Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

Today we all had a lot of fun. Sydney our mentor from Jamestown Rhode Island brought Maureen, Donna, and Karen to assess our puppies. Each puppy had about seven tasks to react to, and then was graded on bone structure and conformation to the golden standard. Almost 100 hundred years of golden breeding was present in our kitchen, and Barb and I realized we have so much to learn yet.

All the puppies scored well with no major deficiencies of any kind. It was obvious from the way the nine pups reacted to the various tests that although they are grossly uniform in their coloring and size, there are definitely personality differences when looked at closely. We were able to contact some of our potential puppy owners with their choices, and the rest will be called tomorrow. Barb started her day early with bathing and drying all the pups by herself, as I was still away on call. Everyone here in our household is very pooped tonight and we shall all retire early.

Many thanks again to Sydney, Maureen, Donna, and Karen for sharing their time and expertise with us on this Saturday afternoon.

Our big dog family is very comfortable now with the parade of people in and out of here on almost a daily basis.

Lily and Solo have met one of two of the female pups that we have carried upstairs, but we haven’t put anyone on the kitchen floor yet. That will be where the testing is carried out this weekend, and the pups are not supposed to be familiar with the setting. Part of the test involves stressing them a little to see how they react. Riley is the only one who has ventured down into the whelping area to see what all the noise is down there. Emma doesn’t seem to mind anymore, but when we are upstairs with a pup, she doesn’t take her eyes off it. Their lives will soon change with the addition of another junior member.
Downstairs the puppies are definitely wanting more attention. They are probably getting bored with the same scenery and want some distractions. I sat in the box tonight and served as a chewing board for some very sharp teeth. This morning I was surprised to find that three or four of them had torn up the linoleum in the patio area and were busy trying to destroy more.

So when people ask, how can you give them up, they are so cute?, it gets to be very easy when you consider their needs and how much energy and love they are waiting to share with their new families. It’s almost time.

So as we all start this final chapter of Emma’s Magnificent Litter, everyone is anticipating the weekend for a slightly different reason. Our soon to be puppy owners are awaiting the word of the testing process so they will finally know who they will be bringing home. The judges (our veteran breeding friends) are interested in seeing how the breeding selection turned out, Barb and I are hopefully seeking high marks for our efforts, and of course the puppies are just wanting someone to love and make happy.

The waiting is almost over.

We just received the notice and applications for the eye, heart, and microchip clinic run by the Southern Berkshire Golden Retriever Club. The clinic is scheduled for March 11th, at the Suffield Veterinary Hospital. We will be having Emma get her updates, as well as first testing for Riley and Solo. Our soon to be named female puppy, and latest addition to our golden family here, will be getting her microchip then as well.

We are getting inquiries about our next litter of puppies already. If anyone is serious about a puppy for the fall, please fill out the puppy questionaire online at our website. The applications are non binding. We will use the date of application however to determine place on our lists.

For those not familiar with our Riley and Solo, here are the photos of each from the last time we had a weekend visit to the wilds of Vermont. Suitable mates will be determined once their conformation testing is successfully accomplished. Riley is two years old and Solo soon to be two.

The judges are coming this Saturday to grade Emma’s litter for personality traits. Will send a blog with the results. Then the puppies will be assigned per everyone’s ranking. Stay tuned for the exciting event to come.

Whew. What a weekend of activity we just had here in puppyville. I think the puppies are having withdrawal after all the people contact. They are expecting more hugs everyday, but now it’s just Barb and I until the weekend when the judges for the temperment testing come. I imagine all teachers and coaches can emphasize with us here. Every litter that you’re in the middle of seems special. With this being our first winter litter, there are a lot of firsts. Plus we never had the website before and the blog allows me to send information in a much more organized way to everyone. We also never had to work so hard at achieving a litter with all the special veterinary help we used. So this is a special group of pups.

Here is the parade of special visitors from this past weekend:

Despite the increasing amount of work, I can feel already the withdrawal pangs of a litter too soon to leave. So we will live in the moment as our Abby taught us, and enjoy every day that we have left.

I know everyone wants to see their pictures from the many friends we had visit this weekend. They will follow tomorrow. As a breeder I was impressed with something that happened late yesterday, that I would like to share with all of you. As everyone knows, the purpose of this website is to showcase the beauty of our dogs and the level of care and love that goes into their development. Another part though, is education of the public into the care of dogs in general, and our breed’s traits more specifically. Months ago when we were planning the sire for our gentle Emma, we looked for many positive traits that we wanted to strengthen in our line.

These traits included color, conformation, size, abscence of genetic illnesses, and mellow personality. We had heard of Mulder the Westminster winner and admired his looks. Show dogs by training though, usually have that extra little fire or spirit that sets one apart from another in the ring of gorgeous dogs. That works well in shows but maybe not so well for families. I remember our mentor Sydney, cautioning us when we were choosing the sire. If you look at the celebrities in our society disgracing the media pages, you can see what I mean. Lots of fluff and energy, but no substance. I had a great feeling though when I met Mulder and brought him from the Cape for his romantic encounter. But this has been on the back of my mind in a small way until yesterday.

One of our last visitors, Sue, is an elementary school teacher. She and her husband Bob got right into the pen to help them decide on their top three picks. She put all of the males on their backs.

This is one of the most important tests that Sydney and her folks will be doing this weekend when the puppies are tested. It reflects a pup’s submissiveness and gentle personality. All six of the males accepted this position with no hesitation. So When I saw that, I smiled inside and felt very good about our long ago decision in picking Mulder. I think that the judges coming this weekend will be surprised to find how uniformly gentle the pups are. So I will go out on a limb before the testing and claim that we have been blessed with six boys that will have the swagger and looks of John Wayne in his prime, but with the heart of Jimmy Stewart in “Its a Wonderful Life”.

I won’t go out on a limb with our little females to compare them to movie stars, but they certainly have Hollywood looks from my biased perspective. They also have ball retrieving interest as well as a little fire when pushed.

Of course everyone is best friends when it’s naptime.

And what an unmatchable Valentine’s gift one of them would make for that special him or her…