We do not recommend puppies from Shady Lane in Spooner WI! - Page 1

To anyone looking at purchasing a puppy from the Shady Lane ranch in Spooner WI;
We recently had a very bad experience with Shady Lane and wanted to make other prospective buyers aware of our troubles. In March of 2009 we contacted the owner of this Golden Retriever breeder. The owner stated that she indeed was expecting a litter of puppies and if we sent a $100 deposit we would be put on a list to establish a picking order for the puppies once they arrived. we sent in our deposit, the pups were born, we were given 2nd pick of the females, 4 were in the litter. We excitedly watched our puppy grow bigger each week. Several times the breeder sent the wrong pictures of the wrong litter; I had to clarify with her if she sent the right pictures, twice she had not. However we continued forward, the puppies she informed us were ready for their forever home at 6 weeks. We questioned the pups leaving so young, she assured us that they were ready and the mom wanted nothing to do with them at 4 weeks old. The pick up date was scheduled by the breeder for a Saturday. I had to work on the chosen Saturday so I asked to come up on the following Wed. this was fine with the breeder. O wed. AM my husband and I drove 6 hours to get our puppy not too mention all the excited preparation we did all week. When we arrived we were told that she was sorry but she had accidentally given away our puppy to someone else and didn't have our puppy. Furthermore she did not have a phone number nor did she have anyway of getting our puppy back. Apparently she did not notice between Sat. & Wed. that she was missing a female?! Nor could she save us 6 hours driving time and call us before we hit the road. Our choices were take a male, wait for another litter or get our money back. Her story in our opinion was not altogether truthful and did not make sense to us especially for a breeder who has been doing this for 15 years! We took our money back and she did give us extra for our gas. Although this did not nearly make up for the disappointment we felt leaving for home with no new puppy, not too mention our disbelief in her as a breeder and an animal lover.
It is our opinion that this breeder is 1 step above a puppy mill and is not trustworthy as a breeder.

If anyone is considering getting a pup from this breeder proceed with CAUTION!!!

I second that. In Dec 2010,  I came across their website and spoke to Cindy. She sounded a warm simple person and I trusted her. We have a dark red golden and were looking for another dark puppy. She said they were expecting a litter in mid-Feb and we sent an advance. But, she emailed us to say the pups were born on Jan 11. I then read and learnt that that pregnancy term would have been half a dog's normal gestation period. But, I still did not read between the lines. The 1st week pic was a very dark puppy and in the subsequent weeks, it was a very light puppy - not red at all and she insisted it was the light. she recommended red hound haulers who gave me a 3-day estimate to transport the puppy. 
My worst 10 days started after Cindy emailed me that the shipper had picked up our puppy. The truck driver is extremely irresponsible and never returns calls. he drive our puppy from WI to GA to NJ and called me to say he was nearing VT whereas we live in VA.
Stressed out, I reached out to Cindy who wanted to have nothing to do with it. she claimed she had no paper work with the shipper and no info. Finally, we let both Cindy and the truck driver that we were considering legal action. Overnight, Cindy dug up an Idaho address. We called the sheriff's office who called the truck driver on our behalf. This worked magic! Within 3 hours, he was calling me to say my puppy will be home. .. not to mention his threating tone.
We are blessed that our puppy is keeping well...but Cindy has not cared to even check on her in the last 2 months! The truck driver is living true to his ultimatum to me that I never have to see him again after getting my puppy. No responsible breeder will be so callous about handing over a puppy without any receipt and to never check on her litter! Please don't make the mistake I did and buy a puppy ever from Cindy Manning!