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.
Birdie, formerly Tootsie, has been a great addition to our family. She was very clearly well socialized. The entire process from reaching out to Marta expressing interest to picking up Birdie was so seamless. I would recommend others to look here if they’re also interested in adopting a golden retriever puppy!
What Summer's Goldens does really well is communicate!! First, there is an abundance of information provided upfront and that information is then backed up by consistent communication throughout the entire process. During my inital research, I found the website to be very informative which allowed me to feel confident in my choice to move forward with Summer's Goldens. I was further reassured by thorough communication, both with updates on the puppies as well as timely responses to any and all of my questions whenever I had them, no matter how trivial. This made the process feel very personal and that Summer's Goldens had my family's best interest at heart. The picture and video updates that were sent, as well as the personality descriptions, were very helpful and beyond adorable!!! It's only been a week with our sweet little guy but he is perfect in every way and we couldn't imagine life without him!
If we ever want a second pup (very possible) or we hear of anyone looking to adopt we would not hesitate even a heartbeat to steer them to Marta at Summers Goldens!
The way I did this was my wife did not know we were picking up a pup, just going on a date. It worked out so sweet and she was really happily surprised!
Thoroughly enjoying our new baby girl Abby Oaklee!
Truly,
John Hine
Wayland, MI
We searched so many states and breeders and came across Summers Goldens.
Even through it was “far” from Philadelphia we were so drawn to all the 5 star 🌟 reviews, how much information was provided on their website and we loved that summers goldens takes all the extra health precautions to reduce the risk of future health issues.
We checked out the litters we had choices of and we were sold that this was the right place for us.
Like all the other reviews say, working with Marta is such a pleasant and professional experience. She is even more lovely in person and there is no doubt in my mind that all of her dogs and the dogs they breed are handled with love and care at every turn.
We ended up going with Oliver’s (obviously lol) and Naomi’s litter and we picked up our sweet Gus, last Friday 07/11. It’s an experience we will never forget and always cherish.
Meeting our new boy was love at first sight. Traveling home all day (3 hours in a car, bus transfer, 3 hours in the airport, and 2 hours on a plane) Gus was so easy going and enjoyed the entire day. We were amazed how well adjusted he was to all these new experiences. He loves his new home and we continue to be amazed by how quickly he’s learning things and overcoming new puppy challenges.
We feel so grateful that we found Summers Goldens. If we decide to get another in the future we know where we will go.
We’ve brought joy to hundreds of families. Keep reading to learn more about their experience in working with us!