Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

Back home from another 24 hour shift, I took my golden friends to the high school grounds again. I wasn’t looking forward to another mud adventure, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that everything had dried out since I had been there 48 hours ago. Everyone got to burn off some of their boundless energy and then walk home in civilized fashion.

The sun burst forth shortly thereafter so some flower bed chores became doable. Since our girls are my constant shadows, they kept me company. They ate their share of flowers and grass, but aren’t yet trained to distinguish the good from the bad.

With this being the final day of April, the promise of May flowers and stronger sunshine is almost here. Lucy the pup followed the trail of the bigger dogs, taking in all the unfamiliar new smells and colors.

As far as our breeding plans go, Mother Nature has forced a change. Riley is all set to be bred with her next heat to Rudder, the gorgeous male in the blog a few posts back.

However, I was expecting that Solo would not be in heat again until after her second birthday in June. We were surprised to find that she has come into season a little early. So this will force her breeding heat to follow this one since she can’t get her OFA clearance until her birthday in June. So for everyone waiting for our second litter from now, this will mean probably no pups on the ground until fall at the earliest. Being an obstetrician I am used to the unpredictability of mother nature. However, I can understand the frustration farmers must feel when their livelihoods are so dependent on events beyond their control. We ourselves are only passengers on this wild ride called life, though we sometimes delude ourselves into thinking we are directing events.

Here is Solo standing with her mom Emma, our five year old. Emma still hasn’t regrown her coat yet from having her pups four months ago.

Today was a beautiful early Spring day here in New England. Balmy, daffodils in bloom, and a green appearance to the landscape that was refreshing after last weekend’s greys, and still gloomy mud season in Vermont. Got home from hospital call and the dogs were rearing to go. Went to our favorite fields at the local high school. Thought the water from the rains earlier in the week were gone but found out differently fast.

The dogs run in a pack a little ways ahead of me so they can really “run free”. The advantage is that they get a lot of exercise, but the disadvantage is that sometimes this leaves me late in arriving at their latest group decision.

They have their favorite spots where they know the water is the last to dry up. Full family participation seems to be required.

I have to admit I was a little disconcerted at the amount of dirt they managed to cover themselves with. And especially what my Barbara would say when we got home. (Click on the photos to enlarge if you want to see what a “two toned” golden looks like)

However, I know a secret that most people don’t know: Golden retrievers have drip and dry coats! So we found a puddle that had clean water and most of the mud fell off.

Then I let them run free on the fields sprinting after each other. That air dried most of their fur.

Then it was a mile walk or so back to home, so they dried a little more…  (never mind the difficulty taking a steady photo walking five)

And voila! At home in the kitchen, after a quick toweling off, they had a community drink and looked darned respectable compared to an hour prior.

Then it was out to the backyard for some quiet time..

Like human children, they seem to enjoy watching their parents work in the yard rather than participate! And I could almost hear them thinking… wonder when the pool cover will be coming off…

We are very happy here in dogville that the sun is finally out and Spring is starting to blossom. The Nor’easter we endured last week dumped enough water on us to make our dogs think they were amphibians rather than Goldens. It’s a toss up between what is harder to endure: a week of constantly muddy feet or wet dogfur. Still, these little crosses make the good times feel all the sweeter.

I took Riley and Solo to Vermont over the weekend to see how much damage we had suffered up there with this last monster storm. Both females are about two years old and best friends. Usually we have the whole Golden family with us, and the older ones keep the younger ones in line with obedience and response to commands. Riley and Solo alone though, pretty much acted as two year olds with lots of spirit, adventure, and doing what they wished rather than what I wanted. The snow melt was in full force and there was ponding wherever there was a patch of level ground. They loved running through the woods sniffing for game only as much as exploring the new water features. Still, they made me laugh with their antics. The weak sunlight shone off their golden coats in an amazing way, and I just marveled at how beautiful they both looked in nature’s backyard.

Of course back home we had Lucy our four month old also following her instincts to swim and explore. We had so much rain last week that there was a pool on top of the pool cover as well as below. Lucy took full advantage.

Only a golden puppy could find so much adventure hunting a floating leaf!

We also got great news today! Riley passed her OFA clearance. All her credentials are finally in place and now we just await her next heat for the breeding to occur. That heat should be arriving in several months. Our fall litter hopes now seem much closer to reality. Solo turns two in June and then she will have her OFA clearance done to complete her credentials.

Hello again! After a short timeout to recharge our batteries from Emma’s last litter, Barb and I were hit this past week with a bout of the flu. So we haven’t been up to a lot of photo taking or blog writing. Plus we are new puppy owners ourselves (Lucy: formerly Miss Pink), so that has added an extra dimension of work onto the usual chores.

However, we were able to get everyone out today for some exercise. My least favorite sub- season is this mudtime here in New England. The dirt and wet hair along with all those wet feet make house cleaning a chore that I imagine ranks right up there with mucking out horse stalls. All credit to my Barbara for keeping her sanity during these next few weeks.

We have been getting some great pictures from some of our new owners that we would like to share. No problems reported with any of the puppies in any way and so that leaves us beaming as proud grandparents.

Thanks to all who have been sending us their photos. We wish everyone a quick end to this mud season that is upon us. And what better photo to end today’s blog than this one that sums up the blessings of a puppy’s life.

Thanks for the great photo Ken!

Today was a fun but hectic morning while we spent a few hours at the Suffield Veterinary Hospital. The Southern Berkshire Golden Retriever Club was having their Spring Conformation Testing Clinic. So breeders from all over the northeast brought their dogs, goldens all, for testing their eyes and hearts for any congenital problems.

We brought all five dogs for the ride. Lucy the pup is not used to the car yet, and she howled most of the way in her crate. She got her microchip placed by Dr. Anne Huntington, the vet that was responsible for helping our Emma conceive her. Solo and Riley had their hearts checked by the cardiology vet, Dr. Mark Stamoulis. Then Solo, Riley, and Emma got their eye clearances by the ophthalmology vet, Dr. Charles Stuhr. The eye exam took place in a darkened room so that couldn’t be captured. Here are a few photos of Riley’s heart check.

Everyone passed all their clearances so we all left very happy.

Barb also got to meet several golden breeders who are way more taken with this breed than I am. We were both enthralled if not disbelieving to listen to a couple from Torrington who have eleven goldens of both sexes. All these dogs live in their house. Like the Old Women in the Shoe story, there are many of us who can’t seem to have just one golden.

Today we admired goldens of all colors and sizes, show dogs to hunting and field dogs. All beautiful in their own way. Of course their owners were just as varied in their ages, shapes, and sizes too. A most interesting morning.

Emma, Riley, Solo, and Lucy had a quiet moment in the kitchen after getting home and calming down after being exposed to so many of their own kind in a setting they haven’t seen before.

Next up will be the hip clearances for Riley and Solo. This will be done by a specialist vet in Rhode Island in April for Riley. Solo has to have her two year birthday in June and then she will follow with her hip testing. Riley and Solo will then be cleared for becoming moms later this year.