Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

The rainy days in March have passed onto drier conditions. Hopefully the mud season we went through on our runs at the High School is now over. On those wet mornings in March, the dogs quickly became reacquainted with their favorite puddles of standing water.

Mud intermixed with their shedding winter coats always makes for lots of extra cleaning work. Not Barbara’s favorite time by far.

On a sunny day in April though, there is a Spring rite of passage here when the pool cover finally comes off. The dogs enjoy sniffing the tepid water and look for any poor little animals who had the misfortune to find their way underneath the pool cover over the winter.

The girls love to watch when real work is involved. Sitting in a group as usual, they kept quiet watch while Barb and I wrestled with the pool cover.

Out in the front yard, they were less than helpful, and decided to make a game out of the pool cover cleaning.

In order to finish our work, we ultimately had to put them inside, where they watched with great yearning along with our cat.

This endearing quality of wanting to share every moment with you is a classic Golden Retriever characteristic. Another, is making an adventure out of every possible daily activity. We all finished the afternoon very tired but content.

My mother has taken up a new cutting edge career at the youthful age of …!

Along with my sister in California, she is becoming an expert in a proprietary software/hardware program that allows one to determine the subtle energy fields of people and living beings. Called Electro Physiological Quantum Feedback Xrroid, (EPFX for short), the idea is to help try to restore wellness and reduce stress through the balancing of our body’s many internal energy fields. While based on the ancient science of meridians and Chinese medicine, it involves applying advanced mathematical science in the electrical potentials of our tissues and determining what is out of balance. Then it delivers a micro current of electricity to help quickly correct the problem. Sheesh, that is some heavy language! Did I get that right mom?

While sounding like something from Star Trek, this computer software and special hardware is being used in many different walks of life to help reduce stress and increase performance. From professional athletes to medical practices to expensive race horses, there is a lot of experimenting going on to reach beyond the four dimensions we usually inhabit. (Those are: Height, width, depth, and time). Micro energy on the cellular level is another dimension. With Emma’s Spring heat due, and her infertility issues from her missed litter last year preying on my mind, I decided to let my mother evaluate her.

So Emma and I traveled to my mom’s home. She had to lie on this special electrical pad that is used for dogs and horses. Since this was the first animal that my mother tested, we had to call California to get the process correct.

The answers were quickly forthcoming and then we started.

Emma was a little restless at first being in a new environment, but a timely offering of a bone became her focus of attention. The program quickly detected that she was thirsty ( I had just run her), and also said that she was showing TMJ stresses. Amazingly accurate, since her jaws were working very hard on this new bone.

After a hour and a half of looking into various parts of her anatomy through these energy levels, the good news was that she was suffering from no specific maladies or malfunctions besides some mild GI inflammation. (This is probably due to her recent love of chewing her sister’s pooh). Her energy levels were excellent, mental issues were non existent, and she was not demonstrating any internal stresses of significance.

While I am a very traditionally trained physician, I have decided to keep an open mind on this very new “soft science”. The equipment and software involved costs almost half a private year college tuition, so this is some serious stuff. Our plan will be to have my mom come over and test the rest of our goldens so we can get some baselines, and then see if any of the dogs test very differently than the others.

Typing this blog tonight, Emma is sleeping comfortably at my feet. She showed no ill effects from the sampling and optimizing of her cellular energies earlier today. She remains one very well adjusted golden retriever. But of course I knew that before we tested her.

Our early morning run today was much colder than I reckoned on. There was a brisk wind blowing through the empty fields, and the leafless trees did little to stop its frigid breath. Still, the outing was enjoyable for other reasons. The land has not reawakened yet, so it was very quiet and absent of wild or human life. There was a golden hue to everything that was stunning.

The dog’s coats blended into the landscape perfectly. With no snow to trudge through, the girl’s really got to stretch their legs and muscles. Mostly I saw only their tails as they ran far afield.

Walking home cold  but happy  with our exercise time, I wondered when mother nature would decide to start the Spring heats of Emma and Riley. When the land starts to warm, and the flowers bloom, the pressure for a successful litter will start to build. So I enjoyed this morning with no expectations except to enjoy my canine family and the invigorating weather.

Today we had an early appointment at the Suffield Veterinary Hospital. The Southern Berkshire Golden Retriever Club was having its Spring: Eye, Heart, and Microchip Clinic. Our two breeding females Emma and Riley needed to have their eye exams updated, while Lucy was getting her eye and heart exams done for the first time.

Thankfully everyone passed their tests. The clinic was controlled chaos as usual with multiple breeders bringing multiple goldens to be examined. I was only able to get a few photos of our Lucy getting her eyes and heart checked. We saw some beautiful animals, but taking photos of other breeder’s animals is not proper etiquette when you don’t know them.

Anyway, we all came back happy as everyone passed. Now we are just awaiting the arrival of Spring and the next heats.

PS: Don’t worry about Lucy with her goofy eyes in this last photo. It’s all because of the eye drops they use to dilate the pupils for an accurate exam.

We just received the winter issue of Golden Retriever News.

Just inside the front cover were a few more photos of Mulder and Berna with their amazing double win at the Nationals this past fall. I thought I would share these new photos with our readers.

Also listed and photographed were all the winners in the many other competition categories. Magnificent animals all. I would again encourage true enthusiasts of our breed to get a membership to the Golden Retriever Club of America which automatically qualifies you for a subscription to this National magazine.

There was one more photo included which spoke eloquently of Mulder’s wholesome and humble spirit. Despite the severe demands of travel and the show ring, he remains just one happy fun loving dog.

We are very proud of our own Emma’s last litter when she was bred to Mulder. Dynamite personalities and Hollywood looks one and all. My cousin Ron and our neighbor Ken last week sent us updated photos of two of Mulder’s daughters from this last litter. The third female in this litter was our own Lucy. They are approaching 15 months old now.

So here we present:

Ron and Barb’s “Maggie”..

And Ken and Mary Ann’s “Rosie”..

As we expect to use Mulder for both Riley’s and Emma’s upcoming heats this Spring, we have high hopes for more puppies blessed in looks and spirit.