Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

I went to Cape Cod today after my call ended, and picked up our Emma. She was successfully bred three times in the last four days. When I say successful, it means that Mulder and she had success with the reproductive process. We still won’t know if there will be puppies for a number of weeks yet.

Berna Welch did a fantastic job at her end of things. She had come back a week ago from picking up two puppies of great potential from the Ohio/Pennsylvania area. Here are two photos of her with her newest female. There may be a trend here of returning to the darker more classical colors.
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Besides her ten older goldens, she also had a litter there of twelve Mulder offspring. They are four weeks old and very uniform in color and size. They looked very much like Emma’s last litter with Mulder a year ago.

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Let’s see.. ten older goldens plus two new puppies, plus a litter of twelve. Yikes, and I thought my food bill was high.

Mulder is officially retired from the show ring now. I can definitely agree with Berna’s reasoning: when your dog has won both Westminster 2004 and the 2007 Golden Retriever Show Dog of the Year award, there is nothing left to prove. So Mulder is now just happily making puppies for whichever female golden decides to pay him a visit. Per Berna’s instructions, I cannot show you a picture of him until we are sure Emma is pregnant. I will just say that the size of his head and body is amazing, with an outgoing personality and smile to match.

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Our Emma quickly adjusted to being home. She jumped up on her usual spot on our bed to be sure it was still there.

Solo, her two year old daughter, had a little fit when Emma first arrived home because she thought she had become the alpha. Now everything is calm, the birth order of things is restored, and Emma is napping at my feet. There is surely no place like home, and after that long ride today, it is very good to be back here in dogville.

Keeping our dogs well exercised maintains their good health and mostly calm dispositions. Another important part of their preventive care that might be less obvious involves having quality chewing material available. If you give them large bones periodically, their teeth do not require cleaning very often. This is also another way to keep them very occupied for hours when you need some quiet time to get other tasks accomplished.

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Barb and I tend to alternate between white antelope antlers (you can order them at www.petexpertise.com on the West Coast) and raw buffalo bones (through our friend and dog food supplier Donna Talbot of Collegiate Canines).

In a multiple dog household you do have to be careful that everyone has a bone of roughly the same size. Jealousy is not limited to us humans, and a dog fight will quickly erupt if every four footed member is not satisfied with their portion.

We had excellent news from the Cape today. Berna told us that Emma’s progesterone level finally climbed to over 4 on Friday. She was very receptive to Mulder her beau this morning, and a natural breeding occurred without difficulty. The breeding will be repeated Sunday or Monday, and then I expect to drive to the Cape after my 24 hour call on Monday and bring her home Tuesday. In four weeks we will do an ultrasound and hope that we see some new life. If this breeding is successful, Emma will be due in early February.
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Although it will have cost us almost 1300$ on blood tests alone, (never mind the stud fee, and Berna’s costs), we would definitely have missed her ovulation without them. Last year she ovulated on day 13, this year it was day 22. Barb and I learn more every day about the quirks of breeding Golden Retrievers.