Frequently Asked Questions

Choosing a breeder and bringing home a puppy is a big decision. We want you to understand exactly how our program works, what is included, and why we make the choices we do.

Are any puppies currently available?

All of our current puppies are spoken for.

Our upcoming litters will be limited, and we expect only a small number of puppies to be available before 2027. We do not breed frequently just to keep puppies available year-round. Our breeding decisions are intentional and based on health testing, temperament, structure, trainability, and real-world feedback as our puppies grow.

If you are hoping for a Top Gun puppy, this is a great time to follow along, learn about our dogs, and reach out about future litters.

Do you have a waitlist?

No. We do not keep a traditional waitlist or accept non-refundable deposits before puppies are born.

We believe families deserve to see the actual litter, learn about the puppies’ development, and have a real conversation about temperament before making a commitment. We do not want you to place money toward a puppy whose sex, personality, litter size, and individual needs are still unknown.

Once a litter is born, healthy, and thriving, families can begin the reservation process.

How does the reservation process work?

First, reach out and tell us about your family, lifestyle, previous dog experience, and what you hope for in your future Golden Retriever.

Before accepting a deposit, we require a face-to-face conversation. Families are welcome to visit us in Florence, Arizona, or meet with us over FaceTime if they live farther away.

We will discuss your goals, introduce you to an appropriate puppy or training option when available, and be honest about what we see in that individual puppy. Once we have found a good match, a refundable deposit reserves your puppy.

Why choose Top Gun Golden Retrievers?

Top Gun is built around more than raising puppies until they are old enough to go home. We combine intentional breeding, early development, real-world training, temperament evaluation, thoughtful matching, and continued support for every family.

Our puppies are raised in our home and taught how to live in the real world. They experience household routines, children, handling, grooming, crate time, potty routines, travel, leash foundations, visitors, sounds, surfaces, new environments, and everyday distractions.

Most importantly, we get to know them as individuals. We do not want to guess which puppy may fit your family. We want to tell you what we have actually seen.

What is the difference between a trainer-led breeding program and a breeder-led training program?

A breeder-led training program is typically led by the breeder, with a trainer offering advice, creating a plan, or checking in periodically. Puppies may receive a good early foundation, but the breeder remains the person doing the daily training and making the training decisions.

A trainer-led breeding program is different. The person making the breeding decisions is also the person professionally training, evaluating, and placing the puppies.

At Top Gun, our program is created and led by a certified obedience and service-dog trainer. We are not only teaching commands. We are watching how each puppy learns, how they respond to guidance, how they recover after something unfamiliar, what motivates them, where they need support, and what kind of home will help them thrive.

That daily hands-on evaluation guides our training, our placement recommendations, and our future breeding decisions.

What does “trainer-led” actually look like at Top Gun?

Training experience guides the entire program, from the dogs we choose to breed to the way we evaluate puppies as they grow.

We pay attention to each puppy’s confidence, sensitivity, energy level, engagement, food motivation, recovery, sociability, independence, leash response, household manners, and learning style. We use those observations to help families choose the puppy and training tier that truly fit their goals.

We are not trying to make every puppy look identical or promise a finished dog at a young age. We are raising confident, happy puppies that understand how to learn and have a strong foundation for real family life.

What training does my puppy receive before going home?

Every Top Gun puppy begins learning practical life skills from the start. This includes crate routines, potty habits, recall, leash foundations, handling, grooming exposure, car rides, household manners, settling, confidence, and appropriate behavior around people and distractions.

Our puppies experience more than 100 intentional exposures, including different people, sounds, surfaces, environments, mobility equipment, travel, and everyday household life.

We focus on confidence before perfection. A young puppy does not need a flawless heel or a long list of commands. They need to understand how to follow their handler, give to leash pressure, check in, settle, recover, and feel excited about learning.

Are Top Gun puppies fully trained when they go home?

No ethical breeder or trainer should tell you that a young puppy is completely finished.

Our program gives puppies a much stronger start, but they are still young dogs who need consistency, structure, and continued training once they join their new family. Your puppy’s new home is also a major transition, and even a well-started puppy needs time to adjust.

We give families a foundation to build on, not unrealistic promises.

What are the available go-home ages?

Our most popular programs begin at nine weeks and continue through 13 weeks, 15 weeks, 17 weeks, and six months.

Families may choose another go-home age beginning at nine weeks if a different timeline fits their needs. We are happy to help you decide whether you want to experience every stage of puppyhood yourself or bring home a more mature puppy with additional training and a clearer-developed temperament.

Why do you keep some puppies longer?

We intentionally keep select puppies longer so we can continue their training and evaluate how they develop over time.

More time allows us to see how a puppy learns, handles new environments, responds to distractions, recovers from uncertainty, and develops emotionally. It also helps us identify puppies who may have potential for future therapy, service, or facility work.

These evaluations matter for more than placement. They help us assess whether our breeding pairs are producing the temperaments, trainability, and working ability we want in our program.

Why choose an older Top Gun puppy?

An older puppy is not priced higher just because they are older. Their program includes additional training, real-world experiences, observation, evaluation, and support.

Families who choose our 15-week, 17-week, or six-month programs receive complimentary professional training time built into the price, delivery at no additional cost, Arizona boarding benefits, and lifetime training support.

You are not paying us to hold a puppy. You are investing in additional development, practical life skills, a better-understood temperament, and a smoother transition into your home.

What is included with an older puppy training tier?

Our 15-week, 17-week, and six-month programs include continued work on crate and potty routines, obedience foundations, leash skills, settling, household manners, handling, grooming, confidence, and real-world socialization.

