Karen, at ice wind Shibas aka Harmony Kennels Aka IceWind Golden retrievers Likes taking advantage of Autistic 18 years olds. Karen hired my child for 16$ an hour cash pay to clean out the kennels. Then randomly fired my child, saying she hired someone else with "reliable transportation" my child's father was driving them both days a week and Karen knew that's upon hire. When my child asked about pay for the 4 hours Karen told my child they dont pay for training. At No point did Karen discuss non payment for training prior to this, my child thought they had the job as Karen actually Hired them, my child didn't think this was unpaid training. My bothers called to get Karen to Honor the 16$ an hour pay that Karen owe my Autistic teen. And she said she'd only pay 10$ if this is how Karen treats people imagine how she treats the dogs. Let Karen know how you feel about talking advantage of Autistic teenagers and her dishonesty. read more

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Honestly, I am stunned by the poor reviews. We had nothing but an amazing experience with Karen and Icewind Shibas. I brought my Fiancé to Icewind as a surprise for his birthday so that we could check out the facilities and make sure that we were comfortable getting a dog from them. The facilities are tremendous - she has so much room for the pups to run around. Karen really seems to care about the pups and is very knowledgeable. It is true that she is not the most tech savvy person, so I wouldn't expect videos or photos. But, we asked to see the puppy that we were thinking of getting during our visit and she politely declined saying that she was unable to because he didn't have all of his shots yet. We got Scout about four months ago and we are so happy with him. Shibas typically are not affectionate dogs, which we were concerned about but Karen mentioned that her Shibas cuddle. Scout does NOT disappoint - his is a lovebug and loves to be held! She also mentioned the average litter size in general for Shiba Inus is ~3 but her litter size is typically around 4-5. This is totally speculation, but I feel like these are just indicative of pups being happy on how they have been bred and great breeding conditions. Everyone comments on how beautiful Scout is and how great his coat looks. We stuck with Karen's recommendations for a raw food diet - she is for sure passionate about this point but she did give us instructions for transitioning him off of raw food if we wanted to. I never once felt like she thought we were going to take poor care of our pup or like she was lecturing us. She is just a very passionate person about her pups' health. Scout came with all of his papers and had zero health issues when we took him to the vet. We really enjoyed our interactions and would definitely consider getting another pup from here. In terms of the Cream colored Shiba comment below, I would refer to the following article to learn a little more about it as I'm not sure that they are the albino equivalent (https://myfirstshiba.com/cream-shiba-inu/). read more

Icewind Shibas - 5 Months Old - Pet Stores Near Me - Phillipsburg, New Jersey

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I bought a puppy from them at the end of December. The puppy's temperament is fantastic. She is just the sweetest dog. I adore this dog, but the dog has had health issues. First the dog had Giardia which she came with. Ok that can happen and even my vet said it's not uncommon. So I didn't think anything of it but the breeder claimed the puppy was crate trained and she was having constant accidents in the crate. I finally found out she had a uti and urinary dripping from a weak bladder control. After 2 antibioticss, the vet now says the dog will need surgery to fix her muscles in the urinary tract area as it's not developed or strong enough to stop drippings throughout the day. I emailed the breeder multiple times with zero response. Frankly this is the worst breeder I have ever dealt with. This is clearly a birth defect and this breeder does not want to stand behind the health of her dogs. I told her if I'd had the puppy for a few years I'd pay for the surgery but I've had the dog less then 2 months and I'm not spending a couple thousand dollars on a new dog when I shouldn't have to. No response. There is nothing worse then an uncaring breeder who treats her animals solely like business and in this case she has chosen to ignore the health of this puppy and she is behaving exactly like a puppy mill rather then like a reputable breeder. I would not recommend this breeder at all. Unfortunately while her dogs do have lovely temperaments, she is just not someone you can count on if something goes wrong. Which is truly a shame. I had thought she was one of the good ones, and I am truly saddened to learn she is not. But if you are lucky enough to get a healthy dog from her then you will be lucky enough to have a good dog with a great temperament. I do want to be fair here - as I said earlier, my puppy really has the sweetest personality, is so outgoing, intelligent, friendly, playful, and a joy to be around. Just a terrible misfortune to have a health birth defect the breeder will not acknowledge, stand behind, or deal with. Stay away from this breeder!!!! read more

