They're Here!!

Yesterday Scoop delivered the Color Litter in under three hours.   We really emphasize keeping our dams fit at our Avidog seminars, and let me tell you, Scoop showed us why.   The delivery was uneventful - well if you can call seeing eight beautiful golden puppies coming into the world uneventful!   She is such a wonderful mother, and is taking great care of her pups!

Today we took the gang to see Dr. Cummins for a checkup and they all passed with flying colors.  

In birth order, let me introduce Gaylan's Color Litter:

Miss Yellow arrived at 10:14 and weighed 13 3/8 oz
Miss Purple arrived at 10:51 and weighed 14 3/4 oz
Miss Pink arrived at 11:22 and weighed 13 1/4 oz
Miss Black arrived at 11:36 and weighed 16 5/8 oz
Miss Green arrived at 11:50 and weighed 14 oz
Mr. Blue arrived at 12:22 and weighed 16 1/4 oz
Miss Red arrived at 12:28 and weighed 12 oz
Mr. Brown brought up the rear arriving at 12:53 and weighing 13 3/4 oz

We thank Helen Lackey of Quinleighblu Golden Retrievers for sharing her wonderful boy Keegan with us.   We think he and Scoop had some lovely puppies.   We are looking forward to the next 8.5 weeks that they will spend with us before they go to their new homes.  Be sure to check back often as we share with you what we do with them to bring out the very best in each puppy!

Be sure to check out the week one photos and videos that are up in Smugmug.  The link is just to the right of this post.  Enjoy!

Gaylan's Color Litter is Coming!

Scoop's due date is coming and as you can see, she is getting pretty big.  Listening with our Doppler confirmed the ultrasound count of 7-8 puppies.  Yippee!!  She is decidedly uncomfortable and isn't eating much these days.  

We are getting close enough to the pups' birth to start the Name Game.  This is when owners start brainstorming to find the right registered and call names for their pups.  Here is the note we sent to help them with this process:

"Scoop's owner, Marcy recently finalized her decision regarding the litter theme for Scoop's pending litter. It will be the Color litter. That means either the word 'color' or an actual color must be in your pup's registered name. 

"For those who have never registered a dog before, not to worry. You can call your pup anything you want. This name is the pup's 'call' name. 

"But your pup will also have a registered name that will tie it to our kennel, it's parents and it's siblings. This name is the registered name.  It will begin with 'Gaylan's' and then will follow the litter theme. Through that theme, golden lovers now and into the future will know your pup was sired by Keegan out of Scoop and is related to each of the other Color littermates. 

"Some people like to relate their pup's registered and call names. They might use the registered name Gaylan's Red Solo Cup and use the call name 'Fizz.'  Red solo cups are those red plastic cups often used to hold alcoholic beverages at ball games, etc. 

"Others want their pup's call name to be in the registered name. These folks might name their pup Gaylan's Colors of the Wind and use 'Windy' as the call name. 

"Finally, there are others who make no attempt to relate the two names. 

"All of these approaches are perfectly fine with me.  All I ask is that you come up with a registered name before you pick your pup up so I can ensure there are no conflicts since the AKC requires every dog to have a unique registered name. When you are down to one or two names, let me know and I'll reserve them for you."

If you have ideas about good registered names for our Color litter, post them in the comment section below!

Moving Toward a Cancer Breakthrough

I have long believed that golden retrievers inherit a genetic tendency toward the most common cancers that strike our breed--hemangiosarcoma, lymphosarcoma, mast-cell tumors and osteosarcoma. This belief has guided my breeding decisions for over a decade. Now some ground-breaking research is providing support for my efforts!

Two sets of researchers are making tremendous progress in helping us understand why so many goldens develop these serious, often untreatable cancers

1. Hemangiosarcoma and Lymphosarcoma. Research by Drs. Jaime Modiano and Kersten Linblad-Toh indicate that inherited genetic risk factors account for as much as 50% of the risk for hemangiosarcoma and lymphosarcoma. Their next steps are to develop DNA tests that might enable us to develop strategies for risk assessment in individual dogs, as well as the potential to manage risk across the breed as a whole. In addition, their research has clarified how these cancers work and thus may enable the development of better treatments and therapies. 
2. Lymphosarcoma. Drs. Jeffrey Bryan, Anne Avery and Heather Wilson-Robles are tackling B cell lymphoma in Goldens. Their efforts will enable us to identify goldens at risk for developing this disease, allowing early preventative treatments with diet and/or medication. In addition, since they are clarifying lymphoma's mechanism in goldens, their research should provide more targeted and thus more effective treatments for our dogs. 

Both of these research programs are being funded by the Golden Retriever Foundation so make a donation to the GRF to contribute to them.

