A Golden Romance

Last Friday I went to pick up Ace in the morning to bring him home for the day to hang out, it was a day of romance for Summer who was in full heat.   In the photo above you can see her flagging her tale and standing for him.   Ace was so excited to see her, he remembered her from a year and a half ago when we first bred them.  Back then we got them together 5 or 6 times, every couple days until it worked on day 14, and we only got in one breeding.  This time around we planned the visit to be in the good range of successful breeding, it was day 15, they got in two breeding's, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon, I felt lucky we only needed to get them together once this time.  During this time I'm there at a distance keeping a close eye on them, as soon as they connect, I make sure Summer stands still the 15-20 minutes they're tied, this is important for the safety of the male. 

Pictured below is Ace meeting Jesu for the first time, Father and Son, they loved playing for several hours in the middle of the day while Summer napped.  Josie wanted to get out and play with her Dad too but had to see him through the pasture fence because she was also in heat.  My Goldens will cycle the same time every year, the first week of February they go into heat until the end of the month, then again the first week of August until the end of the month.  Those 3 weeks we are extra careful with them, I'm thankful for our fences at times like these to keep roaming dogs out. 



Ace and Jesu, Father and Son, meeting for the first time!

Come the week of April 21 we should have puppies, the average pregnancy for dogs is 58-64 days.  Amazing isn't it, just 2 months is all it takes for them.  From our last breeding, our first ever, we had four puppies.  We kept two, one went as a pick of the litter for Ace's owner's, and one went to a good friend.  From that breeding we've had inquires from people wanting puppies, a neighbor of ours wants one, the other's puppies neighbors, and people who've taken our number down when my husband has taken them into town in the truck.  We let them know when our next planned breeding would be, it's nice to have people that we know or who will stay in touch with us be able to adopt our puppies.

By the end of the day both Summer and Ace were happy and tired.  The picture below is right before I took Ace home, if they could hold hands I know they'd be holding each other's hand as they walked together in the field!