Curly Coated Retrievers

The Curly Coated Retriever (CCR) is a slow-maturing breed, with a long puppyish period. Ideally, any potential Curly owner will have spoken with curly breeders and owners, and met as many of the dogs as they can. This pre-ownership experience can mean the difference between a happy loving, lifelong dog-and-owner relationship and a potential tragedy. A Curly does not fit into everyone's lifestyle, a fact which some people only discover after they have purchased a Curly and lived with it for a while. Some of these dogs are returned to their breeders, are re-evaluated, and placed in new, more appropriate homes. Unfortunately, not all of these dogs are so lucky. Sometimes a person thinks there is a profit to be made at the expense of the dog, and later finds out they can not sell every pup. Through no fault of its own, those puppies may be abandoned or given away to homes which are not prepared to the demands of owning a Curly. Some Curlies do end up in shelters, and that is where the CCRCA Rescue comes in. Curlies of a variety of backgrounds and situations end up in rescue.

To find out more about Curly rescue, and any dogs available, contact:

Sheila Callahan Young
3 Roberts Court
Gloucester MA 01930
wing@tiac.net

Top Ten Reasons NOT to get a Curly

To minimize the number of Curlies that end up in rescue, we encourage you to learn as much about the breed, the breeds traits, problems, and the breeder you choose to get your Curly from before you make the commitment. You should talk to as many breeders and curly owners as you can before you make your choice. Often times, people find out that the breed may not be suited to there lifestyle. Curlies are an active dog. There personality is better suited to being an integral member of the family, and not a kennel dog. Contrary to common belief, Curlies do shed. A female who is not spayed will generally blow coat (shed heavily) twice a year. All other curlies (neutered and unneutered males, and spayed females) will shed throughout the year, and more so as the seasons change. Curlies are not hypoallergenic.

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All breeders should be willing to give references of people who have purchased puppies from them in the past. All breeders should readily give references from other breeders, trainers, vets, breed club affiliations etc.
You should be able to view the condition of the breeders dogs and their kennel. Never buy a dog from a pet shop, not even if you feel sorry for it. The store's supplier will only breed more dogs in puppy mills to fill up the empty space. No breed of dog, no matter how rare, is immune from the puppy mill problem. Mill owners view these dogs purely as money-makers and do not care about the future health or welfare of the animals.

Your search is over! Find Curly Coated Retriever breeders in your area! There are litters due out of field titled parents. Agility & Obedience parents. Show CH parents. Personal Working dogs, and great family companions. Links to some articles on socialization and training your new Curly puppy. Check back often, as the page is updated as new litter information is added. Enter The Breeders Directory

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Click here to Enter the CCR Breeders List

No breeder can guarantee that a puppy will not grow up to have any of these problems, but they should be able to tell you what they are doing to minimize the chances that your puppy will be affected. You should ask for proof of any testing the breeder has done. At the very least, the breeder should be able to give you OFA (hip results) and CERF (eye results) for the puppy's sire and dam (father and mother) If they cannot produce these papers on both parents, do not buy the puppy.

If the breeder claims that there are no problems in there lines at all- run! There is no such thing as a perfect dog. If they say there are no problems, than they are not looking back far enough. A breeder should know the ancestors behind there dogs, and the physical and behavioral faults of those ancestors. They should put in writing what they will do if your puppy develops any of these problems. You should be aware that AKC/CKC/UKC registration does not mean quality. It only means that the dog is pure-bred. The AKC will not be there to back you when your puppy develops a genetically linked problem.

The Curly Coated Retriever is a semi rare breed. Most reputable breeders plan only one litter a year, and frequently pass several years without litters. They are not breeders in order to make money-they have puppies only to improve the CCR breed as a whole. Beware of a breeder that always has puppies, breeds several litters every year, or seems to be pushing a puppy on you. At her same time as you are interviewing a breeder to discover what makes them responsible and qualified, most reputable breeders will be interviewing you to make sure you are the best buyer for their particular puppy.

Puppy Buyers Checklist What to ask the Breeder
Is this Breeder Reputable?
North East Curly Consortium's Puppy buyer link page
General Information About the Curly

The Curly is a versatile breed. Most Curlies are happy to be family companions, field dogs, personal hunting dogs, obedience partners; some do well as therapy dogs, or Search-and-Rescue dogs. You should be honest with the breeder as to what your expectations and intentions for this puppy are. When a breeder sells a puppy as Pet Quality then you should consider it at that. It is not sold for breeding. Even in a litter of outstanding puppies, most are pet quality. A few are show quality, and even fewer are breeding quality. Only the very best of any breed should be considered as breeding quality. Most breeders carefully evaluate a litter, socialize, grade, and place puppies accordingly. Remember when choosing a puppy that the breeder has seen the puppies characters develop over 8 weeks-- their experience is a valuable asset for you. If they say that a particular puppy will not be right for your situation, believe them. Most reputable breeders will sell all pet-quality puppies on a limited registration under spay/neuter contracts. This is to help protect the breed. Spayed and neutered dogs make better family companions and their chances of some cancers are reduced.

We at SoftMaple have been active in showing and breeding pure bred dogs since 1979. Active in Curly Coated Retrievers since 1993. Limited Breeding of Multi titled parents. We are not big. We don't keep a lot of dogs. I want to be able to give each dog at SoftMaple individual attention. Our breeding program is the same. I have one or two litters a year. I don't believe in churning out sub quality pups just to meet a demand. I don't know how any breeder can give each pup individual attention if they are keeping a dozen breeding animals, and having 5 or 6 litters a year. This factory line type of breeding can harm a breed of dogs in the long run.

You need to evaluate each litter in order to make informed choices for future breedings. Breeding many dogs may get the breeder more awards, but conscientious breeding isn't about awards. Breeding Curly Coated Retrievers should be done selectively with emphasis placed on producing good health, sound temperament, correct conformation, working ability, and other outstanding characteristics of the breed
Click on Sally weaving to find out more about SoftMaple Curlies.

� 1997 softmaple@curlycoat.org

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