Puppies who go home at 8 weeks average around 10-13 lbs. They will continue to grow for the next two years. Once filled out and at a healthy adult weight the dogs will weigh around 60-75 lbs depending on the parents' sizes.

Under the Forms tab, you will find our application and a description of our process.  Once the form has been submitted, it will be reviewed, and you will be contacted for a follow-up call. The next step will be to sign an agreement and place your non-refundable deposit via Zelle, cash or check. This will reserve your place on the list for the next available litter.  There is no guarantee that a specific number of puppies will be born or how many of each gender in each litter.  I always suggest people hold the specific gender loosely until we see the personalities.

We allow families who have placed their deposits to visit our home. When we have a litter on the way, we exercise an abundance of caution in our visits to ensure everyone is safe and healthy. At 7 wks you will be invited to come and visit so we can discuss what puppy will make the best match for your family.

The process begins early on when we have our first conversation.  I keep a notebook for each litter and a section for each puppy and family.  Whenever we speak, I take notes and add to them throughout the process, with the goal being to learn about your family lifestyle, activities, family members, and goals for the dog.  When puppies are born, I will contact each applicant on the list to confirm you are ready to receive a puppy now. If not, I will move you to the next litter. At this point, we love on, work with, and watch the puppy's personality emerge and take notes. On day 49, we perform the Volhard Puppy test. We will send videos and pics showing personality traits we see emerging. We try to consider when you feel a connection to a specific floof, but understand we see them daily and our ultimate goal is to make the best match possible.  We consider all the different things to make the very best match possible to ensure a successful transition of puppy to your family.

No, we do not make those types of arrangements. However, you are welcome to hire a flight nanny, which we will meet at the airport.  We also have delivery options which can be viewed in the transportation section. All arrangements must be made prior to 8 weeks.

After extensive research to find the very best product for our dogs, we have switched all of our dogs and puppies over to PawTree and cannot give enough praise for the results we are seeing. It is probably most noticeable in our eldest golden, Amber. We have seen a gradual weight loss, increased energy and overall health improvement.   We also like to add in a raw diet and kefir to support healthy digestion.In addition, we supplement all of our dogs and the puppies with NuVet supplements.  A quarter of a wafer is added daily from 4 weeks on. The benefits we have seen in our own dogs and puppies that have gone home are so visible and incredible, that we will not raise a litter without them. For this reason, we require the purchase of 1 bottle of the basic NuVet supplements to have for your puppy during the critical transition phase when they can experience digestive stress. You will appreciate the impact on puppy and the support to the healthy digestive system.  Here is my breeder link for this product.

We do our very best to ensure the transition from our home to yours is as smooth as possible. ENS training begins at 3 days to really encourage healthy development. We then begin potty training puppies at 3 weeks and by the time they come home, they are well on their way to successful housebreaking.  We start crate training at 4 weeks of age. Puppies begin with a buddy for the first weeks and sleep with a special blanket that takes on the litter scent and goes home with them.  We also add in a Snuggle puppy which is a great source of comfort and helps alleviate anxiety for puppy. They have a beating heart and a heat pad and help simulate mom and littermates.

Yes! – You are more than welcome to reach out with questions. The fastest is probably text, but email works as well.  We live on the border with Canada and our phone reception is spotty at best. We can schedule a call via text or email.

You will! You will begin to get pictures of your new puppy shortly after it is born. You won’t know which one is yours, but you will see them all in infancy. We create a group chat with all the confirmed families for each litter and update them with pictures, videos, favorite product highlights, and reminders for things to purchase before they come home.

Unfortunately, no. To maintain a healthy environment for all our dogs, we do not allow other pets to visit their new siblings.

You will find a complete list of recommendations to purchase before bringing your new puppy home. We have provided links to make it easier.

We have done our best to ensure you have the healthiest pet or service animal possible. This process begins with extensive health testing (eyes, hips, elbows, heart, and genetics) on our breeding dogs. A golden retriever that does not pass our stringent health testing requirements is not placed in the Freedom Retriever breeding program. To be completely transparent, we have made our health test results accessible on this website. You will see we had to pull our most recent import from Serbia, Senna, as her hips did not conform to standards.  We were heartbroken for her, but she loves her job as a supermodel. View the health testing results for each of our breeding dogs. We start our puppies on the highest quality nutrition and supplements, begin socialization early, and always keep our puppies' well-being and happiness at the forefront of our minds. Freedom Retrievers stands behind our practices and the health of our puppies by offering a two-year health warranty, which can be extended to three years if NuVet Vitamins are included daily and to four years if your puppy is fed exclusively Pawtree kibble, raw diet.  Proof of purchase will be required in the event the health warranty is enacted.

1. Too much/too scary – Try to keep those initial days home low-key. Environments with lots of new people, busy houses, young children, and unfamiliar loud noises can be very scary for puppies.

2. Too fast – While your floof will love to race around and get the zoomies, make sure introductions to new things is done slowly. For example, move slowly from greeting to being handled and loved on.

3. Too unsafe – While we want you to socialize your new floof often and in various areas, make sure that all public spaces with unknown dogs are held off until puppy is ready and fully vaccinated to protect from other dogs that are not.  

4. Too long – Puppy training is important, however, more than a few minutes at a time and puppy gets overwhelmed. Keep training sessions brief and fun. Always end on something puppy knows and does well, so they end with a success.