Waitlist & Getting A Puppy
It varies by line and by year. Right now we run somewhere between four and ten months on the Lab side, and six to twelve on the Golden side — Goldens always run longer because we keep that program small. We'd rather have you on the list and matched right than rush you onto the wrong litter. When you fill out the inquiry form we'll tell you honestly what we're looking at.
It's $500 and it holds your spot on the waitlist. It's fully refundable — two ways. If we don't end up matching you with a pup (it happens; sometimes a litter doesn't have the right fit for a given family), you get it back. If life changes on your end before pickup — job, move, health, anything — you get it back. No fine print, no restocking fee. We've sent that check back plenty of times over the years.
You don't pick a pup blind from a photo. At six or seven weeks Maggie temperament-tests every pup in the litter — drive, bidability, noise recovery, off-switch, birdiness for the ones bound for the field. Then she matches pups to families based on what we learned about your household on the phone. A quiet retired couple in Vermont gets a different pup than a young family with three kids and a duck blind. That matching is the whole point of what we do — and it's why our dogs settle in the way they do.
We don't put pups in cargo. What we do: hand-deliver when it works (Tom's driven from Kansas to both coasts more than once), arrange a flight nanny — a person who flies with the pup in cabin — or have you come pick up at the farm. Most folks come to the farm because the half-day briefing on the front porch is part of the deal. But if you can't, we'll work it out.
Eight-week vet check, first round of vaccinations, dewormed, microchipped, AKC paperwork in your hand at pickup, a couple weeks of starter food (whatever we've had them on — usually a good middle-of-the-road kibble like Purina Pro Plan), a blanket that's been in the whelping box so it smells like mom and littermates, a written feeding and care guide, and our cell numbers. That last one's the most important. Call us. For the life of the dog.
Both come off this farm. Both can be family dogs and hunting dogs. They've got different defaults, though. A well-bred Labrador runs a little higher drive, matures faster, and is usually the more biddable of the two — meaning easier to train for hunting, harder to live with if you're not ready to give the dog a job. A well-bred Golden is softer, slower to mature, more sociable on the couch, and a little more forgiving if life gets busy. The Golden coat needs more brushing; the Lab coat sheds two seasons hard and that's it. We've placed both into duck-blind families and into living-room families. The honest answer most weeks: a well-bred Lab fits the most homes, but for a young family with kids who isn't going to hunt every weekend, the Golden is hard to beat. We'll talk you through your specific home on the call.
Health & Guarantees
All four. Every breeding dog on this farm has OFA hips, OFA elbows, CERF eyes (annual), and a cardiac clearance. Goldens also get a full genetic panel run for the breed-specific stuff. We won't breed a dog that hasn't cleared all of it — Maggie was a vet tech before we started this, and she's the reason that line is non-negotiable. We'll show you the paperwork; it's not a secret.
Two-year genetic guarantee on hips, elbows, eyes, and heart. If a covered defect shows up in that window and your vet documents it, you have two options: replacement pup from a future litter, or refund. We pick the option that fits your family — talk to us. We've made good on this a small number of times over the years, and we'll keep making good on it. It's our name on the dog.
She comes back to us. No questions, no judgment, ever — for the life of the dog. We'll take her back at eight months, eight years, doesn't matter. We've taken back four dogs over the years that we know of, and every one of them found a second home through us. Tom's grandfather's rule: if it's got our name on it, we're responsible for it. Don't ever rehome a Caldwell dog through Craigslist. Call us first.
OFA stands for the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals. They read x-rays of a dog's hips and elbows after the dog is two years old and grade them. Hip grades, best to worst: Excellent, Good, Fair, Borderline, then Mild / Moderate / Severe dysplasia. Elbow grades: Normal or Grade I / II / III dysplasia. On this farm we breed OFA Excellent or Good hips only — Fair on rare occasions if everything else about the dog is exceptional and the cross is right. Elbows we breed Normal only, no exceptions. Why it matters: hip and elbow dysplasia is heritable and ends a working dog's career years before it should. Every breeding dog we own has its OFA numbers on file with the foundation, and you can verify them yourself at offa.org by typing in the dog's registered name. We don't keep that paperwork in a drawer — it should be in your hand and on the public record.
Hunting & Training
No. We breed for the off-switch as hard as we breed for the field. The dogs on this farm hunt Cheyenne Bottoms with Tom, then come home and lay flat by the wood stove with Maggie's grandkids climbing on them. That's the calm-in-the-house, fire-in-the-field temperament we work for — and it's why our pups end up as therapy dogs and family pets just as often as hunt-test titlists. Bred for both.
No, and here's why. The Headstart program runs during the puppy phase — it's the early imprinting work Sarah does between weeks three and eight, before the pup ever leaves the farm. Bird intro, water intro, gunfire desensitization, basic place-board work. It has to happen on this side of pickup. If you want it, you tell us at the application stage and we'll bake it in for an additional fee.
Sarah does, yes — that's her gun-dog program and it runs separately from the breeding side. She takes a small number of outside dogs each year for steady-to-shot, blind retrieves, and hunt-test prep. There's usually a wait. Easiest way is to ask us when you call about a pup, or contact Sarah directly — we'll point you her way.