I never write reviews but I feel like I need to let everyone know to stay far far away from icewind Golden breeder in New Jersey. I have been going back-and-forth via email with ice winds owner Karen (of course her name just so happens to be Karen) I put in an inquiry for a male Shiba inu and we were going back and forth on price availability and pick up time. We had agreed that she will sell me a male shiba for $1000 she sent me pictures of him and I instantly took mental ownership of the dog, told all my friends and coworkers about how excited i was to be getting this dog and I didn't tell my family because i was going to surprise them for Christmas by showing up with him. December 22 was the date that we had agreed on price and time for the appointment which she said the 24th at 1 pm i agreed to that time slot, mind you i did mention to her that i will be driving 5 hours away to pick him up and that i will be leaving thursday and booking a hotel for the night so i can show up on friday to pick up the dog. Thursday comes along and i get ready to take the drive to NJ for my new puppy. I just reach my hotel and i get an email from Karen saying that she had sold my dog and that a female was still available! What?!?!? So i reply back and say that i am upset on the fact that she knew i was driving 5 hours away and she had sold the dog i came to pick up. I got no reply back from her for the rest of Thursday night. Friday comes along and. I still get no reply. I checked out of my hotel and decided to drive over to her house since she has yet to reply to my email about why she sold the dog knowing that i was on my way. I show up and there is a man outside so i ask him for karen and he said that she'll come out in a bit and i telll him im here early because she had sold the male and i just wanted to make sure she wouldn't sell the female on me because i was still willing to take home the female despite the fact that she sold the male from under me. He goes inside and comes back and tells me that shes busy she can't come out and i have to come back at 1. I tell him i just wanted to make sure we work something out before i leave and come back to some bs again. He goes back inside and all i hear is them yelling at each other and he comes back outside and tells me if i want the female it will be $2500 instead of the $1000 she originally told me. Mind you they only take cash and i only took $1000 out the the bank to purchase the male and its Christmas eve no bank is open and the most i can withdraw is $500. So i told them I'm not paying more when you knew i was coming here 5 hours away and we had agreed on $1000 already. The man started getting upset and told me he didnt wanna deal with this and to come back and talk to karen about it. I told him i have no where to go i had checked out of my hotel and this place is in the middle of no where but he didnt seem to care because he just walked right back inside and closed the door on me. So at this point im getting pissed off because this lady wont even take accountability for her shady business practices to tell me in my face why she did what she did so i kept ringing her door bell and knocking on the door and finally karen makes an appearance just to yell at me and tell me thats shes busy and if i want the female its $2500. I told her i cant even take $1500 out of the atm and i am not driving back so i asked for them to at lease compensation me for my gas and the hotel and they said no and if i want the female to come back at 1 or else leave. I told her im not leaving until 1 (mind you its only 11 at this point" and she tells me shes going to call the cops on me! Are you serious??? First you make an agreement and then sell the dog on me and her only excuse was "people say that they are coming all the time and never show up" really? So thats your justification on screwing people over? And you want to call the cops on people just because a customer demands to keep your word and sell me a dog you agreed to sell me at the price you decided to quote me. Classic bait and switch! Stay far away from this Karen and her dogs i work in sales so you know how messed up it is to have an agreement only for them to switch you to something more expensive? Absolutely ridiculous! And now i have to drive home empty handing and return the hundreds of dollars of dog food treats and basics i got for the dog. I had already gave him a name and everything and now she completely ruined it for me. Fuck icewinds! Also the cop did come and I told him the story and even he said that that was messed up of her to do and all I can do is just take them to court which that's exactly what I'm going to be doing! Icewind English Golden Retrievers read more

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First I love my dog and she is already become my family now. But I have to say that don't buy your dog from here if you can. When you spend 3500$ on a dog, you will want she is pretty and well-formed. However my black and tan shiba is not. Her face is not like typical black and tan shiba, which had white fur under the nose. Mine has a black mouse and back neck, and seems will not disappear after she grown up. Her shape is not good as well. We tried our best to give her the best feed and exercise but we can tell she is healthy but not pretty. The picture Karen sent me of my dog's dad is sooo pretty so I blind trust her even though my puppy doesn't look good when I picked her. Well, I already choose her so I will take the Responsibility no matter how she looks like, but when you have a choice, DON'T CHOOSE THIS BREADER read more

I'm honestly shocked at the poor reviews here. We have a beautiful and healthy now 4 year old Shiba Inu and he is most certainly not a "puppy mill" dog, nor is the farm a puppy mill. I question the validity of the negative reviews claiming otherwise. We got our shiba from Icewind because a friend of ours got his from Icewind several years prior. That shiba is now 10 or 11 years old and incredibly healthy (he is overweight, but despite that he has 0 hip issues and is super sprightly, people always are shocked to hear his age). Sure, they have weird policies and are headstrong in their beliefs, but the dogs are top quality and the farm is most certainly not a puppy mill. We went there before putting our deposit down and met all of the dogs, who had lots of space to run and play. They had nothing to hide so anyone saying otherwise is just being salty because their personalities must have clashed with the owners of Icewind. We got pictures of our puppy when he was born (they even couldn't promise a definite time for our puppy bc we wanted a boy and obviously they can't guarantee these facts, which further proves they are honest breeders and not a mill) and continued to get photos of him until the day we went to pick him up. Our vets have confirmed the pedigree of our shiba and we're constantly getting stopped on the street with compliments of how beautiful he is. Any personality issues he has are known for the breed, and you should really do research before you buy a shiba and complain about their behavioral issues. They are notoriously difficult dogs to train. Our shiba is a gem, incredibly smart with a strong personality. He has anxiety but that was our own doing in terms of training - you really shouldn't be blaming the breeder for things outside of their control. read more

Icewind Shibas - Pet Stores Near Me - Phillipsburg, New Jersey

I had a great experience with Ice Wind Farms. I recently got my second Shiba Inu from Ice Wind. My 12 year old shiba Sasha has a great temperament and in good health for her age. My new puppy Stella has a great temperament and is absolutely adorable. Stella came home already potty trained! Anya was knowledgeable about the breed and very helpful. Before putting my deposit down, I was able to meet both of my puppy's parents. Anya sent me weekly pictures, so I was able to see my puppy grow before we picked her up. All in all we are very happy with our experience and our wonderful dog! read more

Icewind Shibas - Pet Stores Near Me - Phillipsburg, New Jersey

Gave my friends a dog that had lifelong knee issues without fully explaining that surgery would be needed for the dog. Over a period of a week of having the dog its knee was dislocated 5 times!! The surgery that would of been needed would have been over $15,000. AVOID THIS PLACE! read more

I purchased a dog on 03/22/2020. After purchasing, I've been ask for photos and videos of my dog, but " the breeder, Karen" didn't send me anything. Everytime she just said ok, I'm gonna give you the pictures asap, but she never did. Today, I asked for more, she sent me the old pictures that she gave me before the purchasement, and I said all I want is a real photo of my own dog. She refused. So I said since the dog has not been shipped I want to cancel the deal. But she said, no refund. And never answered the message anymore. There's no phone number you can call, and she just disappeared like that. By the way, the number she just to text is a bot. I doubt whether this Karen really exist. Walk away if you don't want to deal with lawyers later to sue this person. read more

