In order to make it easier for everyone to read, we use the following guidelines when describing our dogs.

Breed

When looking at our dogs, we evaluate their breed based upon many factors.  These include their appearance when compared against the breed standard, their behavior when taken through training exercises, and their temperament in normal interaction

Retriever
We use this term to describe dogs that are, to the best of our knowledge, purebred.  While we strongly believe that these dogs are purebred, we do not have AKC lineage,  and therefore cannot guarantee a dog's lineage.  On some instances, we do have
AKC records on a dog, and keep these records with the organization.

Retriever Mix - We use this term to describe dogs that are notably mixes, but are most predominately retrievers in their appearance, behavior, and temperament.  We cannot always determine what breed of mix the dog possibly contain.

Age

For the vast majority of our dogs, we do not have a birth date and therefore cannot definitively state their age.  We therefore assign them to these age ranges based upon our best estimate using both our knowledge and our veterinarians.

Puppy - under one year old.
Young - 1 - 3 years of age.
Adult -  4 - 8 years of age.
Senior - 9 + years of age.

For those dogs with proof of known age, we will list their appropriate age on our site.