The order matters more than the calendar, but here's roughly how it goes. Bird intro starts around week four — a clean wing on a string, low pressure, lots of praise, and we never overwhelm a soft pup. Water comes next, usually weeks five and six if the weather's warm enough — we use the shallow pond and let the pups go in on their own time, no shoving. Gunfire conditioning is last and the most careful: we start with a starter pistol from fifty yards away while the pups are eating, then close the distance over a couple of weeks until a normal shotgun report doesn't even raise a head. Done in that order — drive first, then confidence, then noise — you build a pup that runs to the bird and ignores the bang. Done backwards, you ruin a dog for life. By the time you pick up an eight-week pup from us, all three intros are already on the books and going well.
Practical Questions
We start pups on Purina Pro Plan Sport Performance — chicken-and-rice formula. Nothing fancy, nothing boutique. It's been steady on this farm for years, our vet's comfortable with it, and it's available everywhere so you won't have to hunt it down on the way home. You can switch to whatever you'd like after a couple weeks — just transition slow so the pup's stomach can keep up.
Yes, every one of them. AKC papers come with the pup at pickup — we don't make you chase that down later. By default we register on limited registration (which means you can show, do hunt tests, do anything you want except breed). Full registration is a separate conversation — see the next question.
Sometimes. Default is limited registration. Full breeding rights are case-by-case for homes we know — folks who've had a Caldwell dog before, who've cleared the same hips/elbows/eyes/cardiac on their end, who are doing right by the breed. It's not a bolt-on you can buy. It's a conversation, and most of the time the answer is no, just because protecting the line matters more than the extra fee.
We're a small kennel by design. Two to four litters a year between the Lab and Golden lines — usually two Lab and one to two Golden. We don't run more dams than that and we don't double up. That's why the waitlist is what it is, and that's why every pup gets the time she needs from Maggie. Bigger isn't better; we figured that out a long time ago.
Labradors out of our lines: females usually 60 to 70 pounds, males 70 to 85. Goldens: females 55 to 65, males 65 to 80. Both breeds finish growing somewhere between 18 and 24 months — they look full-size at a year, but the chest and the head keep filling in for another season. We breed for a working size, not the heavy blocky show Lab you see at AKC conformation, and not the tall lanky American field-trial Lab either. Same with the Goldens — field type, lighter coat, athletic. A working-line retriever eats about three to four cups of good food a day at maintenance and needs a job. They are athletes, not couch ornaments. Plan for that.
Both labels mislead a little — the AKC studbook lists one Labrador Retriever, period. There is no separate "English" registration. What people mean: English / show-bred Labs are blockier, heavier, calmer, slower-maturing, with a thicker coat and otter tail. American / field-bred Labs are leaner, hotter, faster-maturing, harder-driving. Most field-trial Labs are American. Most show-ring Labs are English. We breed somewhere in the middle — call it moderate dual-purpose. Our dogs have the bone, the otter tail, and the calm off-switch you want from English-line dogs, plus the drive, the birdiness, and the trainability you want from American-line dogs. Most weekends they hunt; most weekday evenings they're flat by the wood stove with the kids on top of them. That's the dog we're aiming for, and the line we've spent twenty-plus years dialing in.
Pricing & Payment
AKC limited registration and full pedigree, OFA hip / elbow / eye / cardiac clearances on both parents in your hand at pickup, eight-week vet check, first round of vaccinations, dewormer, microchip, a couple of weeks of starter food, a blanket from the whelping box that smells like mom, a written care guide, and lifetime breeder support. Nothing on that list is an upsell. It's all in the price.
Yes, fully — two ways. If we don't end up matching you with a pup (it happens; sometimes a litter doesn't have the right fit for a given family), you get the $500 back. If life changes on your end before pickup — job, move, health, anything — you get it back. No fine print, no restocking fee. We've sent that check back plenty of times in twenty-plus years.
$500 deposit at the time of reservation holds your spot on a specific litter. The balance is due on pickup day, not before. We accept cash, certified check, or Zelle — no credit cards on the kennel side, just to keep the math clean. If a flight or hand-delivery is involved, we'll work the logistics into the same payment.
Yes — but only at reservation, not after pickup. Headstart is the early-life work Sarah does between weeks three and sixteen, before the pup leaves the farm: bird intro, water intro, gunfire conditioning, crate and place training, basic obedience started. It can't be bolted on later because the developmental window is on this side of pickup. If you think you might want it, tell us when you apply and we'll bake it in. Pricing for the Headstart add-on starts around $3,800 over the puppy price.
Each finished dog is unique, so the price is too. It depends on the dog's age, the depth of training (started, finished, hunt-test titled), the time invested by Sarah, and the work history. We list the starting line on the pricing page and quote the rest case by case. Same $500 deposit gets the conversation started; the full quote comes after Sarah meets you and we know what you're hoping the dog will do.
Almost never. The puppy price is the puppy price. Two things can move it: hand-delivery beyond a reasonable drive (we charge actual travel cost — fuel, food, hotel — no markup), and a flight nanny service if you choose that route (third-party fee, paid direct). We don't charge for the application, the interview, the temperament match, the AKC paperwork, the starter pack, or the lifetime breeder support. None of that is an upsell.