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I have been thinking of getting a shiba for years and have actually looked up Icewind maybe two years ago. I loved everything I read on their website especially the part where they encourage visitors to interact with their dogs so as to socialize them. I know I'm not ready yet but because I have family from Japan who own shibas themselves coming to town, I thought about scheduling a visit to Icewind. I received a reply back saying that they don't schedule appointments unless I'm ready to take a puppy back home. That contradicts how they are marketing themselves online. So now, I dug a little deeper and found these horrible reviews on Yelp. Even a shiba inu forum mentions Icewind as a puppy mill. Check this out if you want to learn more: http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/8871/puppy-mills-what-they-are-ways-to-work-against-them/p3 My cousins own three shibas from a reputable breeder in Japan and here's a quick spot check on how to determine whether your breeder is a puppy mill. Shibas only come in red, black and sesame. The cream (white) one is considered an albino. If a litter has a cream one, that should be the last of it. Icewind shiba markets all of these colors (even the cream one) online, and I would think that if you are a reputable breeder, you would know more about shibas than i do. Glad I did my research before driving all the way to jersey for this. read more

Short story: Rude breeder, Puppy had POOP on him when she showed us, tested positive for parasites, will never recommend or return. Long story: on Thanksgiving my mom told us she wanted another red Shiba Inu. 4 years ago we purchased a Shiba Puppy from a puppy store before we knew about puppy mills. We didn't want to support another, so we found Icewind when we looked up breeders nearby. "Application" seemed unnecessary because she didn't even acknowledge it after we sent it. Just sent it in, and sent the deposit. I know she didn't acknowledge the application because when we met her in person, she asked if we had any other dogs. Which, we described in our application. So on Thursday we emailed, Saturday we drove from Long Island to New Jersey to pick up the puppy. We get there and meet her by her garage, she walks out of one part of the house with 2 male puppies and walks us into her garage/store and places the two puppies on the concrete floor in a small little pen. One of the puppies had POOP on his BACK!! I understand puppies will be puppies and accidents happen.. But if you know you're showing puppies to potential buyers, wouldn't you want to make sure they're in best shape possible? We're talking back and forth while looking to see which puppy we want and she was generally pretty nice.. Until we told her we had no intentions of feeding our dogs raw food. Some exact things she said to us were, "WHEN he gets diarrhea, which he will" "He will not eat kibble. He's on raw meat" Small update: He ate kibble with no problem. Only had diarrhea when he got to our house, before we even fed him our food. :) Mainly I was upset with this because she was speaking as if her opinion was fact, and treated us like we were about to go home and abuse this dog. And after this, she wasn't nice at all. There was a lot of awkward silences and when we were leaving, we were overjoyed (who wouldn't be after taking home a new puppy!) And even after her rudeness I still said, "thank you so much, have a great day!' and she just said, "okay" and closed the door on us. Not even a, "you're welcome" or "goodbye" ??? Once we're home and the puppy sees his first vet appointment, his fecal showed he tested positive for parasites Coccidia and Giardia. I emailed Karen to let her know, since... We saw the other puppy literally had sh*t on his back. She said thank you and that they were all treated but the test will still show positive. Oh, in this email she said, "I assume the puppy has diarrhea like I said." Really didn't appreciate the unnecessary passive aggression. Honestly, I feel like if I were a breeder I would have notified a buyer of this? "Hey the puppies did have this but they were treated for it" would have been simple enough. In the end, we are just glad we got our puppy. But I would never go back and never recommend Icewind to anyone else. read more

The delivery of the dog was fantastic. That is where any praise ends. I got a Shiba Inu in February of 2022. She came to me with an array of health problems including worms (which we discovered she got from the food she came with and even got reinfected). She had a heart murmur which I emailed about to Icewind in March 2022 and I still have not gotten a response or even acknowledgment back from them. She is nearly blind and has trouble seeing things that are within a foot of her. Honestly, I would be giving them one star if not for how good the delivery was with both updates and coming when they said they would be here. read more

Icewind Shibas - My Shiba inu being held - Pet Stores Near Me - Phillipsburg, New Jersey

We picked our puppy up on June 26. He is wonderful, healthy and very well-adjusted. Our interaction with Icewind (from the moment we heard that a bitch was pregnant through delivery and then eventual pickup) was very good albeit short. Their facility is beautiful. People must remember that purchasing a dog is a business transaction. And as such, all contracts/transactions, each side has obligations to fulfill the requirements of the contract. I think that emotions run high when it comes to an animal/future family member and expectations become unreasonable. I would highly recommend them to anyone as long your end goal is obtaining an excellent dog. read more

Icewind Shibas - Pet Stores Near Me - Phillipsburg, New Jersey

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We don't have a Shiba, but one of IceWinds English Cream Golden Retrievers. The dog is absolutely beautiful. Everywhere we go, people stop us to ask what breed she is and where we got her. I never hesitate to recommend IceWind and have only ever had a positive experience with Karen. I feed raw at Karen's recommendation. It is definitely more costly than Kibble, yet she feeds all her dogs a raw diet because she cares about the dogs. My dog is registered with AKC and came with vetinary clearance and vaccination record. She breeds beautiful, quality dogs with great temperaments. The grounds were also spotless any time we visited. read more

The best place to get a Shiba. Karen is wonderful to deal with and her dogs are gorgeous and very well taken care of. Our pup has been absolutely amazing. People are always shocked at how good his temperament is. I would totally do it again. Worth every dime and more. read more

