Furry Family Members

                                        Boy with his best friend

It's funny how the four legged family members in our life are more than just family pets.  I know when my middle son is upset about something, the first thing he does is go straight to the dogs for their hugs and kisses and unconditional love.  My youngest says the dogs are his best friends.  He would spend all of his time talking to them and playing with them if he could.

And my husband is hysterical when it comes to our furry companions.  As much as he complains about the state of our backyard because they dig and dig and chew and dig some more, he is so happy when he is greeted by our dogs each night as he arrives home.  He'll spend five minutes giving and receiving love from them before he ever walks in the door to us.

And a dear friend said that our dogs have helped me find my 'heart place.'    When you work full time at your own business, have children and a husband and schedules to juggle, practices, homework and work deadlines, there is very little time for yourself to just be.  It's amazing how the dogs find your 'heart' place and remind you how to just 'be.'  For me, nothing is more peaceful than the time each evening I spend with the dogs.  After they've eaten and before the sun goes down, I spend time with them, just me and them, and we'll play fetch, I'll give them pets while they give me kisses, we'll dance (yes, my dogs love to dance!) and I'll sing crazy made up songs to them and we are content to just 'be.' 

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."
- Unknown

My favorite dogs part two

Tea Rose of the Morning Valley

Last week I wrote about my favorite English/European Golden Retrievers from the past and present.  The point was to help people who look at a pedigree for their dog have some sense of the "greats" in the breed.  These are just my opinions and many breeders have differing ones. 

This week I'd like to talk about my favorite bitches.  And let me tell you, this one was hard to write.  There have been some amazing English Golden Retriever bitches throughout the years. It's just too difficult to pick only five favorites so what I did was make a list of SOME of my very favorites.  Some of these dogs are still living and others have helped to shape the breed to what it is today.  But they are all  lovely in different ways. 

First, there is  Ch Styal Stephanie of Camrose.  She was a fabulous bitch from the 1970's and 80's.  I'm not sure if these facts are still true, but at one time she held more CC's than any other bitch with 27.   She had a lovely head and her structure was lovely. 


Another was Erinderry Gaelic Minstrel.  She is just a lovely bitch with nice bone, coat and a lovely head.  She produced the World Show winner this past year Dewmist Silk Screen (who won this same show again a few years ago).

Another of my favorite bitches is Gunhills Darby.  Again, she has nice bone, coat and a lovely head and she has produced some beautiful goldens who have produced some spectacular goldens. 

Rossbourne in Love is one of my favorites because the bone on this dog is lovely.  I don't know that she was bred often or if she produced  many champions, but I find her to be a lovely representation of what a golden should look like.  Feminine yet lovely bone.  She lived in the 1980's.


Remington Requisite of Ramchaine is a bitch that is still living today.  I have had the opportunity to meet Jazmin several times and she's stunning.  She's feminine and structurally lovely with nice bone.  And I loved her temperament as well...very friendly and sweet.  And she's had some beautiful offspring. 

Xanthos Orange Blossom is just a lovely bitch.  There's no two ways about it.  And she is the dam to one of my favorite dogs, Xanthos Apple Jack.   Some of my dogs have Xanthos Orange Blossom in their pedigrees.  I think she is another wonderful representation of an English/European golden.

Gatchells Royal Orchid is a bitch you look at and think "WOW!"  She was just stunning and another wonderful representation of the breed.  She went on to produce some amazing dogs including Gatchells Man of Honour and Gatchells Prince of Thieves and she also produced Gatchells Ruby Tuesday who I think looks a lot like her mother.

This is just a few of the wonderful bitches that have helped shape the dogs we have today.  There are many more. 

English Goldens....too smart for their own good at times!

 This is my boy Finn.  He's gorgeous, talented and super smart.   He's gorgeous both inside and out.  I have yet to find a sweeter golden.  He's talented because he can find a ball in 5 seconds flat.  You throw it, he'll retrieve it.  Yes, he is an English Golden Retriever so he should be good at retrieving.  And he's super smart because he can do things regular dogs can't.  That is except for my other goldens.  And the English goldens some of my friends have.  And of course, my Bernese Mountain Dog, Sadie, but that's another story.

Now I have been saying how I really need to get back in shape.  It's so hot outside in NC in the summer that it's hard to get motivated.  I could be wrong, but I think my goldens got tired of hearing me complain about my weight so this morning, they decided to help old mom out.

Some how my babies figured out how to open the gate to get out of the backyard.  That in itself is a feat.  You have to lift up a bar that locks the gate into place.  You have to open the lever.  AND you have to unhook a dog collar that I put in place that serves as a second lock for my gate just in case.   Somehow the little buggars figured out how to unlock all three and all of the sudden I hear my six year old running down the street saying, "Mommy!   Get the leashes!!" 

