Goldenridge Kennels (Hampden, Maine)

Just picked up a puppy today. First puppy of the golden retriever breed and have been impressed with the puppy. She is so sweet and calm. Roxanne was very respectful and returned my phone call immediately. She was able to help me choose the best puppy and provide lots of great advice. I’ve trained dogs in the past and the Information she provides people is exceptional. She makes sure you know the best dog food, training and everything you can do to succeed in an amazing dog. When we are ready for another dog we will sure be coming back! Thank you for all your help and support and helping my son pick out his puppy.

Roxanne made our experience of welcoming a new dog into our family so special and memorable. Blue plaid (“Auggie” from Maggie/Spencer litter) has been a complete ANGEL of a pup since the moment we met him! Within hours of arriving in his new home, when it was time for bed, he went right into his crate and didn’t make a PEEP all night! He’s such a love bug and so chill. It was not an easy decision to add a dog to our life, but he’s already brought so much joy (*and responsibility*) to our lives. If you’re debating where to get your next dog, Goldenridge Kennels will not disappoint!

This review is about our Goldenridge Kennels Golden Retriever. His name is Biscuit and his birthday is 11/28/20. His parents are Tillie and Spencer. He is the most loving, loyal, smart and athletic dog we have ever owned. Roxanne has checked on him periodically since we brought him home. We are stopped everywhere we go because of his unusually good looks. Biscuit is our second dog from Goldenridge Kennels. Our first named Hunter lived 12 years and 8 months and was such a wonderful dog. We waited only a few months and had to get another. I have nothing but good to say about this breeder. My husband and I remarked how we saw freshly bathed dogs, no dog feces anywhere and happy healthy dogs everywhere. If you are looking for a loving, loyal, healthy Golden Retriever, I recommend Goldenridge Kennels in Hampden, Maine very highly.

Hello everyone! Wanted to share some photos and details about our beloved Goose. He is a Cleo/Remmington pup born on November 29, 2022. He is the sweetest and goodest boy we could have asked for. Great temper and personality. We got him on March 4th, 2023 and drove through a snowstorm to pick him up. This was the first puppy my fiance and I were raising together so we did a ton of research and reading to make sure we set Goose up for success. Sadly, within 1 month of having him he started having issues with his hip, we didn’t know it was his hip at the time. He started limping lightly and eventually stopped using his left leg. We reached out to Roxanne to ask about his parents and if there have been any issues with their litters. We were told that both Cleo and Remmington had been checked and cleared and that in all her time breeding puppies had never received a call like this. We ended up taking him to 3 separate vets until finally, the 3rd vet who was an orthopedic surgeon took the correct set of x-rays and diagnosed our 5 month old puppy with severe hip dysplasia. I want to note that we did our very best to get him the best care available and getting appointments with orthopedic surgeons is very difficult. She said it was so severe (the femoral head was out of the socket!) that she wanted to schedule him for surgery asap which we did. We were obviously distraught and feeling so guilty even though she assured us it was nothing we did or failed to do, his condition was 100% genetic.

Goose had an FHO surgery. The surgery involves cutting off the femoral head, or “ball,” of the hip joint.
This was his best option as he was not a candidate for a total hip replacement until he was 1 year of age. He already had significant muscle loss in the left leg due to minimal use. After surgery he had to do intensive physical therapy to build back muscle and ensure a full recovery. We followed all of the physical therapists instructions at home from exercises to stretches with him. As you can imagine, this whole process was emotionally exhausting for us. But I was determined to give Goose the best life he could have no matter the cost.

We spent thousands of dollars on vet visits and x-rays and then $5,000 on the surgery and over $1,000 in physical therapy.

We reached out to Roxanne within the required timeframe in our contract and notified her about his issue. All she said was, send me his info and I’ll get back to you. Very cold and showed no sympathy for what we were going through. We asked her for a full refund due to the severity of his dysplasia and just to show good faith. We think it was the least she could do considering how many puppies she turns out and the fact that he was a sale priced puppy at around $3,500. A full refund wouldn’t even cover the cost of the surgery.

Not only did she refuse a full refund, she also refused to refund us $2,000 which was the max allowable reimbursement stated in our contract. She gave us half his purchase price. She also dragged this on for over a month. We initially contacted her on May 21st and delivered all the vet information to her on June 8th (it took a while for the vet to write up the official records and notes). We only received her reimbursement on July 6th. A month later. I had to consistently follow up via email to which she would send short responses. I am more than happy to share screenshots of our vet records and our emails with her. We also recorded all our phone conversations.

I also want to note that we did get pet insurance BUT the dysplasia on his left hip was not covered because his symptoms started during their waiting period. So this surgery was paid for out of pocket.

The vet and physical therapists recommendation was that she immediately stop breeding both parents which I advised her of and she ignored.

Goose has had a full recovery which his orthopedic surgeon was shocked at. She was not confident that he would gain full mobility of his leg again but he worked hard in physical therapy and we followed their strict instructions.

Not a great experience when speaking with Roxanne. I had initially called inquiring about her process to get a puppy and she was very rude and in a hurry to get off the phone. She seemed more concerned about her $500 deposit as opposed to answering questions first (i.e waitlist, cost, picking out a pup) she actually said “if you decide to put a deposit down we can talk about it then, but otherwise I’m very busy”. This is basic information I need to consider before putting a deposit down!
I used to be part of her FB group as well and I saw the positive things people mentioned, hence why I decided to call in the first place. Not sure I want to work with a person so heavily focused on money. I know it’s been a crazy market for getting a pup, but increasing prices about $1000 per pup in about 1year is crazy high! That also shows how focused on money they are.
Lastly, most of the positive reviews you see are from the business requesting them from people who have bought pups from them..

EDIT: In response to the owner- I’m sorry to hear about Dolly as the passing of a pup is absolutely terrible. I apologize if I gave you the impression that I was rude, but I want to be clear and let you know that I didn’t have “high expectations”. In fact I had heard good things about you and was very excited to give you a call. You might have a lot to do, but it’s also your responsibility to not just rush people off. Like you said getting a pup is a big decision and I’m happy to spend the extra money, but unfortunately, I got the impression that you didn’t care.

Roxanne has no communication skills the only time I heard from her is when she wanted my deposit I was supposed to get a puppy from the Chanel /Winston litter but she “only gave birth to one puppy”, and they where keeping her. Also I never received an email that my deposit was moving forward to the next litter or that the Chanel and Winston litter only had one puppy I found out via Facebook page. She is shady and quick to take you money . #puppymill