I still have a wonderful healthy thriving 6 month old puppy from Ice Wind. I had no problem dealing with these folks. My Vet says Nellie is very well bred. She is very social and loves her time at daycare! read more

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This place is basically a puppy mill. I bought my first dog from them 12 years ago because I didn't know any better. When I brought the puppy in for his 1st vet visit, he had worms and lice. Worms are very common and somewhat understandable, but not lice. That just means the place is very dirty. The vet was shocked to see lice on a new puppy. I love my dog, but over the years he has developed ALL of the typical generic issues with Shibas: 1. Luxated patellas (both knees) which now has turned into sever arthritis 2. Seizures - he;s been on phenobarbital since he was 2 years old 3. Allergies - he's on a twice-daily dose of allergy meds to help with the itching This place always has puppies in stock, which can be tempting. But it really is not worth it in the long run. Find a small family breeder who screens for genetic disorders and cares enough about the animals to keep them clean. read more

"Dozer," born to Icewind Kennels, our English Cream Golden Retriever puppy, has more than stolen our hearts...! And, I cannot say enough about Icewind Kennels...except for having the highest praise and highest recommendation that you could ever give any one. First of all, we were warmly welcomed to the kennels by its owners, Karen and Anya. Right away we were very comfortable and confident in the way the puppies were treated and gently handled. You could tell how much Karen and Anya loved each precious puppy from the litter and they already recognized the puppies individual personalities as well. I told Karen and Anya that I was looking for a very special puppy, one of whom was very emotionally strong, physically very healthy, and highly intelligent. However, it was extremely difficult to choose one puppy from the litter as really all of the puppies possessed all of these qualities. My reason that I was so fervent about my selection was that my husband is a quadriplegic and needed a dog who understands the difficulty he has daily and thus responds to him in a careful but attentive way. Conversely, my sensitive 10 year old daughter, who has ADHD, needed an enthusiastic "fun" puppy that could keep up with her, make her laugh with his antics, and make her know that, at last, she had a loving "brother" that she could trust with her "up" and "down" feelings. Dozer ( his name comes from "bulldozer," after one of the heavy machines in my husband's construction business) has been all of these "wishes of mine," and so much much more. (He has also been my constant companion, when Jim is at work and Mikenzie is in school ...even helping me with my gardening, pulling out weeds with puppy gusto...!) I owe all this happiness to Karen and Anya. First of all, they choose the parent dogs with studied compatibility to ensure the best possible quality puppies from a litter. Secondly, from our first visit, after decing to have an iceland puppy, we were sent "portrait style" photos of the growing puppies, followed by adorable individual pictures. Third, we received numerous emails on nutrition, vitamins, shots, spaying/neutering, tick/flea prevention, and exercise, even before bringing our puppy home. Appointments to see the puppies were punctual, informative, and personal, with as much time seeing and holding the puppies as you wanted. And last, Dozer was sent home with a huge care package and instructions. This will be hard to believe... but on the first day home, 8 weeks old Dozer, slept through the nght, knew his name, and hit the puppy wee pads almost every time...!!! To this very day, Icewind Kennels continues to send us informative emails and requests updates on how dozer is doing. Icewind Kennels obviously really cares even after a puppy leaves for its' new home. Some day, when Dozer is older, we would like for him to take therapy dog lessons. Mikenzie would like to take him to hospitals to cheer up lonely and ill patients. This aspiration would be a meaningful experience for Mikenzie and good "work" for Dozer. Needless to say, I get stopped repeatedly with "oohs" and "aahs..." because right away folks see what a sweet and "handsome" puppy Dozer is...(quite a "crowd pleaser" and "show stopper"...!) What more can I say about Icewind Kennels and the exceptional puppy I have from Karen and Anya...! And, it goes without saying, if you'd like to use me as a reference, please contact me. My email address is: khum71@aol.com Very Sincerely, Kassey read more

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I have been waiting to write this review until I had time to observe our puppies temperament and watch for medical problems. We purchased a Shiba approx one year ago. Pros: Our Shiba is wonderful. He has needed some extra training but typical for a 1 year old. We have been told by trainers and groomers he has more of a temperament of a retriever. He is a fun family dog. We have heard horror stories from our vet about Shibas. She was pleasantly surprised when she met our Shiba. Our Shiba was basically potty trained when we picked him up. He was disciplined and we were taught how to help with this. Cons: As other posts Karen was rude. Honestly if we had not already put down a deposit we probably would have walked. Another customer came waiting to talk to her and give her "cash" prior to his pick up time. He didn't want his wife to know how much he spent on the puppy. She literally "shooed" him off. We told her we did not mind..after he left she spoke badly about him. He was just trying to get the first puppy for his kids. I might also note that he was Asian and we are White. There was some very uncomfortable energy projected to him from Karen...confirmed when she made some derogatory comments later. Karen is very inflexible. We were given dates to come puck out our puppy that did not work with our schedules. She was not willing to accommodate us another time. AKC paperwork was filled out incorrectly. She had to send it back to be corrected. Overall we love our Shiba. Karen is a liability to this business. read more

I am stunned at the negative reviews here, and I don't understand why my 5* post does not show up although there are posted pictures of me and my dog (I'm wearing a blue shirt, holding my puppy Midas) on this site yet my review is not there. We had a wonderful experience with Icewind and we purchased a top-flight dog. I can understand if someone gets a little bit emotional when buying a dog, but, YOU'RE BUYING A DOG. If anyone is in the service business, you understand that the client is always right. But this is not a service business and you're buying a puppy, not a lifelong relationship with a breeder. All dogs will eventually encounter bugs, worms, etc. If you want to make a purchase, communicate clearly and make it. If not, don't. It's really that simple. The facility is beautiful, plus, they have a great store if you need anything. There is NO pushing of products whatsoever. Of course they recommend items/products/care/etc for what their experience has determined that you may want. read more