Until DNA tests become available for these cancers, we will continue our present strategy of breeding cancer-free older dogs that have been raised as naturally as possible on raw diets with a minimal vaccine schedule. We will rear our puppies in an environment as free from chemicals as possible, on a raw diet and with a well-designed vaccine protocol that ensures protection with as few vaccines as is possible. We will encourage owners of all goldens to play their role in cancer avoidance through the diet they feed, chemicals they use, vaccines they give and spay/neuter decisions they make. In a breed where 1 in 6 dogs will get hemangiosarcoma and 1 in 8 will get lymphosarcoma, we must do all we can to reduce our goldens risks!

Exciting Pigmentary Uveitis (PU) Update

If you love golden retrievers, you are or should be aware of pigmentary uveitis or PU. PU is an inherited eye disease that is extremely prevalent in American and Canadian goldens. Since PU often progresses to cataracts and glaucoma, it causes blindness and such pain the dog's eyes much be removed. Clearly, it is a significant quality of life issue for golden retrievers and their owners.

Obviously, breeders want to breed away from PU but the challenge is that the average age that it becomes evident is 8 1⁄2 years, by which time many of the affected dogs have already produced puppies. We can wait till 9 or 10 to breed the boys but we can't wait that long to breed the girls so breeders have been in a quandary. The Golden Retriever Club of America is working closely with researchers to better understand this disease but progress has been slow because of how widespread the problem is and the difficulty of determining whether a dog will eventually develop the disease. Some dogs have developed their first symptoms as late as 14 years of age!

Dr Wendy Townsend, Purdue University, is one of the key PU researchers in the US and has been working diligently toward a genetic test for this disease by examining and collecting DNA from goldens throughout North America. Thus far, 47 Gaylan's Goldens have participated in this research and as a result, our family of dogs may provide a future research opportunity for Dr. Townsend. My sincerest thanks to the Gaylan's owners who have participated in this research!

The Wind Litter Birth Story

The nine puppies in the Wind litter were born on June 2, 2004. Their birth story is one of my favorites because it was a breeding and birthing for the record books. I would guess it had the most phone dollars spent on a breeding and most miles logged at birth of any of our litters! :-)

The Wind litter's story begins long before their birth. For 15 years, Andy and I had been planning a 2004 trip to Australia and New Zealand. We'd saved hundreds of thousands of air miles, spent years planning the trip, and made reservations for a time that we were sure would not conflict with my club's specialty show or the dogs' breeding cycles. Hah, so much for planning!!

As only Corey (LornaDoone Encore Encore UD SH MX MXJ WCX OD VCX CCA TT) can do, she came in season early, in fact, months early. As soon as she came in, I realized that she would need to be bred while we were in New Zealand. We couldn't call the trip off without a huge monetary loss so I canceled the breeding. Then my friends, Marcy and Lise volunteered to take Corey and manage her breeding while we were traveling. Since we were doing a natural breeding to another Gaylan's dog, I figured there wouldn't be a lot of challenges. You know, they could just put the dogs together and the dogs would do their "job."

Alas, nothing ever goes as planned, at least in dog breeding. My original choice of stud ended up being unable to consummate the mating but only after Marcy and Lise had dragged him and Corey to vets all over NY State. I was communicating with them through Internet cafes throughout western New Zealand but when we got to the eastern coast, we could not find on-line access so I sent the phone number of our hotel, beautiful Larnach Castle in Dunedin, NZ.

I'll never forget the manager quietly passing me a beautifully handwritten note telling me to call home in the midst of a formal dinner. I excused myself from dinner but had to stand two feet from the hotel clerk, discussing what to do about the breeding challenges Marcy and Lise were facing. I won't go into detail but will say that the poor young man's face was quite red when I gave him the phone back. I can't imagine the tale he told his friends after I left.

In the midst of the crisis, one of us thought of using Goose (MACH Gaylan's Born to Fly CD SH WCX OS VCX CCA) as an alternate sire. I had intended to breed Goose and Corey eventually but not until Goose had gotten his final health clearances. Lise had just had his hip and elbow x-rays done but we did not have the results back from the OFA. Dr Jim thought they looked good and Corey (and her entire litter) had OFA Excellent hips and normal elbows, we decided to go for it. In the end, Goose was quite happy to help us out and he and Corey got along famously. :-) Two weeks later we got word from the OFA that he too was OFA Excellent with clear elbows!

Nine weeks later, the Wind litter arrived right on time. Today these pups are nine years of age and are still amazing. At an age when many goldens are retiring, the Wind litter is still going strong. As with all litters, the second most wonderful thing that came from it, in addition to nine beautiful pups, are the friendships that have developed through these pups. They make me realize that these dogs make our live very rich in many, many ways.

Congratulations Are in Order!