In a panic I immediately grab the leashes and head toward the door.  Thank goodness two of mine came right back home and were happy to drink water and be in the cool air.   But the other three were half way down the neighborhood with my six year old  in tow.   Bionic Mom took over.  Here comes Jamie Summers toting her leashes running as fast as she can to catch three English Goldens and a six year old.  

When they saw me running toward them shouting their names they came right to me with their sweet smiling faces.  And Emma just smiled as if to say, "We just wanted to help, Mom."  I guess that's what I get for complaining about needing to lose weight.   My English Goldens made sure I was the one who was going to start my weight loss program whether I wanted to or not.   Gotta love those smarty britches!!

Clean English Goldens....Really??

Look at my dog, Emma....she's the one in the back with the mud all over her face.  You're probably thinking she never gets a bath.  Truth be told...she gets them quite often because she is constantly a mess.  And the best part is, SHE is the one making the mess.  And she LOVES to make a mess.  Welcome to the wonderful world of English Goldens!
It's instinctive for English Goldens to want to dig.  If you have a flower bed or a retaining wall, that's all the more attractive to an English Golden.  Or if you have a nice piece of grass, that's a possible future hole for them to dig.  You see, the thing about this wonderful breed is that for all of their wonderful qualities, they are natural born diggers!  And if you have a place to dig anywhere near water, that's even better.   Because then they can make a super huge mess of themselves and the area they are digging in!

What can you do to avoid holes?  A couple of things.  You can fill the holes with concrete and add top soil to the very top layer.  That should slow them down.  You can section off a certain part of the yard where they can play.  Holes will be fair game there, but if they aren't near your garden, you can enjoy your plants.  You can try to spray apple bitter on your plants.  I have to say depending on the dog it doesn't always work.  But you can try.  Or you can just know that if you have a Golden, be prepared for holes, dirt and a lot of baths! 

Emma loves the water.  Sometimes I wonder if she does this on purpose so she can get into the bathtub and play.   They are very smart dogs!  It wouldn't surprise me.  Perhaps we should look at getting a pool sooner than later!

Hip Health Testing

One really can't stress enough the importance of health testing when breeding animals.  There are so many hereditary things that can be passed down from parents to offspring that it's crucial for a responsible breeder to do as much health testing as possible.   While nothing in life is perfect, a responsible breeder will test their dogs to try to avoid health issues in offspring.

This leads me to the topic of hip testing.  The norm in the breeding world in the US is to use a company called OFA or the Orthapedic Foundation for Animals.  They look at one view of an x-ray of a dogs hips and grade it.  You can get either an "Excellent," "Good," "Fair," "Borderline" or some degree of hip dysplasia.  The thing to note which is quite frustrating to me is that the OFA will grade anything you send to them.  If the hips are not positioned properly, the OFA will still grade the hips.  They don't send the x-rays back and tell you to redo them so the hips are positioned correctly.  To me, this is just plain laziness on the part of the OFA.   

When it happened to me, I decided to see what other options were out there and made the decision to use the BVA or British Veterinary Association.   I import my dogs from Europe so it made sense to me to use their hip scheme.   They look at the same view an OFA vet will look at, but the difference is they will give you a number score between 0-53 on each hip.  Their scores are like a golfer's game....the lower the score, the better.   The "standard" score that most breeders use is a total score of 20 or under, but some breeders require lower scores than that.  And some will use higher scores if they know the scores of the ancestors behind a dog.  The thing I appreciate about the BVA is if a hip is not positioned properly, they will send the x-ray back to you refusing to grade it.   The BVA only gives you a grade once in the lifetime of a dog and they want to make sure they are grading fairly.  You can send your x-rays to the OFA over and over again.    But the OFA refers back to anything you've submitted previously instead of grading the x-ray for how it looks that day.  They also don't tell you what degree of "Good" or "Fair" your dog may be.  Are they just barely fair or good?    As you can tell, it's just not a system I am a fan of.

There are MANY breeders who have been breeding for years who won't look at a dog without an OFA rating.   And there are many more who will tell prospective puppy owners to ask about health testing.  While I agree that puppy families should know how healthy the parents of their puppies are, I also believe there are different hip schemes that as good or better than what the OFA offers.   For me and  my dogs it's the BVA. 

Puppy Socialization

Making sure that a puppy has proper socialization is key to having a friendly, loving adult dog.   This means taking your puppy with you out in public to places where there are many people.  Your puppy should get used to all sorts of sights and sounds and one of the best ways to do this is to bring her with you as you run errands to animal friendly places.   Your local home improvement store is a great place to socialize your puppy.  There are lots of people and sounds in a store like that.  Even the electric doors that open and shut can be a lot for a puppy to take in.  Some pups will walk right through doors like that while others will hang back and be somewhat afraid until you show them there's nothing to be concerned about.  And she's sure to get a lot of attention from people while you're there because who can resist a sweet puppy??