Icewind Shibas - Pet Stores Near Me - Phillipsburg, New Jersey

It is over 4 years now that we got our Shiba ( MoMo ) from Karen at Ice Wind. And we love him to death !! What a great dog ! We do not regret the decision to get a Shiba . And I should tell you , Shiba's are difficult dogs !! Not a dog for the faint of heart. We bought him for our daughter who has never owned a pet rock . And it looked like a disaster . So , I took him back from her and started to work with MoMo every day . I got bit 4-5times and we fought on a daily basis to get him into his harness and walk on a leash. Tough Times. During this time Karen was very helpful , her experience handling Shibas was extremely helpful . And now he is my best friend and constant companion. He will never be friends with our other dog , A Pug . But at least he is no longer trying to kill him !! I would put no faith in any of the negative reviews I have read, NONE ! These folks know thier dogs !! Thier advice before we even picked up the puppy was extremely helpful. They talked to us extensivly about thier diet , Vaccinations and the importance of socialization . Don't let the negative reviews throw you off. If you want a Shiba and you are in for the long haul , Karen and Ice Wind is the place to go. read more

Absolutely horrible experience. Karen was rude, as mentioned by others. My partner and I went to pick up an adult dog being retired from breeding. We were told she was good with people, dogs, and cats. We drove over four hours to pick her up. When we got there, the dog was incredibly timid and flinched at every sound and movement. Karen then told us: 1. she only vaccinates once because "they last years," this includes rabies vaccines, heart worm, all of it- because apparently the dogs only eat raw food so don't have risk??? 2. the dog was not trained AT ALL. 3. the dog was not neutered. 4. her health information was "buried somewhere" and Karen would sent it later 5. the dog was used to living outdoors and went inside only when she had puppies. Because we were so overwhelmed in the moment, we took her home. She growled at nearly everyone we passed, lunged at the cat in the apartment, and kept bleeding from her vulva. We kept her for about a week, before deciding we should bring her back (which Karen said we could do). Once we arrived, she refused to meet with us, kept saying she had errands to run ( knowing we had just driven over 4 hours and had planned the time/day a week in advance) and refused to give us our money back. Instead, she sent out her husband, who said he couldn't give us the money since he had "nothing to do with the business." We waited about an hour for Karen to come home, during the time she kept rudely texting and ignoring our requests for money. Eventually, she agreed she would consider giving us the money after she took the dog to a vet. When we asked how soon that would be, she did not respond. We went home since it was getting late and still had a long trip back. Since, she has stopped responding to all of our messages. She has stolen over $600 from us, not including transportation costs. I'm sure she's going to sell the dog to someone else and make even more money. Also, when we took the dog to the vet during the week we had her, they told us Karen should have provided at minimum a rabies vaccine record since it is ILLEGAL to bring a dog into the state we live without that information, and as a breeder she must have known this. Avoid avoid avoid. A waste of time and money. read more

We spent $2,600 on a male English Cream Golden Retriever. She did not give us the vet clearance certificate (we assume it was in the folder). We were so thrilled getting the puppy we did not notice under his neck was BALD! Paid an extra $50 for microchips. Vet said there is no chip. Vet said skin scrape came back with MITE larve. Contacted breeder. She said vet must not have International chip reader (he does). Sent her picture of his neck. Said looks like beautiful healthy pink skin. We said "you mean where fur should be????" She told us to get a new vet. Said she would send us a chip to have vet insert (she hasn't). His fecal test came back positive for Giardia. So I am out $50 for the chip, $36 for the skin scrape test and $30 for the medicine for neck and another $25 for meds for Giardia. This breeder couldn't care less. Still said she mailed the chip but we can drop by and pick one up. Sure, we are 3 hours away and can buy one on Amazon for 10.00. We have yet to receive his AKC papers. Some red flags. Website said puppies are chosen by order of deposits. Then in email she asked if we wanted first pick for $5,500 or second pick for $4,500 etc. we said we could not afford any more. Then she wrote "Don't worry, I will pick out the perfect pup for you". That's a complete contradiction! Do NOT go to this backyard greeder. They are definitely in it for the $$$. They don't care about you or your pup. read more

Icewind Shibas - Bald neck due to mites. Vet did skin scrape. - Pet Stores Near Me - Phillipsburg, New Jersey

terrible! owner Karen ripped off my parents & they are devastate! she received her $ but they didn't get a dog! buyer beware!

I bought my shiba in 2005 from IceWinds. She is the sweetest dog and still going at 16 years. The breeder is cooky, but our dog has been so healthy. read more

Hi, I was actually looking up Ice Winds to start looking for another dog and was shocked to see some negative reviews. I got my Shiba way back in 09 and I am happy to say my Shiba is still going strong. First of all, this place is not a puppy mill and its pretty messed up to say that on Yelp without any proof. Also, stop being a crybaby if they try to push you extra products. They are a business after all. They did that to me about spending money on this and that, and I politely refused. People get so bent out of shape that someone is trying to sell you something extra. Also, what amazes me, is that people are complaining about the Shiba Inu's temperament and blaming the breeder. If you are complaining about that, you definitely did not do your due diligence on Shibas. Anyways, love my Shiba O-Ren Ishii of the last 10 years and will looking to get a Golden next at Ice Winds. If you're looking for a Shiba as your next dog, please do you due diligence first. They aren't some cute meme on the internet. IMO they are not for people that are getting a dog for the first time. But if you go for it, I suggest look no further than Ice Winds. read more

