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!   

The Goldens and Sierra ~ Work and Play

The Golden's and Sierra are constant companions for all of us, they add a richness to our life that is hard to describe.  A few days ago I went outside with my camera  to take some pictures of them at work and play.  They like to be right in the middle of whatever is going on, whether it's peeling a log with Dad, feeding the animals with me, or greeting the girls as they come home from school.  It's always fun to be around our Golden's, that's what they're all about... fun!

Wrestling together is a daily activity.

They like it when we take a break and sit down on the back deck, 

then it's time to get Dad and give him hugs and kisses. 

Sierra, our Great Pyrenees has a different nature than the Golden's, she likes to play and have fun too, but only when she wants to, more importantly she likes to guard and be on watch, that's her nature.  It's only been in the last few months that we've been able to let her loose to run the property, ever since we finished the perimeter fence we've slowly been giving her more freedom.  Great Pyrenees will wander if they're not fenced in as that's part of their nature, they want to check out the neighborhood and surrounding properties, they will traverse a large territory.  She now has 10 fully fenced acres to wander around, however, we've had to train her not to dig out once it was done.  We even had to hot wire the base of her 2 acre pasture that was built just for her, so she wouldn't dig out.  This is a beautiful breed of dog, but remember they need to have a large fenced property, and you have to devote lots of time to training them.  She spent much of her younger years on a leash being trained and keeping a close eye on, she went everywhere with my husband for 2 years, to work, on walks, tied on the porch, in her pasture, and now it's so nice to have her free and staying in the yard.    Everyone loves her, she has a sweet spirit and is truly beautiful.

Josie watching Dad work at peeling a log for his next project, a log entryway.   We don't normally use the trees on our property for clients projects, but this one was an exception.  Rarely do we take down our majestic trees even though we have plenty of them. If ever we do they're usually saved for building projects around home.  I counted the rings on this tree, 61 years old! 

Josie is my girl, both her and Summer are, they will go everywhere with me.  I have spent more time training the two of them, and my husband has spent more time training Sierra and Jesu.  They're all family dogs, but each has a master that they're bonded with.  I've worked with Josie since birth training her and I'm very happy with how she has turned out.  The puppies Jesu and Josie turned one in October, how fast they grow up.  

Below is smiley Jesu (pronounced Jess-oo) we also call him "Bubs", he is a lover and our only boy dog.  All the girls love him and so do we.  Our Golden's are fun loving and want to be with us no matter what we're doing.  This is a breed that is easy to train, wants to please you and be with you, their nature is sweet and wonderful, and they keep us smiling and laughing throughout the day. 

 

Happiness!

snowy weekend



Josie and Summer watching the goats beside me.

They all take off running through the snow.

 "You never know they might come back."

 "And we all know... Zolena will get us with head butts, just to let us know who's boss around here." 

The puppies have grown up with the goats and know them well enough to give them some respect.  They also know that Zolena just plays with them and gives them mock head butts, that's why Josie doesn't look too scared.

This is our sweet and funny Zolena, always clowning around with us and the other animals.  She's a Lamancha dairy goat and is our main milker this winter.

Everyone likes to watch Dad building things.  Over the weekend he worked on

a goat fencing project all through the snowy days.  He had lots of company.

A newly installed gate, and fresh concrete posts he made a couple of weeks ago.  

Stormy and Zolena love to play the game of head butt. 

You can see Joon in the distance, she's pregnant and is about halfway through her 5 month pregnancy.

"Enough running around in the snow we're ready to eat and lounge for awhile in our goat cave."  The basement of the chicken coop is the goat barn for our first winter until the new barn is built this summer.  The chickens have the second story, and the goats the lower level, they're totally separate quarters.  The goats all love their cozy little barn, it's on the short side, but once inside it's about a foot above the taller goats heads, it's warm and dry, and they all seem to like it just fine, this is where they sleep, ruminate, and hang out.  

fun in the snow

Kaley having fun sledding on our first "Snow Day" of the year!

It snowed most of the day today and they say more is on the way, 

 it looks like there will be no school for the rest of the week... and all the kids say... Yay!!!

Golden Retrievers are like kids, they love to play in the snow.

Tessa heading down the hill!

Tessa with the male puppy Fatolini (aka, Bubs), well he has several names depending on who's talking to him. 

Summer wants to sled too!  She loves getting in on the action.

