Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

With the calendar being mid January, our dog family is very happy to go for outings in the chilly cold, and then settle in on their favorite chairs afterwards for a quick nap. Although every golden seems to have their favorite seat, as soon as someone relinquishes their spot, another takes their place. The result is an ever changing configuration of blond hair and large brown eyes filling our arm chairs and couches.

Heaven forbid if Barb or I want to sit down and read or watch TV for a spell. One of the girls will join you and gradually try to smother you with their cuddling, hoping that you will be the one to move and not them. Occasionally, they want nothing better than to enjoy their leather seat along with you as shown in this former photo that Barb took when Riley and I were sharing a napping moment.

We have long ago given up on proper dog etiquette in our household here with our children grown. While some reading this might object mightily, we now live for a peaceful comfortable existence. Entertaining consists of family, friends, and dog people sharing quiet and laid back moments here.

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Our home is the shelter which shields us from the buffeting winds of human illness, frailties, and a hostile world. Dogville for me is where I can reflect and recharge my defenses against these never ending challenges.

Regular readers of our stories here will be familiar with the name “Mulder”. He is the amazing male Golden owned by Berna Welch of Pebwin Goldens. He is the father of our Emma’s last litter and our own one year old, Lucy.

Mulder and Berna were recently honored with a two page spread in the Golden Retriever Club of America’s national magazine, “Golden Retriever News”. Mulder placed first in Best of Breed and Stud Dog of 2007 this fall at the Nationals.

I would highly recommend that all our dog owners consider joining the Golden Retriever Club of America. While the yearly fees are modest, you quickly realize from reading their magazine just how varied are the talents of our animals. I am humbled when I realize that what I know is a thimble full of information on just one small aspect of Golden Retrievers. When you look at the dedicated club members all over the country who run and participate in Field Trials, Obedience, and Agility Competitions, being a pet owner seems a very small accomplishment.

The “Nationals” are coming to Rhode Island this fall for a ten day extravaganza of judging, meetings, and lectures on our breed. This is like having the superbowl in your backyard with tickets that will be available to all. If you would like to see the best of the best across the country, then you should make an effort to attend. I, myself, will be going for the first time.

So what Mulder accomplished this fall is like being named the MVP of the superbowl. While he looks very distinguished and regal in his formal poses, I will remember him best as an affectionate big boy that I had the privilege to bring to Emma’s insemination a year ago.

Our Lucy is losing her puppy looks and developing her father’s distinguished bearing.

She also has her mother’s quiet, calm personality, and we are hoping that she will be a proud mother in another year or so.

I showed her the magazine photos of her dad and she seemed suitably impressed. When she tried to brag about him to her half sister , Solo, Solo was more interested in tasting the magazine print. Just sister’s jealousy I guess.

And finally, it is official. Emma is not pregnant. A formal ultrasound at our vet’s office confirmed our suspicions. Our next breeding efforts will be this Spring with Riley’s upcoming heat.

I thought it would be appropriate to start the New Year with a story of a recent bathing adventure. You know the New Year still being a clean slate and all. Amazingly we don’t have to give our girls baths very often. Despite the mud, dead material, and dirt that they continually get covered with on our runs, their thick over and under coat allows pretty much everything to stay on the surface. Like the comic Charlie Brown, where “pig pen” leaves a pile of dirt wherever he sits, we sweep up collections of all kinds of dirt when they crash on the kitchen floor after our outside runs.

Still for those in the know, the smell of a new puppy is amazing, and a freshly shampooed dog is a close second. With five Goldens, the cost of a professional cleaning is costly, and even a short visit to the kennel for a group bath can leave the pack open to a case of kennel cough, as we have previously found out. So, on a recent Saturday, we decided to have our girls look a little more glamorous for the holidays.

Here are some photo shots of the girls in all their soggy glory.

Lily:

Emma:

Riley:

Solo:

Lucy:

When they are wet, they look much more similar than different. I can’t say that they liked the experience, but they didn’t seem to find it much of a hardship either. We certainly went through a bunch of bath towels trying to dry them.

Afterwards, they gathered in the kitchen while we let them dry completely.

Of course after being well behaved during their baths and now looking and smelling great, like any young lady, they were expecting to be taken someplace to go and show off..

I decided a ride in the dog van was just the thing while I ran some errands.

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!
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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.

Emma’s last litter was born a year ago today. That means our Lucy is one year old along with her six brothers and two sisters. Lucy got her own birthday card in the mail today from her brother Logan. He sent her a poem courtesy of his devoted owners Janet and Andy.

It went like this…

Dear Lucy,

Remember when we were this little? All we did was eat and piddle.

Now we are both big and strong, and most everything we do is wrong.

But our Mommies and Daddies love us anyway, cause they know we’ll be really good someday.

Love, Logan.

Here is a photo of the Logan playing with Lucy this fall on the pool cover.

Thank you Logan for your kind words!

We also got birthday wishes and updated photos from Ollie and Denis and their Tucker.

As well as from Barbara and her boy Tyson.
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Ken and family sent photos of sister Rosie’s Christmas.

And their older house mate, Holly celebrated a recent birthday too!

Our golden friend Cindy sent her best holiday wishes along with photos of her special Kati.

On Behalf of Barbara and I, and of course our birthday girl Lucy, we thank everyone for their best wishes and photos. We wish many more happy years of golden adventures for all of Emma’s most recent offspring.

We hope that when we do Emma’s ultrasound this Sunday, we will have joyous news that another generation is soon to arrive here in dogville.