Icewind Shibas - Ishii hanging out with kitty. - Pet Stores Near Me - Phillipsburg, New Jersey

Purchased my Shiba Inu back in 2006 from Ice Wind Farm. Got there and feel in love with our pup. However, the place seemed very much like a puppy mill. There were 10-15 Male dogs outside in small kennels. There were three of four inside fenced in kennels for female dogs to give birth. There were two cages filled with male and female puppies (Only Shibas from what we saw). They really were in it to make a ton of money. The daughter who was in high school at the time was a bit pushy on products. The mom gave some sob story about how the daughter is adopted from Russia and is saving up money to become a veterinarian and by buying these items will help her go to school. Well, we brought the dog home and to the vet, he had worms, and a heart murmur. We were also given papers from a dog that was born earlier than this one. No AKC papers were provided even when called and emailed about. The dog also became very aggressive over time towards other dogs and people. We eventually had to put him down due to this. No matter what we did in regards to training would be able to reverse this aggressiveness. Stay far away from this place. read more

We visited Icewind today with our "Opal" to pay for her. When we received Opal 2 months ago Karen would not accept payment because she had a slight heart murmur. She let us have her because she knew our kids would be disappointed if we couldn't bring her home. Karen arranged a follow up with a local Veterinary cardiologist at no charge. After a few weeks the murmur resolved. Opal has thrived in our home, and the overall experience of adopting a golden retriever from Icewind TLC has been top notch. I would recommend Icewind TLC to anyone looking for a great dog and a great adoption experience. read more

Icewind Shibas - Pet Stores Near Me - Phillipsburg, New Jersey

Pros: - Our shiba puppy from Icewind, now nearly 13 years old, is my doggie soul mate. His temperament is amazing. He behaves perfectly off leash, contrary to breed stereotypes. He's a kind, tolerant, loving older brother to our two young humans. He is well mannered, i.e. would never steal food off a low coffee table even if we left it unattended for hours, takes treats daintily from our fingers without snatching, etc... - Icewind had a resident cat, at least when our shiba was young, and he has a healthy respect for them to this day. I'm not sure the relationship is entirely positive. He's more terrified of cats than anything else -- but he also wouldn't dream of chasing one. - He doesn't have much of a prey drive in general, especially at this age. When he was a very young pup, he'd sometimes joyfully chase deer in the woods (and roll in their poo), but would always stop and come when called. Squirrels, mice, birds, etc.. seem to puzzle him. We think he's a realist: He knows he won't catch them, so why bother? This is great for a mixed species family with other critters. Neutral: - He is picky about whom he keeps company with. He's not overly fond of most strangers, human or dog, but tolerates them and is sometimes actively friendly towards a select few (generally calm personalities). We weren't expecting a golden retriever and for our family, his "pack oriented" personality is a good fit. Cons: - If you care about breed standards, our pup and most other Icewind shibas we've met are larger than standard, have curlier tails than standard, and have higher hips (higher hind leg to front leg ratio) than the American standard. We don't show our guy and don't care much about standards, but we do care about health. The higher hips (more common in Japanese shibas) are adorable b/c it causes shibas to walk with a wiggly butt, but it correlates with joint problems later in life. - Our guy has had bad knees and other joints since puppyhood. After consulting with quite a few specialists, we are fairly certain it's a genetic defect. - Yes, Icewind does seem like a glorified puppy mill. Their training methods seem unnecessarily barbaric or at least backwards according to many trainers: Karen rolls the puppies regularly to teach them to be submissive. They do "import" many dogs from out-of-state breeders. When we picked up our pup, we were rather horrified to see Karen clip a nail much too short (causing a lot of bleeding and crying), and then almost immediately after, roll him because he was being, to her view, overly feisty. - Like everyone else, we were coerced into signing a contract promising to purchase NuVet supplements for the rest of our pup's life. For the record... we do find NuVet to be a relatively high quality supplement based on observed health and discussions with several vets, though it is certainly not the only high quality supplement on the market. Our guy alternates between NuVet and NuPro (not a related product, I think?) and takes Doggie Dailies (a joint supplement). Like others have noted, there is no enforcement or followup (and in fact, I question whether the contract is enforceable at all). So take that rigmarole with a grain of salt. Conclusion: All that verbiage was just to say: I have mixed feelings! I don't love this breeder, agree that she does not seem to screen purchasers beyond our ability to pay, do not believe she screens for health issues in pups as well as she could (given the large, but non-scientific sample of other Icewind shibas we've met in the city), and dislike some of her business practices. I also wonder at times if Anya is an indentured servant, based on my limited observations of interactions between her and her adopted family (she was just a teenager when we visited, but seemed to be treated more like an employee than a daughter). But... and this is a big but... I do very much love my first born son. There is no better dog in the universe and never will be. read more

We did a LOT of research when searching for a Golden female. Our other wish was that we could get a full AKC registration for possible breeding in the future. We wanted a healthy puppy and Karen does every imaginable test on all of her Goldens to make sure they have met all the criteria for responsible breeding. Yes, the price was high, but you get what you pay for. Yes, I bought the NuVet supplements, but she offers a lifetime guarantee, if my girl has any health issues or is not suitable for breeding she will replace the puppy. Every other AKC breeder simply said NO they would not sell me a full registration female. Yes, it IS a business, but these are healthy well cared for dogs who are RESPONSIBLY bred, NOT the definition of a puppy mill. read more

After doing a lot of research we decided to go with Icewind for our Shiba. Anya was very helpful, very patient and vary detailed in having a life with a Shiba. Our pup has been very healthy and very well adjusted (not an easy feat with Shiba overall). Gets along with people, dogs and has no significant personality quirks that are challenging. This is attributable to a lot of care by Icewind and their time spent in helping us understand how to manage this unique breed. Very happy and grateful. read more

