Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

We were more blessed on Thanksgiving this year than usual. All of our four children were able to make it home along with our daughter-in-law, Emma, and our two grandsons, Ethan and Alexander as well as my parents. Of course our Goldens get overly excited when we have a crowd visiting, and sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming, especially for non dog people. Ethan is smaller than the dogs and so we introduced him to them gradually and carefully.

If you look closely at the second photo above, you will notice that one of our dogs is in the crate having a time out for bad behavior (probably Solo). Also, the swiffer mop is always out to do quick clean-ups after the girls.

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We do have a dog free part of our home when we absolutely need some dog free time or space. We put invisible fencing in the floor of our dining and living rooms, so there is a haven if we have company that are not into dogs as much as we are. These areas became the safety zones for the grandchildren. They could play on the floor as much as they wanted and not be bothered by the dogs who just wanted to lick their faces.

We got everyone together for a group photo before they all left for their big city lives in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Potomac, MD.

A very memorable holiday for all of us four footed and two footed creatures here.

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.

I dropped our Emma off at the Cape on Sunday for Berna of Pebwin Goldens to try and work some magic with her Golden boy Mulder. Our frustration this year with our breeding program continues. The infertility vet has been away on vacation with her return not a good match to Emma’s heat. In addition, Emma is having a delayed ovulation this cycle, compared to last year which has forced us to do every other day progesterone levels. The cost for this series of blood tests is now over $900 so far and continuing. Without the vet being available for a surgical insemination, we have come up with plan B being a natural breeding or an artificial insemination by Berna when her progesterone levels are finally appropriate.

It is almost laughable to think that at the beginning of 2007 we were wondering if we could successfully handle three litters this year. This is our last shot at a single litter.

So for everyone waiting for a successful breeding, please say a prayer that all will go well later this week with Emma and her beau.

So that we may be blessed once again here with happy growls and puppy squeaks from the whelping box.

On another depressing note, Barb and I are saddened to report that Cam, a seven year old from Abby’s second litter, passed away last Friday due to cancer. He fought a valiant fight with months of chemotherapy and boundless love from his family. Our thoughts and prayers are with Lisa and Tom and their children during this very tough time.

Here in New England earlier today, winter touched us gently on the shoulder to remind us of her coming along with the holidays. The dogs had a frolicking time, and Riley was quick to try and make snow angels despite the limited amount of snow that fell.

Walking home after our wet adventure on the fields, the slippery roads made me feel a bit like Santa with my reindeer dog team pulling me along. Of course we couldn’t fly but the dogs showed their excitement at the surprise weather by keeping a very fast pace.

With Thanksgiving only a few days away, on behalf of all of us here in the Farmington Valley…

Lily:

Emma:

Riley:

Solo:

Lucy:

And Barb And I, we would like to extend our best holiday wishes to our friends and family. May everyone have safe traveling wherever your destination may be.

As always though, the gears of the circle of life are forever turning. With every happy event, life seems to extract a balance by having something equally sad happen. I am very sorry to report that Rudder, Riley’s recent stud, and only seven years old passed away this week, due to the sudden diagnosis of cancer.

Our prayers go out to Cindy Jones and his co owners for losing such a special boy.

The disappointing news continues with our Riley having her final ultrasound tonight. She is without pups. Our disappointment for ourselves and our waiting clients however, pales to the loss our friend has just suffered.

And speaking of prior heartbreaking losses, I am happier to report that my efforts to keep our Abby’s memory alive has reached fruition. Today I applied “Abby’s labels” to my first two batches of homemade Ale. My unsuspecting family on thanksgiving will be the first to try it and see if it is worthy of her memory! If so I will give it away as gifts.
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I have found that beer making is much more complex than making wine although the fermentation process is shorter. There are many more kinds of hops to choose from than there are varieties of grapes.
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Finally, we have been doing serial progesterone levels on our Emma, who is in heat. It looks like her fertile time will be this weekend. I am in close contact with Berna at Cape Cod to see how we will arrange our Emma and her Mulder having a successful mating like a year ago at this time. Further details will be forthcoming as they happen.