Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

While yet another winter storm rages outside, here inside everything is calm and warm, although a little noisy. I picked up our monthly shipment of kibble and canned dog food on the way home from my Glastonbury office earlier today. Donna Talbot, our breeder friend and food supplier in Hebron, was homebound with the storm. My trusted Suburban did ok, although with the number of pickup trucks blowing by me on the highway, I wasn’t sure if one would lose control and careen into me. Sheesh.

With the food, I picked up one of the dog’s favorite treats: raw buffalo bones. I have shown photos of them enjoying this treat before. It ensures a contented evening of gnawing and noise as the bones bounce off the tile floors. Recently there have been a few other items that have provided almost as much entertainment for the dogs. So without much going on this week, here are a few photos..

Our daughter Kristen’s pug Pearl has developed a taste for white antelope bones. These are excellent ways of controlling teeth tartar and don’t make a mess. They just get smaller and smaller over time until you have to toss them. I think this one bone will keep Pearl occupied for many a day.

Lucy managed to bring in a large chunk of ice unseen, among the rest of the pack when they stampeded their way inside after playing.

Solo has become the designated cat dish cleaner. She takes this position seriously and waits to lick the bowl clean after every meal. She has put a few teeth marks in the dish as well, and she would like nothing better than for me to leave her alone with it for ten minutes while she chews it into shreds.

Last night the background noise of the dogs chewing contentedly suddenly changed, and I glanced over and saw that Riley had decided to get a different kind of fiber in her diet. She had started chewing the straw basket that holds all the older bones.

If you kept a visual eye on all of them continuously, you would never get any work done. So you instead keep an ear cocked for any change in sound in the background. This usually allows you to find the one who is getting into mischief before it progresses too far.

A golden retriever’s teeth are an important part of their beautiful smile, so it makes good sense to insure your dogs have the right kind of chews.

And it never ceases to amaze me, that given the choice, these dogs will be happiest when together, and sharing their adventures with each other or us.

Today broke cold, crisp, and clear. The initial snow storm from yesterday was overwhelmed by the deluge of rain that followed. So the land today was like a big cake covered with a thick layer of glazed sugar.

Trackless, slippery, and hard, the going was a little tough on the hills. It seems that here in New England, every storm is unique with a different combination of cold, wind, snow, rain, and ice. So each adventure out with the dogs is a different experience also. Getting to the high school fields this morning posed some difficulty. There was black ice on the roads everywhere, and due to a surge in numbers of baby squirrels running around, I had to let the leashes go several times. Otherwise I would have been pulled down the road to suffer an ungraceful fall.

Once we got to the fields, the surface was so slippery the dogs had to work twice as hard to get anywhere, since even their clawed paws didn’t do much to the hard surface.

They burned off their energy and then we started back. Despite the ice, we heard the cry of a few birds and saw a couple flights of ducks making their way back North. So Spring is trying to reinsert itself a little here in the middle of February. And what better way to agree, is to report that our year plus Lucy has started her first heat. An official young lady now, she still has to wait another year before we can finish her breeding qualifications. In the bottom right photo, she is on the right with her mom, Emma on the left.

This promise of further adventures with puppies, and another generation getting started, warmed my spirit all the way home.

We got a very sad message at the end of last week from Ken and Mary Ann. Their golden girl Holly had finally lost her battle with lung and splenic cancer and pancreatitis. With a temp of 106 degrees she was unable to come home from her last hospitalization at Animal General. Below are the photos they sent to us of her last week at home with Rosie keeping her good company.

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Regular readers of our website blog will probably remember some of the prior photo submissions by Ken of his Holly and Rosie. Although Holly was a senior golden when our Miss Purple entered her life from our last litter, they bonded tremendously.

From Ken’s emails we learned that Holly brought maturity and leadership to the much younger Rosie, while Rosie made sure that Holly still remembered how to play and make the most of a day.

Nothing tears out the heart of a dog lover as having to put down a lifelong companion that gave you nothing but smiles and good times every day of their lives. Going home to that empty supper bowl in the kitchen and seeing that special blanket and bed in the corner, or the beloved toy that will forever lay where it was last dropped, takes special courage. But that is the price we have to pay for loving creatures that have a shorter lifespan than ours. Hopefully we will all meet again somewhere in the future where friendships can be renewed and memories revisited.