Just sincerely let people who are looking for a breeder know, I really don't recommend anyone to buy a puppy from this breeder. She's very dishonest, unreasonable, and doesn't care about the puppies. Only thing she care about is getting the cash ASAP! I bought a shiba inu puppy from them recently. It was a horrible experience: 1. When I came to visit the puppies as the appointed time, which is one week earlier than the pick up date, the breeder forced me to take the puppy with me that day, otherwise she will charge $45 daily fee! She was totally unreasonable, even after i show her the email records(even more ridiculous in her printed firm, the pick up date was one week later) . If I don't agree, she said she will sell it to someone else. 2. What's more, the price for the puppy was said to be $3000, I made $450 for deposit through paypal, and the balance will be paid as cash. However, in the visiting day she added more than $250, as what she said as tax and $50 for chip, which I totally didn't know. She's trying any of means to make money! Here I strongly suggest IRS should check their tax! 3. In the end of the day, I paid everything and took the puppy away. Really shameless, that she refused to give my changes, by saying" I don't have a changes!" And she refused to show me the parents of the puppy! Can refuse to answer an questions of how to care the puppy. All the way she was trying to push me to buy the things from her store. read more

I am a fan of Icewind Shibas. We purchased our puppy, Clover, about a year ago. He came home completely potty trained at 9 weeks, which was absolutely amazing. He is healthy, sweet and pretty well mannered for a shiba inu dog. And we are not novices to how shiba's behave. We've had, a male and female together who passed at 17 and 15 years of age, respectively. He is slightly more destructive than them, but he is a true Shiba through and through. Keep in mind I'm saying this after having the dog for a year and we have not had any issues. Dealing with Karen was perfectly fine. She was kind and she seems to care about her animals. I forgot some of the treats I purchased at the store and she mail them to me for free. I have read the negative reviews and we had some concerns about going to Icewinds because of the expense, lack of caring and the "dirty" facilities, but I didn't really see that. Is the farm run like a business, probably, but there's nothing wrong with that. I don't find her food or store items any more expensive than a standard chainstore. I wanted a happy, healthy, shiba with a good temperament for a decent price. That's what I got. read more

I was first looking for a golden retriever breeder and came across Icewind Golden and then saw they also breed Shiba Inu, so I emailed for suggestions since I wasn't sure if I wanted a golden retriever or Shiba. From the email correspondence, they definitely seem rude and were not able to answer my questions directly. I would ask how much is the deposit and what's the process like for purchasing a puppy, they would just reply 'all information is in the email' and that's it, which is only partially true because the first email mentioned deposit but not information how I should start the process of buying a puppy from them. I then bumped into this page and with so many other chilling reviews, thank God I did not end up buying a puppy from them. read more

A few years ago we decided to add a puppy to our family, so he can be a companion to my disabled (Young adult) son who is a cancer survivor and home bound, from the remnant issues of his special type of childhood cancer. It took us a couple of years to research the breed and the breeder and during that time I came across Karen and her kennel. The Cream British Retrievers were my preferred breed, as I grew up with them in Europe. Karens dogs were exceptional and true to the breed and that got my attention. I read all the mixed reviews...all of them, everywhere. The things said in the negative way, actually was immensely heartwarming to me. A breeder who believes in her methods and is so experienced and knowledgable that would not let me take a wrong step and take wrong products home? yes...that sounded amazingly good to me. We got out puppy early last year. We had to wait a few months and make a couple of changes until the perfect puppy (For us) came along and we got him home early summer. He is now just about a year old and the most exceptional and incredible dog I have ever seen. He is one of those dogs that turns head anywhere he goes and people fall head over heals in love with him, just because. He has long silky shiny snow white hair and intense loving black eyes that makes your heart melt. He is also extremely intuitive and kind and supremely smart and bright. The vet and the trainer who worked with us and really, anyone who comes across him expresses these same opinions. We have gone thru a very easy puppy stage process and made very easy transitions, because we followed the advice and the suggestions of Karen and her team and never once regretted doing that. Why shouldn't we? Why be hesitant or work against the breeders words, when what she suggests is the what is best for the puppies. It does makes sense that she'd want our success with the puppies. Right? These are superior puppies resulted from superior breeding and extremely phenomenal lines. I am happy we were able to add our Declan to our family and bringing him from Icewind Goldens Kennel was the best decision we have ever made. She not just guided us to pick the perfect puppy for us, she also made sure we were educated and trained to receive him and guide us thrugh the first stages of his life, when we needed that knowledge the most. That is always the mark of a superior breeder. Wish I could post a picture of him for you to see... he is truly top of the line and nothing like him even exists in our state. He is EXCeptional. My only regret is that we can't add a few more puppies from Icewind. Our many thanks to Karen and her team!! This gift was a treasure that we can never repay. Thank YOU!!! read more

