Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

Although the calendar says Spring, on the fields of Farmington in an early hour, the cold still seeps through openings in my clothing, and the grey overcast skies mirror this week’s reflections on events in my life.

A month ago or so, one of my OB/GYN friends on call in the Delivery Room suffered a stroke. He was fine at 11 PM when he spoke to his wife, and at 1 AM when he didn’t respond to the call for a delivery, he wasn’t. A catastrophic clot in his brain has left his dominant side frozen and he remains in a rehab hospital trying to recover the pieces of his life that are still left.    It seems to me that a fit analogy of this random hand of fate is much like the game of musical chairs. There one is suddenly bereft of a seat at the table, and the worst part is that we never can know when the music will stop. In fact, we can’t even hear the music playing most of the time. Add this event to the headline losses of a young life on a way to a mission trip, erased by a drunk driver, and the artistic talent of a Hollywood star snuffed out by an apparently minor fall on a bunny slope from a head injury. It makes one ponder just how fragile our lifeline to this world really is.

So what does one look to for a guiding star in this crazy unpredictable patch of land? The castles that we spend our lives constructing to protect us from the fates are really built on sand.  So we need to carry what is important in our minds and in our hearts. And what is important more than ever is family and those close to you, including your dogs.

Then this morning, the simplest observation gave me back my focus. As I was trying to clean another garden bed of poop, the frozen ground resisted my efforts to give it up even with the use of a metal spade. Next to where I was trying to dig, were the tender shoots of a daffodil. Now how does a plant with shoots that are easily damaged by my foot, manage to push its way through the permafrost that I couldn’t chisel through? This is the miracle of life and the lesson of the universal struggle that all living things must face on a daily basis. Another “Damn” is what I say to that! Followed by an “Amen”.

The rest of this Sunday was spent in much more pleasant pursuits. We bottled a German white wine today and then were able to start the process of converting that part of the basement back into the whelping area. Having Rocky, the puppy, here continues to make life zany and zestful. Here he is playing inside a crate with his older sister Lucy..

Riley continues to get wider along her backside. She rests a little more often than her siblings now, but still enjoys a walk to the fields. Here are some shots of the crew resting after our walk today.

And our mom to be..

Riley’s due date is just two weeks away now, and our thoughts are starting to anticipate those adventures soon to come.

It was a melancholy week for me here in dogville. Emma and Lucy were both spayed on Friday. Both did well with their surgeries, and kudos to Dr. Feldman for once again keeping our animals healthy. But these two events on the same day, heralded major changes in our future breeding activities. For seven year old Emma, it was a well deserved ending to her birthing of three healthy litters. For Lucy it was the end of a potential storied career that never could be. Despite her looks, parentage, and our hard work, the appearance of her eye problem shattered our plans.

My cousin Ron, sent some perceptive comments. After all, he and his Barbara were there, way back at our beginning when we really did not know much about the science of breeding. And they have had three of our dogs over the years. He wrote:

>Pet Alert- Poisonous Mulch – deadly to dogs and cats
>
>Please tell every dog or cat owner you know. Even if you don’t have >a pet, please pass this to those who do.
>
>Over the weekend the doting owner of two young lab mixes purchased Cocoa Mulch from Target to use in their garden. They loved the way it smelled and it was advertised to keep cats away from their garden. Their dog Calypso decided that the mulch smelled good enough to eat and devoured a large helping. She vomited a few times which was typical when she eats something new but wasn’t acting lethargic </SPAN< SPAN>in any way. The next day, Mom woke up and took Calypso out for her >morning walk. Half way through the walk, she had a seizure and died instantly.
> >
>Although the mulch had NO warnings printed on the label, upon further investigation on the company’s website, this product is HIGHLY toxic to dogs and cats.
>
> >Cocoa Mulch is manufactured by Hershey’s, and they claim that ‘It is true that studies have shown that 50% of the dogs that eat Cocoa Mulch can suffer physical harm to a variety of degrees (depending on each individual dog). However, 98% of all dogs won’t eat it.’
>
> >This Snopes site gives the following >information:http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp
> >
>Cocoa Mulch, which is sold by Home Depot, Foreman’s Garden Supply and other Garden supply stores, contains a lethal ingredient called ‘Theobromine’. It is lethal to dogs and cats. It smells like chocolate and it really attracts dogs. They will ingest this stuff and die. Several deaths already occurred in the last 2-3 weeks. Theobromine is in all chocolate, especially dark or baker’s chocolate which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of th eobromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog that ingested a lethal quantity of garden mulch made from cacao bean shells developed severe convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine.
> >
>
>PLEASE GIVE THIS THE WIDEST DISTRIBUTION!!!