Your pup should also get used to having strangers come up to pet her.  My Bella is a loving, sweet natured girl, but in new surroundings she can be a bit timid.   I brought her with me to our neighborhood Halloween party yesterday.  I thought having her be around lots of children and adults would be a good way to further socialize her.  She was somewhat timid as we approached the noise, people and especially when she saw the bounce house.   That was a bit scary to her until she realized it wasn't going to get her.  But as soon as some of the neighborhood children saw her coming, she was in her element.  She couldn't wait to be petted and loved on by the neighborhood kids and their parents.  She just sat still or laid on her back for her favorite thing...a tummy rub!   On our walk home, she was quite proud of herself as she had been the "Belle" of the ball!  

One thing you should never do is leave a puppy with young children unsupervised.  Children (especially toddlers) don't have a good understanding yet that it's really not ok to pull a puppies tail or poke them in the eye and that can set the socialization of your puppy back.   Showing children at a young age how to treat an animal is good for both the child and the animal.   It helps both the child and the animal develop confidence with one another.

If you have any thoughts or ideas on how you socialize your puppy, we'd love to hear from you!

Puppy Body Language

The more time I spend with my dogs, the more I think they are so much like humans.  Have you ever had to scold your dog for doing something wrong?  Do you notice how they act like children?  It's amazing how similar they can be.   And their body language says so much!

This is Max (left) with Bella.  The life of a dog is hard work!

I had to scold Max the other day because he is completely fascinated with toilet paper.  I keep rolls of it in baskets in my bathrooms.  He was inside playing with me one day when he decided to walk around the house.  After about five minutes of "quiet" I knew he was up to something.  I came into the sunroom to find shredded toilet paper all over my floor and in Max's mouth.  This was not the first time Max has done this, but he just couldn't help himself.  It is such fun to shred!  But when I said, "Max, naughty boy!" he knew he had done something wrong.  He put his head down, his ears down and his tail between his legs.   As upset as I was with him, I couldn't be too hard on him because he looked so pitiful.   I scolded him and put him outside for a bit to run and get some of that excess puppy energy out.   The photo above shows him after he ran himself ragged!

Interestingly enough, dog body language really says a lot about how they are feeling. For example:
Tail between the legs says "I'm afraid" or "I know I'm in trouble."
Ears down with the head down says "I know I'm in trouble."
Lying on their back with their four paws bent up says "I'm very comfortable."
Drooling says "I'm hungry."
Tail wagging says "I'm happy."

I'm sure there are many other things dogs do that convey how they are feeling.  These are just a few of the things I see with mine.   Pay attention to your dogs body language in different situations.  It's fascinating to learn what each position means.  Email your findings!

The Scary Doggie Door

This is Reagan, my puppy I co-own with a fellow breeder.  He's the best puppy.  He has wonderful manners, he never jumps on people, he loves people and will give you lots of kisses if you pet him, and my breeder friend says he's house trained.  He lives with her most of the time, but he's living with us right now because one of her dogs just had puppies.   I believed that Reagan was house trained until the morning after his first night with us when I walked in a puddle of pee in my sunroom. 

Dogs are pack animals.  Older dogs are wonderful teachers to the younger ones.  I have four older English Goldens and they are all house trained.   They sleep in our heated/AC sunroom at night in crates that I leave open so that if any of them need to go potty, they can go through the doggie door outside to do so.  All of my dogs use that doggie door and don't have accidents.   I assumed Reagan would follow his teachers and learn to do the same thing. 

What I didn't count on was his fear of the doggie door.   No, we didn't do anything to it for Halloween.  For some reason, it just scares Reagan.   I tested my theory one day when I walked outside and called my dogs to me.  One by one they all came out until it was Reagan's turn.  I called him by name.  I looked at him through the window and called to him.  And he just sat there not moving.  My five year old (who is Reagan's best friend) went through the doggie door to show Reagan it was easy.  He still wouldn't move.   I opened the door, let him out and then went inside.  All of my dogs followed me in except Reagan.  Again, I called him and saw him looking at me through the window, but he would not budge to come in through that doggie door.   I thought once he saw the dogs do it a few more times, he'd start doing it too.

Three weeks have passed and guess what?  He's still peeing every night in the sunroom!  Tonight I finally did something that I hope will make a difference.   I brought treats outside with me.  Every dog that went through the doggie door got a treat.  When it was Reagan's turn, I lifted the doggie door flap just a bit, let Reagan see the treat, and Voila!   Out came Reagan!   I screamed so loud you would have thought I won the lottery!  We tried it inside and outside about a dozen times until he was comfortable going in and out that door.  I can't promise that I won't have a pee pee puddle in the morning.  But I think we're off to a good start!

If you have good doggie training tricks to share, please post them!