Jason with Josie, she is such a sweetheart.



"Snow Kisses" from Sierra

8 weeks old



Sunny, Ace, Fatolini, and Josie

Early in the morning and still sleepy on their 8 week old birthday, the puppies are growing up fast, we have absolutely fallen in love with them all, and it will be hard to say goodbye, we are keeping Josie.  In the picture below the kitten Cinnamon was purring and rubbing against the puppies.



Josie running to me when I call her name.  I have her come and sit down for a good pet. 



Sunny



Ace, Josie, and Sunny



First Snow

 

We had our first snow a few days ago, it was about half an inch, and the goats and puppies sure had fun playing in it.   Frozen water buckets and rabbit bottles were extra work, along with hauling hot water out to the goats and chickens and thawing frozen hoses.  Fortunately the snow didn't affect the roads into town.   You can see in the picture above that we have our herd of 5 goats going into winter.  Snowdrop is the newest goat we have, she's a little 4 month old white Nigerian Dwarf doeling, she came here about a month ago.  The goats have added both fun and work into our lives, along with milk, and lots of wonderful compost material.  We are working on fencing and I spent the day cleaning out their goat barn and filled it with fresh dry straw.  I've also spent time everyday studying the goats and watching for signs of being in heat. I have a record for both Zolena and Joon and their last dates in heat, and am waiting for Jersey to come back into heat, somehow I must have missed her last one.  We've already tried to have Joon bred once, but I think our timing was off by a day. 

The puppies are growing so fast, they're 6 weeks old now.  This morning they all followed me out to milk right along with their Mom.  Summer loves the routine with all the farm animals, and  goes with me whenever I head out to the barn, now I can tell the puppies will love going out with us too.  They were fascinated to watch the chickens and goats, Zolena just carefully stepped around them and jumped onto the milking stand.  Goats and dogs once they get to know each other, get along quite well. 

 This is Rhododendron  Ridge Sparkling "Snowdrop",  her father is Pecan Hollow Bronze Snapdragon, and mom is Calico Creek Meadow Bluebell.  Her mom Bluebell has a gorgeous udder, and her father has good udder genetics as well.  Snowdrop was the first goat I put money down on over the summer, she wasn't even born, and I went to see her mother, and put a deposit on a doeling, not even knowing if she'd have one.  We had to wait for her to be born, then wait 3 months until she was old enough to come here to Applegarth.  We have all just fallen in love with her, and her sweet personality, and so have the goats.

Exploring and playing, Josie happy and smiling.

Stormy, Jersey, and Snowdrop all munching on some douglas fir greens.  We took down several trees last week for the fence line and the goats love to eat the tips of them.  The goats are interesting to watch all the things they eat, moss on trees, various ferns, dried leaves (chips),  bark, and of course any edible berry bush.  They are more deer like and will leave the grass as a last resort. 

3 1/2 weeks old

From left to right, Josie (the one we're keeping :), Sunny (going to a good friend and her family), and Fatolini (a favorite, with a couple of families who are thinking they may want him)

Summer and her puppies in their new whelping box.  The puppies are so playful now, they wrestle and try to run, then they like to crawl all over each other and their mom.   She is still nursing them, and we began a few days ago feeding one meal a day, and now we're up to 3 meals per day of meat and rice.  Their little teeth are all coming in sharp, I'll need to provide chew toys to help them as they teeth. 

I love to sit by the fire and hold the puppies as they snuggle up and make there little grunts and groans that little babies make.  The kids all hold them everyday and love to watch them play, it is such a good and positive experience for our family, and I think Summer is having fun too.

"Little Ace" is so cute!  He's the stud dog owners pick of the litter, and looks just like his father "big Ace".

12 days old

Summer is a great Mom, we're all so proud of her.  Look how big and healthy her 4 puppies are at 12 days old.  The 2 males are in the middle, one is blond like his father, and one is dark red like Summer.  On either side are the females, one is a little lighter than the other.  Their eyes are all just beginning to open.

We like to sit on the floor by the fire with them and snuggle and love them.  They are so cute and the little noises they make are adorable.  They are just beginning to get up on their legs and practise walking instead of scooting, so being contained is becoming essential.  We're all having so much fun with them and are enjoying watching them as they grow up.

You can see how light the blond male is, he's going to be beautiful like his Father.  I just love the dark goldens too like Summer, her coat is a dark reddish golden and shines in the sun.