Someone recently gave me an inspirational message written by the very irreverent comedian, George Carlin, on losing his wife and best friend.

He wrote,

“The paradox of our time is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are the days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember to give a warm hug to the one next to you because that is the only treasure that you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent. Remember to say, “I love you” to your partner, and most of all mean it.

And always remember, Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

Living every day in the present with a golden by your side is a simple gift without compare. Barb and I hope that Ken and Mary Ann and their family will find comfort in the warm memories that Holly has left each one of them.

Our Goldens love to take a ride. Our ten year old minivan has seen its share of vacations, college trips, and hauling virtually anything our children have needed on their frequent moves into their now adult worlds. The van, though weathered and scratched, is working toward the 150K mile mark without a complaint or hiccup. Like a pair of comfortable shoes, I don’t worry about the dirt or dog hair anymore. The girls and I just load up and go. It still amazes me that this vehicle can fit more stuff than our Suburban. It just can’t keep up though when you need to get through a big snowstorm or the slippery mountain rodes to our cabin in Vermont.

Everyone has a seat of their own choosing, and like the creatures of habit that we humans are, the dogs may change now and then, but will soon revert to their most favored seat. The captain’s chairs allow everyone a little space so there will be peace among the family members.

Riley above likes to have the shotgun seat. She is alert to the goings on of everything and everyone passing close by the van and lets out throaty growls to make herself known.

Solo, being the most alpha, (except when her mom Emma is pregnant), stakes out her claim by lying next to me in the center. She is content to have me scratch her head as we drive along. If I have to leave the van for a moment, she sits in my seat. With Riley on the passenger side, this usually stops passing people seeing what looks like Mr. and Mrs. Golden out for a drive.

Lily is content to sit in the second row along with Emma. They quietly look out the windows with their heads on the window sills.

Our youngest, Lucy, loves to walk back and forth on the third row bench seat.

Of course, all these seating arrangements are very fluid. If I leave the van for a moment to run into one of my offices or stop to get a Dunkin coffee, when I return, everyone is in a different place. However, once we start moving, everyone finds their usual spot. One of their favorite trips is to the bank drive up window. The teller is always amazed to see the five dogs sitting in their own places. For their good behavior she always rewards them with a treat.

Above, Emma is now sitting next to me.. While below, Solo is visiting her younger sister.

And here Solo is hamming it up a bit.

By bringing everyone along on even the most mundane task, we bond as a dog family. And all that matters to me anymore when I am not working, is how wide a smile I can have doing even the most simple task. That is now how I take the measure of my life.

As you can see by the size of the smile on Riley’s face after our morning run today, the day is off to a very good start.

Last week a fast moving storm dropped eight inches of snow on us here in Farmington overnight. The dogs are always up for a new adventure and had a grand time frolicking in the backyard while the snow came down in large fluffy flakes.

I am only an amateur photographer and I still haven’t figured out a way to get the dogs eyes to stop glowing when they look at you in the dark of the night.

Here Solo looks like one of those hounds from the fires of hell. When you get a photo of three or four of them with the same bright orbs of glowing yellow, it is very ghostly and a little disquieting. Barb is responsible for a good number of our dog photos now. When I am away at work, she is great at taking interesting shots for me to use in our stories.

I have no idea why Riley just decided to get up on the tabletop and sit for awhile. She has never done that before. Apparently she liked the view because she looks very comfortable there. There is nothing like the amazing unspoiled beauty of a fresh snowfall. If you click on the lead photo above, you will have to agree.

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The next morning broke clear, cold, and quiet. Since the schools were closed, we had the fields to ourselves. Just the way we like it. You can see the pure joy in Solo’s face as she races along the snowy ground.

You can clearly see the pack mentality in the next couple of photos. Once the dogs get their exuberance out, they are looking for something to chase or catch. Birds or squirrels are fine, but an elderly woman out with her little ten pound dog is off limits. When they demonstrate this pack attitude, I have to be very wary of what is in the area. They don’t listen at all, unless I get the jump on what they want to do. Once they are off and running, it is all over for whatever has their attention. And then red faced, I have to face the other dog walker’s wrath.

Another reason we like the fields to ourselves. So an early start before the rest of the world decides to join us is always best.

In my mind, a sunrise always will trump a few extra moments of sleep. And sunrises, like heartbeats, will always be one less than you would like, once your alloted number is up.