Every year here we have at least one dog eat our wood chip mulch, and get sick, and end up with a vet visit for a stomach ache. They don’t have very discriminating tastes for sure! Wishing a good week to all.

Being a longtime medical professional, I am resigned to the fact that nature and life seem to demand a balance between good news and bad, blue skies and grey, birth and death. In my daily contact with patients, in one room there might be a family celebrating the happy news of a new baby on the way, while in the next a husband and wife are there to discuss the issues involving a return of her breast cancer. This is a sequence that is repeated without end, it seems, whether in the delivery room, the office setting, or on a mission trip. I had just come off a 24 hour call this morning, and it seemed that happy events had won the battle last night with five new healthy babies to celebrate, while only one patient and her family were suffering from the loss of her pregnancy hopes.

We had performed another ultrasound on Riley earlier in the week, and my mood was brightened by the fact that she is carrying a nice size litter of at least eight plus puppies. So hopefully we are going to make a lot of waiting families happy with the arrival of a successful litter around the second week of April. We had an appointment to go to the Southern Berkshire Golden Retriever Clinic this morning at the Suffield Veterinary Hospital. This clinic is held once a year to allow breeders of Goldens to get their dog’s medical clearances done in a timely and cost effective way.  Breeders from all over New England attend and I was told they expected between 90 and 120 dogs to be screened. Here are a few photos..

With the breed being Golden Retrievers, everyone was well behaved and social. Our Riley was first up and needed only her eyes to be rechecked which is a yearly requirement if you are a breeder of quality. I joked with the Veterinary opthamologist and Riley breezed through. Up next was Lucy, our beautiful two year old that we had pinned our future hopes on now that Emma is past her breeding prime. She had passed last year and we expected no problems.

The vet suddenly got quiet and said keep your fingers crossed while he changed instruments and took another look. His next words left me shaken. “I’m sorry she doesn’t pass. Early cataracts are present that have a genetic appearance. Her vision should be fine, but she can’t be bred”. That was it. Without a glimmer of anticipatory worry, our breeding plans had suddenly collapsed. Our ride home was particularly quiet.

We are not big-time breeders with a large stable of animals. We have five females, but now only Riley is breed-able, and she hasn’t had a proven litter yet. Most of our breeding mentors don’t keep their dogs when they can no longer reproduce. Instead, they give them to families that want such an older dog that is better behaved and better trained than a puppy. Barb and I haven’t been able to do that. Our dogs are family for better or worse. So.. we now have a dilemma that will require thoughtful reflection on what our future efforts will be. Our Solo didn’t pass her test due to mild hip issues, and now Lucy didn’t either because of eye issues. There had been no occurrences of either of these issues in our line before, so they probably represent spontaneous mutations as they are called. But that is precisely why you test all your dogs.

We actually co-own Riley with two of our breeding friends. One of them, Donna, has Riley’s sister and also our Emma’s sister. She expects to breed “Ebby” with her next heat this spring. Ebby had a litter of twelve last year, so we hope there will be no issues. I spoke to Donna, who lives in Hebron, at the clinic today and she may be able to handle the needs of the people who don’t get one of Riley’s puppies because of their place on the list. Genetically and in appearance, the puppies would be the same as ours if she decides to use champion Mulder at the Cape.

So there you have our good news with the bad. We intend to make the greatest effort to enjoy Riley’s upcoming litter, as there may not be another for some time. We are grateful that Lucy’s health won’t be seriously affected by the eye issue that was found today.