Lots of Gaylan's owners have been out and about recently so we have some fun accomplishments to celebrate! Some dogs debuted in new events, others continued to succeed in other venues. Here are a few of the highlights!!

Old Gold! My own Corey, star of the Wind litter story, earned her AKC Utility Dog (UD) title one month shy of her 13th birthday. Corey loves any work, but especially obedience so she has had a great time pursuing her title. However, the month before this obedience trial, Corey was diagnosed with chronic renal failure so our time in the ring was limited.

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100 UDX legs! John Runnels and Khay set the standard by earning their 100th UDX leg. Holy cow! Khay is OTCH Gaylan's Lady Omar Khayyam VCD2 UDX10 OGM RAE TD MXB MJB MFBT2B CAA ADHF CCA.

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New Obedience Trial Champion! Terrie Leafstedt and Gibbs finished his OTCH making him OTCH GAYLAN'S S.P.ARKLER OF GOLD UDX2 OM4 ODHF

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New Master Agility Champions! We had two dogs earn MACHs recently so congratulations to:

Mary Hilderbrandt and MACH Gaylan's Water Dancer of Emeline UD MH RN WCX VCX CCA ***

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...and to Zoe Beatty and MACH Gaylan's Duck Creek Wild Turkey RN MXB MJS XF T2B2 ADHF CGC

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Master National Qualifier! Jan Masica qualified for the 2013 Master National Retriever Championships with Gaylan's Lucky Four Leaf Clover VCD2 CDX RE TDX MH MX MXB MXJ MXF WCX CCA VCX CGC

AKC National Agility Championship Qualifiers! We've had a number of teams qualify for the next AKC NAC. Congratulations to them all! I'll put the list out next month!

Happiness Abounds!!

Last week was a busy week.  The Puppy Walk was on Saturday, structural evaluations and birds were on Sunday, and then the Avidog Puppy Evaluation Test was on Monday.   The day we do the APET is always a busy day, but we had two special guests from Canada, Deborah and Anthony Garland, who were Avidog's very first VIP guests.  We hope they enjoyed the experience as much as we enjoyed having them!   We also had a film crew there who captured it all on tape for Avidog.  

Pups resting and warming up after their swim on the Puppy Walk.

Then the matching starts.  Three things happen during this time.  New owners check their email every five minutes or excitedly answer their phones for the next two days, as they await news about which pup is coming home with them.   On our end, it is when Lise, Gayle and I look at each pup's strengths and weaknesses as well as the information we have from each of the new owners in order to make the best match so that the pups can thrive.  

Six of the seven pups have gone to their new homes.   Al and Irene were in Fort Worth, TX this weekend supplying the equipment for the 2013 IFCS Continental Championship of the Americas, so while Al makes his way home with the rig, Irene flew home so she can pick up both Peach and Pit tomorrow.

Mr. Blue now "Pit" says, "Hi, Mom and Dad!"

Below are six out of seven of the Max pups and their new owners.     So without further adieu, here they are:

The first pup to leave was Miss Purple, who has gone to Long Island with Mary and Stephen Paulich.   She will be known as Gaylan's Living Life To The Max, "Bliss."   Mary will be doing agility and field, and perhaps some obedience and tracking with her.

Mary, Bliss and Stephen

Miss Rust has gone to Georgia to live with Paula Duggan and Chester Sokolowski and their son Chaz.   She will be their second family dog, along with big brother Huggy Bear from the 4th of July litter.    She is now Gaylan's Maximum Georgia Peach,  "Peaches."    

Chester, Peaches and Paula

Miss Green went to Wisconsin to live with Dana and John Bourassa and is now Gaylan's Maximum Heart Of Gold, "Glori."  She has two sisters, Dana and John's other older golden Mysti and Journey, who, like Glori's mom Peach, is from the Ice Cream litter.  Dana plans on doing agility and perhaps a little obedience with her.

Dana, Glori and John

John Runnels made a one-day round trip from Baton Rouge, LA to pick up his new little girl Gaylan's Maxwell's Demon, "KT."  KT's big sister Khayenne, from the Derby litter, and John's wife Karen and their kids Emily and Erik were all very excited to meet the newest member of their family.  Well, maybe not Khay, but we know KT will steal her heart as she has everyone else's!   John plans to do obedience, agility and tracking with KT.

John and KT

Mr. Black has gone to Connecticut with the McCall family.   He will be their family dog as well as Brian's hunting companion.   He is now Gaylan's Maximum High Tide Sandy,  "Cody."

Sue, Brian, Cody and Tim

Miss Raspberry has moved to Pennsylvania to do agility and perhaps some field with Debbie Johnston.   Her name is Gaylan's TJ Maxxinista and Debbie is calling her Tommee, after her dad.

Debbie and Tommee

A big welcome to Debbie Johnston and the McCalls, the newest members of the Gaylan's family!