STAY AWAY!!! NEGATIVE 5 STARS!!! Icewinds may actually be the most unprofessional business I have ever encountered! The owner and customers direct "contact" is Karen. Karen has replaced acceptable business ethics with her own special mix of arrogance, non-refundable deposit clause (a little more on that later), and flat out lies. These horrid skills are extremely polished and flow out her mouth with such ease it's down right astonishing! If you're not having second thoughts yet, you'll be happy to hear about the most infuriating practice you'll get to endure once Icewinds has control of your money. The only contact number for Icewinds you are given or will be able to find rings Karen's cell phone, IT WILL NOT BE ANSWERED! Instead, you'll receive a text message asking you to please text because she (fill in with whatever BS reason you would like). You will quickly discover Karen will not nor will ever actually speak to you over the phone, never! Take a glance through the Better Business Bureau's reviews of Icewinds, and you'll see the above description is repeated over and over. The two gems about Icewinds: 1.) they have an absolutely amazing webpage! There are so many guarantees and promises that once you've gone through it you are left with such a sense of confidence in your upcoming purchase that you're almost excited to pay $3000-$4000+ for your new "guaranteed health for life" puppy. 2.) the non-refundable deposit program. At this point you've become so excited and relieved because very soon you will be the proud owner of possibly the greatest dog to ever live, you over $500 as your deposit without a second thought. Once Icewinds has your deposit, BRACE YOURSELF you are no longer in control! That $500 will be dangled in front of you for the remainder of your experience, Karen has just made $500, no matter what happens, don't like it, tough. I actually wonder if Icewinds tries to drive people away, take the $500 bucks, and move right on down the list. True colors will come flying at you. You will be forced to spend hundreds of dollars on a specific brand of dog food or every guarantee Icewinds has made is immediately voided. You may or may not get a full description of what was meant, not written on their webpage. You will not see or meet your puppy until you have paid the remainder of your uber-inflated bill. You will not be permitted to meet or interact with your puppies parents. You will be texted at (remember she will not actually talk to you over the phone) and told what to do and when to do it, asking about or for something that Karen isn't interested in hearing and you can add in disrespect and condescending remarks into her text messages. So much hope and excitement at the start, replaced with a pending lawsuit for fraud and a puppy with no paperwork that Icewinds is excluding from every guarantee and promise on their website. Shame on you!! read more

Sorry although my experience was a good one I can't say the same when I went back with a friend of mine 3 years later. I only wish I knew earlier. I did my research after the fact and to my surprise how many displeased clients there were and to see it was a puppy mill. Despite what I had thought in the past this place is and had always been run by a child. The so called owner "Karen" is never to be seen. There doesn't seem to be any mistreatment of the dogs but it is in every sense a puppy mill and the caretaker (owner) Anya is less than pleasant to deal with. Their sole intent is to turn a profit. Please read other reviews and DO your research. You have to question why there are so many bad reviews? You have been warned. read more

My husband and I did a bit of research before getting a little furbaby but my husband was a bit too impatient to wait for a rodel shiba so we went with icewind. We read some negative reviews about icewind possibly being a puppymill but when we visited the place, we couldn't really tell since Anya was pretty nice. I give this place 3 stars because two things had put me off about icewind. First, I found it incredibly ridiculous how they made it mandatory to buy the vitamins and the bag of iams puppy food and OVERCHARGED. I forgot how much for the vitamins but I know they charged $60 for the bag of iams puppy food which is doubled the normal price. I don't understand why we were forced to buy it if we could simply go off to petco to buy the same bag for way cheaper. When we got home, we didn't even give our shiba the iams because we wanted to give him buffalo blue which is better. It just seemed like they are trying to profit as much as they can out of a transaction. They have all these rules to make it seem like they care about their puppies, but in reality... they don't. For example, the rule about taking your puppy to a vet within 72 hours or giving your puppy the NuVet vitamins for 3 more months. Not once, did icewind tried to contact us about an update. Why make these rules up if you don't even care? Second, as breeders, I would expect them to understand that people are coming from all over the country. I felt that Anya was not flexible with her time and was not willing to let us get our puppy a day earlier because she doesn't see buyers after 5pm or something like that. People have to work! My husband and I work so we would not be able to make it in time. The drive to NJ is about 4 hours for us. I think that if a buyer is about to buy a puppy for $1400 and thats not including the food, vitamins, or etc., then you should be willing to stay up a little late to let us pick up his/her puppy. It's just bad customer service, I guess. My husband had trouble at times trying to contact her. I have read reviews where people said that icewind is all about making money and I have to say, I did get that feeling from my experience. I am thinking about getting a second shiba and I will not be coming back to icewind. read more

Puppy Mill, indeed! Bought a Shiba from them years ago. According to all of the correspondence, the puppy was born there, which was a huge reason I selected them as a breeder - because I don't believe in shipping dogs and I could drive there to pick her up. It turns out this was not true. We found out after the fact that our dog was originally from like South Dakota! Bred at the hands of some other puppy mill owner. To make matters even worse - not only did she come to us with a heart murmur, which our vet pointed out very quickly, but even worse... she was missing a toe! We discovered that after we had her home for a day and were about to clip her nails. When we tried to contact the farm immediately upon realizing these issues, we were met with radio silence until we took matters into our own hands and contacted the National Shiba Inu Club of America who in turn contacted them. Only then did we finally receive a response - claiming the reason we hadn't heard sooner was due to the fact the entire family had come down with food poisoning! And then, we listened to them go on and on about how there couldn't possibly be a heart murmur, to which we replied there was. Their response, "Well, if that's the case, you should bring her back. If our vet finds it, she'll be put to sleep!" But my favorite part, for all their indignance, they refused to address the missing toe! The weirdness of the situation just goes on, but I think you get my point. I wouldn't trade my crazy dog for all the world (and yes - she was very wild as a puppy, most likely the result of her poor breeding!) because I love her, but I would caution anyone considering purchasing a pet from here not to! read more

I purchased a Shiba Inu back in 2008 from this breeder. Anya could not care less who she is selling the dog to, as long as she gets paid. Like others have said, you HAVE to purchase food/vitamins, and other nonsense before they release the dog to you. This breeder is more concerned about how many dollars they collect rather than who the people they are going to. This is more of a BUSINESS than a BREEDER. Make sure you understand that before committing. Personally, I would have rather dealt with a breeder, someone who cares more about the welfare of the dogs, than someone who is money hungry. read more