We got Apollo and Mya in July, 2010 from South Branch Goldens in Caroline, Wisconsin. They were great puppies and we were looking forward to their becoming part of our family. Their sire is Risky Roy Golden Erinor (SR55396901) and the dam is Wiesman's Golden Triscuit (SN91977601) and they were born 5/13/2010.
Unfortunately, Apollo began to slow down and eventually stopped eating. On 7/29/10, we took Apollo to the vet for evaluation due to his not eating, lethargy, and markedly abnormal urine. He was in severe liver failure and our vet indicated his prognosis was very poor, likely due to a liver shunt which would ultimately lead to heart failure as he aged. So, we contacted the breeder and returned him to the breeder the next day as part of our contract requirement as opposed to having him put down with our vet that day.
Without trying to impart too many human emotions, it seemed that Mya wasn't very active and seemed to be down. Also, we felt that we need dogs to be in pairs to be able to keep each other company. So, we looked for a partner for Mya.
After scouring the web for options, there weren't many dogs available locally. We found a breeder in Arkansas called Wisteria Goldens or Wisteria Ranch. They were very easy to talk to and we ended up driving down to Chicago to pick up Max. His sire is White Dove's Aspen Winter [Aspen] (SR20458303) and his dam is Splendid Star Tango [Lyra] (SR43253403).
Unfortunately, about 7-10 days after the bottom picture was taken, Max's limp started showing up. We gave him a few days at home to see how he'd do in case he just had a minor ache or pain. The pain lasted a week, so we took him in. He's been on an anti-inflammatory for about twelve days now and is still limping. At times he has been somewhat better, but he is still limping extensively. So, we're continuing his leash-only time outside and continuing his anti-inflammatory for another week. If he still is limping at that point, he'll likely need to see a pet orthopedic doctor.
When we saw the vet for Max, her differential included soft tissue injury and elbow dysplasia. I ended up searching online to find out more about elbow dysplasia. If you're not familiar with it, be sure to check out the sire and dam on the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals site. This allows you to look up elbow, hip, heart, and eye clearance. Another clearance choice is PennHIP.
Anyway, I searched for Max's sire and dam on the OFA and got a surprise! Max's sire is listed as having known elbow dysplasia that was diagnosed 2/22/2007. What's important about this is that his dysplasia is listed as being moderate and Wisteria Goldens is still breeding the animal with the suggestion on the OFA site of a known genetic disorder without disclosing the issue to potential clients. What's even more important about this is that the Wisteria website does not list certification data, unlike other breeder websites which list specifics of clearances. I had contacted them prior to the purchase to clarify any evidence of clearance and they made no effort to clarify Max's sire's history.
After getting the concerning information from the vet that Max may have elbow dysplasia and learning of Max's sire's elbow dysplasia, I contacted Wisteria Goldens. I asked about why they hadn't told me about the sire's OFA data and they said their vet disagreed, so they didn't think they needed to talk about it. I've since contacted them and told them I'm concerned that their actions were consistent with nondisclosure of a heritable risk. The response I got was that there haven't been other joint problems in the offspring, so they still believe their non-disclosure is reasonable.
I would suggest Wisteria Goldens has not been forthright and that potential customers need to be aware of a possible issue with Aspen. Importantly, if Wisteria Goldens isn't being open about Aspen, their lack of communication also makes me question what they're doing with their other breeding pairs if they weren't open about Aspen's possible elbow dysplasia diagnosis. Admittedly, I appreciate that doctors may disagree with one another. However, the breeder isn't a vet and shouldn't be hiding information from potential clients, especially when the dogs cost more than $2,000 and I asked for specific information about their dogs and they didn't tell me.
[[Was my last post deleted or did I make a mistake posting it?]]