KountryKozy Golden Retrievers
Health
This section is just going to cover a small part of health information that is available out there for golden retrievers and dogs in general. I would like to suggest that you look up all your houseplants (indoor and outdoor) for pet toxicity before bringing home any new puppy. There are a whole lot of plants that can make your puppy sick and it is always best to double check before any ingesting can happen. You really just have to put them out of reach until the puppy is trained and then they will most likely never be a problem after that. In the areas the puppy will be outdoors, just refrain from planting toxic ones and move them to an area that the puppy won’t be.
In the Edmonton area the flea and tick issue is still fairly mild but more ticks are found each year by Alberta vets. We have never seen a tick and very rarely have we seen a flea on our dogs so we don’t treat with any tick or flea deterrent other than essential oil mixes as I don’t want to risk any of the possible issues that the medications have been known to cause. There is also a lot of information online that will tell you what oils/blends are best to use. There is a lot of controversy on the medications for fleas and ticks causing harm to the dogs so doing some research on what you would like to do would be highly recommended.
Heartworm is also not a big factor here which is great. Heartworm is a nasty parasite and can really be hard on puppies. According to our vet, heartworm is not prevalent here in the Edmonton area but you do have to worm for other parasites and worms periodically. Other locations in Canada, not so lucky with any of the above as I think all of them are prevalent in various areas. I would suggest researching what parasites you need to worry about and the best and safest ways to deal with them. Vets are a great resource for that information.
The following link is to Dr. Jean Dodd's Health Resource Blog which has many articles available on various subjects. She is considered one of the foremost experts in pet healthcare:
Dr. Jean Dodd's Health Resource Blog
Here are some links to documents that you may find interesting:
Golden Retriever Breed Information Sheet
Golden Retriever Health Problems