Older puppies also receive more time for us to observe their individual strengths, sensitivities, energy level, learning style, and needs. That gives us a much clearer picture of the dog joining your family.

Qualifying older-puppy programs also include complimentary delivery, Arizona boarding benefits, additional professional training time, and lifetime support.

Is delivery included?

Yes. Delivery is included with our 15-week, 17-week, and six-month puppy training programs.

We do not add a separate delivery fee after you have chosen one of those older-puppy tiers. We will work with you to create a safe, clear travel plan that is appropriate for your puppy’s age and destination.

Do you offer boarding?

Yes. Families who choose qualifying older-puppy training tiers receive complimentary Arizona boarding benefits.

We want Top Gun families to have a trusted, familiar option when life happens, whether that means planned travel, an emergency, or a trip where your dog cannot come along.

How are Top Gun’s deposit and return policies different?

We believe a family should have time to make a thoughtful decision.

We do not take non-refundable waitlist deposits before puppies are born. Once you have selected a puppy, your deposit remains refundable until your puppy leaves our property or begins transit to you.

For puppies picked up in person, families have 72 hours to return their puppy if the placement is not the right fit. Payments are refunded less the reservation deposit. For delivered puppies, families receive the return timeline outlined in their written agreement.

We would rather help a family make an informed decision than pressure anyone into a commitment that does not feel right.

What health testing do your breeding dogs receive?

We believe health testing should be available for families to review, not treated like a vague promise.

Our breeding dogs complete the health and genetic testing appropriate to our program, including OFA evaluations, genetic testing, and PennHIP where applicable. Individual results are linked directly on each dog’s profile so families can review the public records for themselves.

We encourage every family to ask questions, review results, and understand the health information behind the puppy they are considering.

What health support comes with a Top Gun puppy?

Every Top Gun puppy comes with our written 2.5-year limited health guarantee, which begins on the day you bring your puppy home rather than at birth.

We also provide separate parasite support. If a puppy tests positive for an intestinal parasite while in our care, we cover the reasonable related testing and treatment expenses while the puppy remains with us. After go-home, qualifying families may receive reimbursement for documented testing and treatment expenses, subject to the terms and limits of our written policy.

Please review our full Policies page and written purchase agreement before reserving a puppy.

Where do your puppies receive veterinary care and vaccines?

While puppies are in our care, vaccinations are administered through Queen Creek Vet. Puppies begin their vaccination schedule at seven weeks, and families receive their available veterinary and vaccination records at go-home.

We ask families to schedule their puppy’s first veterinary examination within 72 hours of pickup and continue their veterinarian’s recommended vaccine and wellness schedule.

How do you match puppies with families?

We get to know every puppy as an individual before making recommendations.

We consider energy level, confidence, sensitivity, recovery, sociability, engagement, food motivation, learning style, and the needs of your household. We want to know about your children, work schedule, activity level, experience with dogs, and long-term goals.

We will be honest if a puppy is not the right fit. The right match matters more to us than making a quick sale.

Can you guarantee a therapy, service, or facility dog?

No. A young puppy can show promising traits, but no responsible breeder can guarantee that a puppy will become a finished service, therapy, facility, or working dog.

Some Top Gun puppies may be excellent prospects because of their temperament, confidence, engagement, recovery, and trainability. Those puppies still need continued training, evaluation, maturity, and the right home environment to succeed.

We will always be honest about what we see and what remains unknown.

Can we visit the puppies and parents?

Yes. Visits are by appointment so we can protect the puppies’ routines and give each family our full attention.

Families may visit us in Florence, Arizona to meet the puppies and parents when appropriate. We also offer FaceTime meetings for families who live farther away.

To protect the health of our dogs and puppies, visitors must follow our sanitation procedures, including shoe covers and hand sanitizer before handling puppies.

Can we buy two puppies from the same litter?

No. We do not place two same-age puppies from the same litter together.

We want each puppy to build a healthy, independent relationship with their family. Raising littermates together can create unnecessary challenges with training, confidence, bonding, and development.

What support do you offer after my puppy goes home?

Every Top Gun family receives a customized five-week at-home training plan and access to our training resources. We also provide lifetime breeder and training support.

We want you to feel comfortable reaching out with questions about training, transitions, routines, normal puppy behavior, or challenges that come up as your dog matures. You are not sent home with a puppy and left to figure everything out alone.

What happens if I can no longer keep my Top Gun dog?

Top Gun dogs must be returned to us rather than privately rehomed, sold, transferred, or surrendered to a shelter.

This commitment lasts for your dog’s lifetime. Circumstances change, and we want to make sure every dog we produce has a safe path back to us if their family is ever unable to keep them.

What should I compare when choosing between puppy programs?

Ask who is personally doing the daily training, not just who created the plan or checks in occasionally.

Ask how often the puppies are evaluated, what real-world experiences are included, what support continues after go-home, and whether delivery, boarding, training, and other services are included in the stated price or added later.

Most importantly, ask whether the breeder can explain who your individual puppy is, not just list the skills every puppy has been introduced to.

At Top Gun, the same certified trainer who helps guide breeding decisions is also personally raising, training, evaluating, and matching the puppies. That allows us to give families a clearer picture of the puppy they are bringing home and a stronger foundation to build on.

How do I get started?

Reach out and tell us about the kind of Golden Retriever you are hoping to add to your family.

We will talk through your goals, answer your questions, explain upcoming litter plans, and help you understand which puppy age and training tier may be the best fit when availability opens.

We cannot wait to help you find your heart dog.