Our Story
Welcome to Summer’s Goldens!
We’re Chuck and Marta Wysong, a family Golden Retriever breeder located in Wawaka, Indiana.
Since 2016, our goal is to produce high-quality golden retrievers with excellent health and temperaments. Our goldens have plenty of fresh, country air and space to run, both of which are essential to their health and wellness. Goldens are known for their loving personalities and desire nothing more than to please you, their adopted owners. They are also superb dogs for families with children.
We firmly believe that if you are going to do something in life, do it the right way and do it as best as you can. We view our puppies as extensions of our family. The adoption process is an opportunity to blend our family and yours, and we keep in touch with many of our puppies’ families over the years. Our advanced health testing, cutting-edge socialization, and continual customer support provide the best experience possible for families who adopt our golden retrievers. We know purchasing a puppy is a huge decision in your life, and we invite you to join us.
The Summer’s Goldens Story
Learn more about our story, why we do what we do, and how we raise Golden Retrievers with integrity, compassion and love!
We prioritize Excellent Health.
Many breeders focus on a “show” quality dog or a certain look. At Summer’s Goldens, we focus on life-long family companions. While we carry many Champion bloodlines, we use careful genetic selection to lower the COI (Coefficient Of Inbreeding) of our dogs and improve the breed. Lower COI contributes to better long-term health and benefits golden retrievers as a whole. We don’t breed just for today; we breed with the future in mind to have healthy, happy golden retrievers for decades to come.
We follow the health-testing guidelines of the American Kennel Club and the Golden Retriever Club of America by examining our adult dogs’ hips, elbows, eyes, and heart through the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA). We also evaluate their hips using PennHIP, one of the most objective, scientifically proven hip exams for dogs. We only want the finest goldens to become mothers and fathers.
Not only are our adult dogs examined in these four key areas, but they are also genetically tested through Embark, one of the most reputable and thorough genetic companies. Embark partners with Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine to research the latest developments in canine genetics. Although genetics are not fool-proof to guarantee healthy puppies, we recognize their role in allowing us to make the best possible breeding decisions to minimize risks and help our puppies live long and healthy lives. Pairing healthy, genetically diverse parents is especially important for purebred dogs like golden retrievers.
We also adhere to the USDA’s standards for raising all of our dogs in a high-quality environment with plenty of love and attention. We care about our adult dogs’ physical, mental, and social health. Check out our Adult Dogs to see pictures and information about our mothers and fathers.
All of our puppies are:
Socialization is key for friendly, well-adjusted Golden Retriever puppies.
Not only do we focus on health, but we also take extra care to socialize our puppies well. We strive to cultivate friendly personality traits in our Golden Retriever Puppies for sale. High-quality socialization during the first two months of a puppy’s life is one of the most critical components of its lifelong development. Socialization provides a strong foundation for emotionally healthy, well-adjusted adult dogs. This is easy to claim but hard to do. There simply is no replacement for quality time spent with puppies.
We follow the lead of Dr. Carmen L. Battaglia and perform early neurological stimulation (ENS) exercises when the puppies are 3-16 days old. Studies have shown that dogs exposed to these exercises at a young age have improved cardiovascular performance, stronger heart beats, higher tolerance to stress, stronger adrenal glands, and greater resistance to disease. You can read more about early neurological stimulation on the AKC and Breeding Better Dogs.
We continue thorough socialization until the puppies leave us. This includes exposing our puppies to a variety of different surfaces to walk on; human touch all over their bodies; temperature changes; different sounds like fireworks, doorbells, cats meowing, and car engines; children; baths and nail trims, and more. We want our puppies to be more than just physically healthy; we want them to be mentally and emotionally ready for their future families.
We screen all potential families through our Puppy Application. We are committed to finding a forever home for each puppy, so we want to make sure the puppy is a good match for each family.
From start to finish, we care about our Golden Retriever puppies and their families.
We include a personalized care package with every puppy to help you get started on the right paw. It includes the puppy’s individual baby photos, a blanket with the mother’s scent, a variety of toys, a bag of the puppy’s current food, and more to help your puppy transition as smoothly as possible.
