Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

We just returned from doing an ultrasound on Emma. We didn’t see anything resembling puppies. We will do a formal ultrasound in the next two weeks at the Vet’s office to confirm the situation but it doesn’t look promising.

We are heartbroken for ourselves, but more so for the families who have kept faith with us over our difficult breeding year. Last year if someone was to tell our fortune and guess what misfortunes were coming our way, I wouldn’t have believed them. First, that we would have our two year old, Solo, washed out of being a mom by minor hip issues, followed by our other two year old, Riley, not conceiving using a great stud that we didn’t know was stricken with cancer and who died a few weeks after breeding. And now, despite heroic natural efforts with Emma after the infertility vet was away at a critical time, we are left with only fractured dreams.

Emma doesn’t understand our disappointment, and she was her smiling self in the elevator today leaving the ultrasound.

She is now sitting at my feet while I type this to send out the bad news to everyone who follows the goings on here.

It is heartening to have our other four also close by waiting to see what next adventure I will take them on. Lucy, Solo, and Lily to my left, and Riley on the bed behind me. Riley has her eyes half closed resting, but also half open so she won’t miss anything!
.

Having seen the havoc mother nature can wreak on the fertility dreams of many patients, I am not surprised by this turn of events. I also am mindful of how small this disappointment is in the face of the patients I saw this week who are battling life threatening illnesses. So, while my hopes have been seriously bloodied today, we will bend like the reed to this ill wind that 2007 sent our way. I will redouble my efforts in 2008 that we might again hear that so sweet music of puppies at play in our home.

For everyone waiting, I release you from whatever loyalty you have kept with us. Below are four of the best Golden Breeders in the North East. All are my Golden friends, and have done their breeding as full time careers for many, many years
Alphabetically:

• Barbara Biewer, email address: [email protected]
• Cindy Jones, email address: [email protected]
• Donna Talbot, email address: [email protected]
• Berna Welch, email address: [email protected]

Hope is eternal as they say, and I guess it is only fitting that the New Year is only two days away. Then we will start with a slate scrubbed clean of these misadventures, and a renewed spirit to try harder in 2008. God Bless.

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.
.

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.

.
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.

.
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.

Tonight we did an ultrasound on our Riley. No puppies seen. All is not lost as this was about the earliest you could see them if she conceived on the first day of trying. We will repeat her scan in 9 days when I return from the mission. We will be optimistic, but her breeding was a difficult endeavor and lasted four days. She was a lady throughout her medical adventure tonight, and now is sleeping at my feet. We will be surely disappointed if she is not pregnant, but we give thanks for her good health and great companionship.

It was a very busy weekend trying to successfully achieve a good breeding for our Riley. Kudos to Cindy Jones of her Goldenjoy Kennels in Killingworth, CT., and my Barbara for all the time, driving, and stress involved in keeping the dogs safe and comfortable. “Natural breeding” is not at all like the romantic view portrayed in the movies like in “101 Dalmations”. It is a hot, sweaty, time consuming, and exhausting process for all involved. In comparing this past weekend with what happened with my efforts with Emma and Mulder a year ago at the Suffield Vet Clinic and their artificial insemination, I would say we are definitely leaning now toward doing things in the future the scientific way. Like in horse breeding, there is just too much left to chance, and too much of a danger to the animals to depend on the natural way. (My opinion, of course!). And since this is a blog read by young people, I will just say that the scientific way is similar to the natural in most regards, except that it is done in controlled circumstances with the help of a doctor.
Here is Riley today during her five mile run. Dirty, and wet equals one happy golden retreiver, and you can see just how happy she is despite the drizzle.

Still we won’t know if we have any puppies on board for about three + weeks.

I think I may have mentioned before that Cindy sold us our first golden retriever over twentyfive years ago. Our “Peaches” was a special friend to our children who were little then. Cindy’s facilities for her dogs are amazing. Here are a few photos taken of her indoor kennels with Barb and her husband Richard.

Cindy was off with one of her dogs doing agility training, so I can’t share her photo with you.

She has a beautiful litter at the moment of 7 females by her “Chloe”. The photo attached does not do Chloe justice. She is much lighter and prettier in person. And the pups are gorgeous.

Cindy told me that not all the young girls are spoken for. So for those on the list who are getting impatient and want a female, I invite you to email her at “[email protected]” or call her at 860-663-2953. We are certainly praying for a successful breeding with Riley, but with our recent difficulties with Solo, I want to give you all a chance for a quality puppy now.

We just received some very disappointing news from the Orthopedic Foundation of America this week. Our Solo has evidence of mild hip dysplasia. This report immediately disqualifies her from being a breeding mom. So we have sheduled her to be spayed in two weeks time.

She will now join Lily as a best Aunt in watching our future litters arrive and grow. Despite our best efforts to maintain the genetics of our line using only top of the line breeding material, some characteristics occur due to random events and the polyfactorial nature of things. Solo’s father was “Magic”. Unfortunately he passed away soon after siring Solo, so further information is not available about any of his other offspring.

I feel disappointed for all those folks who have recently joined our waiting list. Our well thought out plans and two years of work for Solo to achieve her breeding pedigree have gone astray. And then we have the fact that Riley is overdue for her heat by about four weeks now. So mother nature has not been kind to us of late.

We still expect to breed Riley and then Emma with their heats, but I no longer feel as confident in our timetable. Of course if this breeding business was so easy, everyone would be doing it. It just makes our mission of getting these wonderful dogs into loving families a bit tougher.

Years ago when Barb and I weren’t as knowledgable about the importance of genetics and family lines, we answered a local newspaper add for AKC golden puppies. We fell in love with a puppy that we named Molly. Great personality and looks, we were blessed with eleven years of fun and companionship. The last two or three years were tough on her though because of severe hip dysplasia that had become manifest at about one year of age. Having to help her walk everywhere for the last few years of life reinforces to me the importance from day one of knowing as much as you can about the breeding history of the parents. And not settling for an unknown puppy while hoping that the future will be sun filled and long lasting. It will not be.

If there is a silver lining to Solo’s news, it is that her dysplasia is so mild that it will probably not be clinically apparent. That is the opinion of our vet who reviewed the films again himself and at first was wondering what disqualified her. I wonder also if the digital Xrays she had done are similar to high definition TV. Every blemish there shows due to the amazing resolution of the technology.

I feel a strong committment for all those people who have been waiting for a puppy. While my timetable may not be accurate, we still plan on having two litters when mother nature starts the heats of Riley and Emma. Both have passed all their clearances. Effective immediately, we have stopped accepting names of people wanting puppies. We have also removed ourselves from the search engines of the internet world. For those folks that recently joined our list, I would encourage you to visit the link on our website to Southern Berkshire Golden Retriever Club. Barbara Biewer, the president, is the person to email about available litters coming due. She is like the ultimate dog person and is involved in breeding, field trials, obedience, and running a very special golden retriever club.