In Depth Look at our
Breeding Program

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Our goal as a breeder is to raise beautiful, healthy puppies that fit in well with your lifestyle. 

In order to do this :

1) We health test our breeding females to ensure they have healthy heart, eyes, hips and elbows and a clear DNA panel. The last thing we want to do is pass on genetic issues in the breed. 

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2) We work very hard to socialize our puppies right! We put a lot of work into introducing them to new noises, sights, etc in the correct way. We are always learning and growing as a breeder. I try to welcome learning from local trainers and breeders to help us do this well. I feel like in the past 6 years of us breeding, we are doing more and better each litter. We do get good feedback on how our puppies adjust well in their new homes due to the work we put in. This makes me so happy! I put a lot of stock into how a puppy is raised the first 8 weeks of their life, and how that helps produce a well-adjusted and good family dog.

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3) Where we mix show and field line goldens in our pedigrees, we are trying hard to find a balance of temperament and health ideal for our families. Our ultimate goal is to provide a range of colors, including the beautiful red/dark golden color of the breed, that has a mid to low energy temperament. Field lines seem to have better health scores across the breed and more confidence. Show lines bring the more mild temperament . By mixing the 2, you produce a great rounded dog, as well as a range in those beautiful colors of the golden rainbow! We are trying to be more intentional to choose the right lines for this. At the moment, our pairings seem to throw a good middle energy temperament with 1 to 2 pups each litter with a higher drive and occasionally a very low energy pup. We are trying to move our pairings to get a full litter of middle energy pups with a few low energy. With this said, we also want to provide confident pups that are well rounded for therapy work/service work. We have had a few pups go on to do some service/companion work helpful for their owners. I love to hear this!

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4) In order to place puppies in appropriate homes, we do our part to temperament test each litter with a knowledgeable trainer. This gives valuable feedback for buyers in choosing the correct temperament for their lifestyle. Combined with a 3rd party to perform a structured test, and our own observations from 8 weeks, this is great information! Our higher drive pups, we try to find very active/adventurous homes for, or hunting homes. We would hate to send a pup to a home and have it not match the drive wanted. We are always willing to take our pups back at any point IF they are ever matched wrong, and make things right. We find that the trainer can also point out things about each pup their future home can work on specifically due to their nature. This helps you make your pup the best it can be! Learning and growing on this matching process always is our goal.

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5) I try to volunteer in the community with our registered therapy dogs. My time is limited, but I find joy in bringing my well mannered and tempered dogs to bless someone's day. Check out the Pet Partners program in our county to see the awesome work many fellow therapy teams provide for our community.

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6)Lastly, I am in the process of learning and growing in the area of titling our dogs. In my research, titling is not the end-all , be-all of a good dog or line. However, most importantly, it does show a dog is being worked with and loved and trying to show the capabilities of this breed. It also allows a "judge" to enter an opinion on how this dog performs or meets breed standard, rather than just taking an owners word. My Bailey has received her Canine Good Citizen (in public) title as well as her Trick Novice and Virtual Home Manners. Raya has received her CGC as well as being a regustered therapy dog. I have had trouble getting the paperwork to get titles registered with the AKC, so hopefully that will come quickly. But earlier this year they did pass. Maya has received her VHMA as well. It is hard with our guardian homes to get titling done easily, so hoping the new addition to our own home, Bubbles, will be my project to show what titles this line of our breed can accomplish.

Overall, our dogs and puppies are well loved and we are tying hard to run a well intentioned breeding program. To bring the joy of golden retrievers to those around us!

 

As always, I stress to our puppy homes that training , continued socialization, and consistency with your new pup makes all the difference . Baseline temperament can only produce so much if you allow your puppy to develop undesirable behaviors from lack of training and direction.

 

With Love,

From the SK Golden Retriever Family