Our Beginnings

 

Our love affair with golden retrievers began in college, when a favorite professor had a companion golden retriever, Tug, who went everywhere with him.  Tug’s deep golden color, lively yet sweet personality, and warm brown eyes embodied everything a dog should be.

 

Many years later, after we married and had two children, we acquired our first champion pedigree golden retriever.  Within the next eight years, our Wood Ridge golden family expanded to include several other majestic female goldens.  Breeding since 2003, we have been blessed with litters of beautiful puppies and terrific clients.

 

It truly takes an entire family to care for our Wood Ridge dogs, to whelp a litter, and to raise puppies.  Our family shares equal duties as dog trainers and walkers, poop scoopers, late night checkers, and drivers to the vet.  Our daughter is our chief puppy wrangler, and she can often be found in the whelping box cuddling and talking to each puppy.  

 

Our Goals

As golden retriever enthusiasts and hobby breeders, we strive to produce a dog that is wonderfully tempered, of sound heath, and of great beauty.  We breed dogs with health clearances (hip, elbow, heart, eye), which not only contribute to the overall health of the breed, but also create the foundation of each puppy’s well-being.  Our dogs' multi-generational accomplished pedigrees provide confidence in reaching the goals of excellent temperament, health, and beauty.  All of our dogs and puppies are AKC registered. 

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In truth, although we often produce a show-quality dog, we are aiming for something more important: the exceptional family pet.

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We trained one of our retired Goldens (Romy) as a therapy dog.  With just a bit of additional training, a dog that is naturally lovely, empathic, patient, and kind, can “officially” offer therapy with her handler.  Of course, long before she offered anyone else therapy, Romy offered us that bond, that attention, and that unconditional love.  It’s just what goldens do!