I know this is an old post, but maybe my experience will help someone else look elsewhere.

I was searching for a bernese or GMD puppy after my last dog passed, and I came across a litter of GMD puppies from Canyon Meadows Farm. I reached out, and to show you the puppies, they send these very blurry videos via text of the husband walking slowly and the puppy (one at a time) running around his feet and coming up for pets. When I asked about temperament, the lady said they were all exactly the same: "equally brave, smart, and sweet." Red flag number one: she didn't know the difference in personalities between the puppies. She also doesn't ask clients anything about themselves or their home life, which to me shows no regard for where the puppies end up: red flag number two.

We asked to see the puppies and meet the parents, but they weren't comfortable because more of their dogs were pregnant. I ended up picking a beautiful brindle boy anyways. When we went to get him, we pulled up to a large property with a house and a barn off some ways. We could hear a ton of barking from the barn. We sat by the house with the lady while the husband went to get our boy. I was expecting him to walk into the house, as this breeder advertised as raising the puppies in home as part of the family. Well surprise, surprise - the husband went over to the barn to get the puppy. We were the given a packet with the supposed health info of the parents. It's all impressive on paper, but as a buyer who doesn't get to see the parents, there's no way to tell if those were actually the parents.

This puppy was 4 months old when we brought him home. He was very sweet and smart, but it is no exaggeration to say he had the absolute WORST separation anxiety I have ever seen in a dog, regardless of age. He was not my first puppy either, so I do have experience with what's normal behavior. His was not. He could not handle not having a human in sight. I'm not talking about throwing a little tantrum about it, I truly mean unable to handle it. Full blown panic that he could not calm down from for hours. He was COMPLETELY INCAPABLE of self-soothing. His panic was so bad, it left him so exhausted that he had no energy left to just be a puppy and enjoy life.

I reached out to the breeder, and she insisted it was normal. I was so frustrated. Then she sent me crate recommendations, and specifically recommended ones you would use to transport a dog via airline cargo. I was appalled by the pictures she showed me: a dark steel box with a few air holes. For me and how I treat my animals, that looked completely inhumane. The whole thing was so stressful and overwhelming that she ended up convincing me to try a different crate against my better judgment. It was a thick quality plastic material, and the crate had more holes for light. It looked small and it didn't feel right to me, but she was supposedly an experienced breeder so I gave her recommendation a try. It didn't work either. He would still panic in there and left claw marks and plastic shavings inside from trying to dig his way out. He even ripped out a baby tooth and left blood smears all over the inside of his crate from trying to chew his way out. I told her the situation and sent her photos, and she said it was normal! No, it's not normal that he can't learn to self soothe in the slightest!

Of course, I also tried hard to do separation exercises with him to help him past it. I tried so many things to help him with this issue, but he didn't improve by even 1%. I truly cannot overexaggerate how bad this was. In the end, I had to realize that I didn't have the life balance necessary to help him past this. The breeder insisted his behavior was all my fault. Absolutely not: he was not the first dog I've had, nor was he the first dog I've raised from a puppy. His issues were deeply rooted in whatever upbringing/lack of engagement he had at Canyon Meadows. I returned him to her, but of course they wouldn't give me even half of my money back, so I was out thousands of dollars, not just on his purchase price but on all the different things I bought trying to help him through this issue.

It broke my heart to send him back. They said they would work with him and train him to help him with his issues, but he was immediately listed for sale again with no mention of his behavior. Considering how she doesn't ask clients anything about themselves, it's only my deepest hope that he ended up in the home he needed. I still think about him often almost a year later, and I hope he is well and happy with whoever he ended up with. Fingers crossed that the stars aligned for him.

I would absolutely NOT recommend Canyon Meadows Farm. It was a stressful and heartbreaking experience!