There are so many people suffering more serious disappointments than what we have dealt with today. And we will move on. But pardon if I let out one tiny sound of frustration after another two years of planning and hopes have been wiped out… Damn!

I thought to start this week’s tales with a question for our readers. When I went to the Fields this week, the dogs were particularly interested in something on the ground.

Usually obedient, the girls did not want to leave the area of interest. On further investigation, this is what I found..

Then it occurred to me, another weather season was about to begin. And along with the change of season come repetitive behaviors of nature. Any ideas? Maybe this photo will give you some help.

And the answer is:

There is a large migration of geese that use the fields as a stopover both in the fall on their way South, and in the Spring on their way North again. Evidence of their resting here was very evident in the number of footprints and droppings. Since some of us view goose livers as a much desired delicacy, I could understand why a retriever might find the taste of their pooh to their liking..

This past week we have been vacillating between warmer touches of mother nature and some chilly days. While it is refreshing not to be cold, the arrival of the sun and blue skies means wet dogs and mud. Some parts of the run were snow covered, but much not.

And that means our kitchen floors get extra dirty. One day this week the dogs were so matted with dirt that I had to fill the small pool in the garage. They didn’t mind the water, and look how much dirt almost made it into our home on this one run.

Everyone’s moods were much calmer at the change of weather and the appearance of greenscape underfoot. If you are a regular reader of this site, you might be able to identify everyone by name here..

As you can see from the first photo, not all of the mud is easy to get off their feet, and you just have to sweep or vacuum when they are finally dry.

And now the news that we, and many of you have been so anxious for.. Riley is pregnant! We brought her to have an ultrasound today. She was very well behaved. Look for the small circle on the ultrasound picture. That is a gestational sac with a puppy embryo in it.

We were able to identify three to four sacs on one side of her uterine horn. It is still early from when she was inseminated, so we will repeat the scan over next weekend .  A dog usually carries its puppies in each horn of the uterus. The other horn was not well seen, but that is due to my lack of knowing how to do the ultrasound properly on a dog. I am sitting here with a smile on my face.. a great moment to sit back and reflect on the efforts of so many that made this possible. We hope that God will bless Riley with good health for the remainder of her pregnancy.

And finally for this week, Gayle sent us some photos of puppy Cooper playing with her two goldens: Emmy and Swimmer. Gayle is happy to dog sit for Cooper when her sister Gwen goes away. And Cooper is a puppy from our last litter, and brother to Rocky. As you can see from these photos, Mulder and Emma should be very proud of their efforts.

What a hunk he is going to be.

This week has continued the welcome trend to a more civilized existence for all here in our household. Everyone sleeps in the bedroom, and we have been averaging only one wee hour visit to the backyard now for the puppy. The pack’s inner alarm clock is still set for 4:30 to 5 AM, but I get a lot of early work done before leaving for the office or hospital at 6:30 to 7 AM.

I was hoping to take all six to the high school this weekend in the truck (too many squirrels out already to walk them), and see how everyone fared running together for the first time. The rain today, instead of snow,  nixed that idea. Barb had bought some new stuffed animals for everyone to play with at Ocean State Job Lot. The buffalo bones and antler chews are more favored, but the cost is prohibitive to have frequent hand outs of these items. With the stuffed animals, there is a lot of competition and jealousy for the toy they don’t have in their mouth at the moment. So you have to be watchful that tempers don’t rise and a fight erupts. This day everyone was well behaved..

We are anxiously waiting for the necessary two more weeks to pass to see if Riley has conceived. As I was pulling the camera card to create this blog, I came across several new photos of Mulder, our champion stud, walking and playing with his son, Rocky. These were taken when Mulder was at our home three weeks ago.

Rocky is growing by inches in height and length every day. At a quick glance, he is sometimes hard to pick out from his sister Lucy of an earlier litter. Being the two youngest goldens here, they often pair up to play.

Here Barb caught Rocky in a more Halloween like moment the other night..

And finally for this week’s news, Barb caught our dogs enjoying a new configuration in their napping on our leather chairs. Doesn’t seem to matter that they are literally on top on each other at times!

Hoping everyone reading this finds time for a restorative nap this week!