As a breeder with integrity, we are members of the Golden Retriever Club of America and the American Kennel Club. We are also certified by the USDA, ICAW (Indiana Council of Animal Welfare), and BOAH (Indiana State Board of Animal Health). We are an A+ accredited business with the BBB (Better Business Bureau). You are welcome to read our reviews on Google and Facebook, as well as the Testimonials on our site. Our goal is to improve the breed of golden retrievers and provide outstanding companions for families. Raising Goldens is more than a hobby for us; it’s a way of life.
If you have any questions or would like to come visit us in northern Indiana, please email us at info@summersgoldens.com. We would love to meet you and help you get to know our beautiful puppies!
Sincerely,
Chuck & Marta Wysong
Our Certifications & Commitment to Excellence
At Summer’s Goldens, we have chosen to go above and beyond what most other breeders consider as normal. Our certifications reflect our commitment to ethical breeding practices, the health of all of our Golden Retrievers, and the trust we build with each of our puppies’ families.
Mollie is super cute and was extemely well socialized from the day we picked her up - wants to be friends, with everyone, including our 2 very reserved rescue cats..!
Would recommend any day!
Bringing Finn home has been such a joy. It's clear he was raised in a loving environment with great socialization and exposure to everyday sights and sounds, making his transition into our home incredibly smooth. He's happy, confident, and has the sweetest personality.
We highly recommend Summer's Goldens to anyone looking for a healthy, well-adjusted Golden Retriever puppy. Thank you for giving us such a wonderful addition to our family!
From start to finish, the entire experience was outstanding. Communication was excellent, meeting everyone was wonderful, and the entire process was organized and professional. The puppy package and paperwork we received were incredibly thorough. Our veterinarian was actually very impressed with how organized everything was and even commented on how uncommon it is for breeders to have already given the puppies their Bordetella vaccine.
Another thing we really appreciated was that Poppy was already microchipped, and had even gone the extra step of registering the microchip for us. It was one less thing to worry about and showed how thoughtful and thorough she is.
Most importantly, our sweet Poppy has been everything we could have hoped for. She is such a wonderful girl, and we are completely in love with her. It’s obvious she came from a breeder who truly cares about the health, temperament, and well-being of their dogs.
After going through the entire experience, I can honestly say the quality, care, health testing, and professionalism made it absolutely worth every penny. The value you receive far exceeds the price.
I truly don’t have anything negative to say. I would absolutely get another puppy from Summer’s Goldens in the future and recommend them without hesitation to anyone looking for a healthy, well-socialized Golden Retriever. Thank you again for giving us our amazing Poppy!
My puppy came home confident, well-adjusted, and made the transition incredibly easy. She traveled well, has a wonderful temperament, and has been a joy from day one.
I truly appreciated Marta’s transparency, support, and commitment to producing healthy, well-rounded dogs. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone looking for a Golden Retriever.
We’re in our 60's and decided to go with a Golden this time because they are smaller and are known for being such nice dogs
I Looked at 15 Golden Retriever breeder websites located across the Midwest. Summers website was not only the most professional in appearance, it was clearly updated regularly - most others were not. I liked the idea that the puppies had a lot of interaction with family members for socialization
The puppy we picked up in February is now 6 months old and I couldn’t be happier with our choice. Marta was great to work with - readily available for questions . The building the puppies were in was impressive. Large sandbox type enclosures for the puppies with like wood chip bedding. Adult dogs were on one side of the room with indoor / outdoor kennels and there were some adults in the adjacent large fenced in yard. I was surprised with how quiet they all were when we first walked in. I think there was even some low level background music playing. This was better than I imagined.
When we picked up our boy at 10 weeks, he was already comfortable with different textures underfoot, had been introduced to the vet, and was well-socialized with people and other dogs. That early foundation has made such a difference.
He’s been incredible in every situation whether it’s meeting new people, playing with other dogs, flying, or going on long car rides. He’s smart, playful, and so eager to learn and please, which has made training a really rewarding experience.
It’s obvious Marta truly cares about her dogs and is committed to ethical practices and setting them up for success from day one. We’re so grateful for such a positive experience and for bringing such an amazing puppy into our lives!
We’ve brought joy to hundreds of families. Keep reading to learn more about their experience in working with us!