit him again, seemingly for no reason. We changed his food 4 times in 6 months, thinking it may be allergies but he finally got so sick that he died. The vet said he had caught an 'unknown virus'. It wasn't anything they give vaccinations for but the breeders should have been more honest. If his immune system would have been up to par, he would have made it through. As it was, his was too weak, most likely from being weaned too soon. We knew we shouldn't have taken him so early but it got to the point where we felt we were rescuing the puppy from bad breeders and went ahead and bought him anyway.

She promised his CKC papers and then ignored us for 4 month while we finally had to contact the club and report them. THEN they finally wrote to us to say they got his papers and we could get them ourselves, AFTER assuring us that the price of the registration papers was included in the price of the pup and that Kathi would send them within a month.

It's best to avoid them altogether rather than fall in love with a sickly puppy. It's not worth the pain. We loved him very much and lost him so fast. He was fine on Sunday, and by the next Saturday was dead. He stopped eating on Tues so we took him to the vet and he spent the night in the hospital, came home Thursday evening and Friday morning was too sick to go on living. :(

I agree with staying away from Westben/Westergaard. The lines are inbred and the dogs, while beautiful have lots of problems. Two dogs from this kennel I personally bought died before reaching 10 from cancer. Both had a myriad of allergies and other problems associated with inbreeding.

I have had a wonderful experience so far with 2 male Goldens from Westben. Our first, Henry, died a month short of his 13th birthday. He had optimum health his entire life. Our second, Oliver, is approaching his 3rd birthday and we have had the same experience up to this point with him as well. Different vets have commented on how healthy both of them were and they could tell they came from a reputable breeder. I was sent home with the meds mentioned, in the original review, when we picked up Oliver. I did not notice any lethargy or sickness. I was under the impression it was to help him with any discomfort/nausea/diarrhea with the transition. I only gave him the meds for the first 2 days as they were not needed. He also did need his ears cleaned which probably should have done prior to my picking him up, BUT, it was not a huge issue. I cleaned them and he has never had ear issues/infections. The sire for Oliver was from Claridge goldens and the dame was from Westben, so no inbreeding to my knowledge. I have had nothing but pleasant interactions with Craig. The farm is beautiful and well kept. He never let us play too long with or handle the puppies for great lengths of time because he was concerned about their well-being. I truly wish the original post could be removed for defamation of character. That was uncalled for and highly offensive, having absolutely nothing to do with the quality of their dogs. I would highly recommend this breeder over many of the others I researched. If you are uncertain, visit the farm, and you will see the reality and that these dogs are very well bred and taken care of.