Icewind (Phillipsburg, New Jersey)

3+ years of happy and healthy love from Murphy. I believe Kya and Indy are his parents. Disregard the reviews calling this a puppy mill, they’re not true. We have a happy and healthy boy as mostly all other Icewind Golden owners do

Icewind is the place to go for good quality Retrievers or Shibas. The facility is top notch and the dogs are happy and healthy. The place is spotless and the dogs have large grass and all-weather footing areas to run and play in. Icewind is not a puppy mill. Karen and George are exceptionally knowledgeable about the breeds and dog care in general. They care about the future of their animals and want them to go to the best of homes. They provide explicit instructions on the care of the puppy and are always available to answer questions. Icewind’s breeding program is one of the best that I know of (and I have owned Retreivers for 40+ years). Only the dogs with the best qualities of conformation and disposition are used for the breeding program. They regularly improve their blood-lines by bringing in proven quality breeding stock from outside of the U.S. Currently I have one male and three females on my ranch in Oklahoma – all from Icewind. Each has proven to be a good working dog and companion. If you want a top quality Retriever or Shiba this is the kennel to go to.

Pricey? Yes. But who can put a price on a member of the family. Ours is 2 years old now! No health issues. She’s big and beautiful and oh so loving.

If I could give zero stars I would. I paid an exorbitant amount of money for a breeding quality female and she did not pass standards for elbows. She replaced her with another dog, this time a male with the assurance that I was getting a breeding quality, HE ALREADY HAS hip dysplasia at 2. She refused to give me any satisfaction, all I wanted was a 50%refund. She stopped all communication with me. Stay away!! She is nothing but an overpriced puppy mill.

My Shiba from Icewind recently passed away. He was an amazing dog from start to finish. Unfortunately at a young age, he developed acute glaucoma, which is generally seen as a hereditary defect. I passed this information on to Icewind and received zero acknowledgement. Timely treatment of glaucoma pressure spikes can mean the difference between whether a dog loses their sight or not. Forewarning puppy owners from the same breeding pair to have their dogs proactively seen by vet opthalmologists would have been the right thing to do for any owners that they still had the contact info for. Instead, they ignored the issue. Not a sign of a good breeder.

We visited our prospective puppy’s parents and the breeder in person before purchasing. We liked what we saw and gave a $450 deposit on 8/20 in good faith for our unborn puppy. 9/1 Karen, the owner of Icewind in Philipsburg NJ sent over a contract that required us to feed TLC food and NuVet supplements ordered under her breeder number or her genetic health guarantee would be null and void. I stewed in disgust for a few weeks over the parameters of this contract. Karen reached out a few times in urgency that I sign her contract before puppy was 6 weeks old. This sent up a red flag. When the puppy was 5 weeks old I told Karen, the breeder that I felt she scammed us by taking our deposit without presenting the (unusual) parameters of her contract. I wanted my deposit back. She said “deposits are non-refundable”. I was angry and stewed another 24 hours but decided to move forward with purchasing the puppy from her for $4,000 even if I knew the contract would be “null and void.” (I know way overpriced) We wrote back to confirm our puppy picking appointment at 6 weeks. She wrote back and said she had sold our puppy to someone else. She said, I had asked for my deposit back and she figured I did not want her puppy. I said “now that you have re-sold our puppy and been paid, I assume you will send our deposit back. She said “no”. I am speaking out to warn others of this unethical breeder.