Golden Retrievers ~ Breeding Notes

Timing and patience were required for our first amateur breeding of two young Golden Retrievers. We were both new, the stud owner and myself, and the dogs were new to all this fun courting stuff.  And court they did, Summer was flagging and doing all the things that a brazen flirt would do to attract a males attention.  We spent the first week watching and nothing happened but the courting routine.  We wondered what was wrong.  Ace's owner contacted her breeder and got an encouraging email, he told the method he used, mainly patience and timing.  Later in the heat cycle is better, getting them together with the male from the 12th through 20th day, the last week of their heat cycle.  We persisted, and in the end, they tied on the 14th day of her heat cycle after 6 days together.

We met the owners of the stud we chose Ace about 8 months ago, and in our conversation we talked about our dogs, and found out that she had a gorgeous male golden.  We all went, along with Summer to meet Ace a couple months ago.  We also looked seriously at one other male in our area, and I talked with 5 or 6 breeders in the Seattle area.  In the end we chose him, Ace is a 4 year old blond Golden, the breeder didn't fix Ace because he was too nice of a dog, and he is.  He's handsome and smart, calm and easy going, plus he's well put together and a real gentlemen.   He adored Summer and enjoyed every minute of their 6 days together.  

Dogs are pregnant for 63 days, so the day they bred was last Tuesday August 16th, her due date (if she is pregnant) will be October 18th.  The owners of Ace will get to have pick of the litter for the stud fee, and their neighbor wants to buy one.  We may keep a blond female, but will see when the time comes.

As a young girl we had beautiful English Springer Spaniels, my parents had our female bred twice, it was so much fun to help out with the puppies and watch them grow.  That is my only experience with having new born puppies, so it will be a fun learning experience for all of us this Fall.  Puppies are ready at 8 weeks old, so they'll be ready for new homes around  the middle of December, we'll have Christmas puppies!!  I am going to love taking some fun holiday pictures with them and our family this year. 

Thanks Ace!