Puppies Whelped May 15, 2011

Sire: Neversink's Road To Belvedere MH *** CCA "Trooper"

TROOPER x GEM Click HERE for Litter Pedigree

Dam: Wynwood Vintage Bejeweled TD JH WC      "Gem"

Trooper

Trooper is a nicely balanced dog -- a good working dog, great hunting dog and good household companion.    He is easy to live with in the house.   Although top dog in the household, he is playful with other dogs including other males.   Says his owner, Jim Drager: "Trooper LOVES to run and LOVES to play by running very fast. The other males chase him, and he lets them catch his tail, which brings on a playful wrestling match, good old fashion roll in the grass."

As a working dog, Trooper is well balanced with a lot of drive yet a biddable team player.  He is a fast, hard-running dog, even doing blind retrieves.  He is a good marker and has a good nose.  Trooper's strength is his water confidence.   In addition to hunting with Jim, Trooper runs AKC hunt tests and has NEVER yet failed a test!    He is an AKC Master Hunter.   Trooper also runs field trials and is All-Age Qualified.  In the coming year, Trooper will be running field trial Amateur stakes with Jim.   Trooper is owner trained and handled.

Trooper is a compact dog, 73 lbs in hard working condition.  He has a dense, correct textured light-medium golden coat with modest furnishings.  He has full dentition and a correct scissors bite.  He produces very dark pigment in his puppies.   Trooper is well-structured and has placed in the Field Trial Dog conformation class at Golden Retriever national specialties.

For more photos and video of Trooper, click on these links:
Trooper Video 1                       Trooper Video 2

Click HERE to verify Trooper's hip and elbow OFA clearances on the OFA web site

Click HERE to view copies of Trooper's health certificates

Gem 

Gem is a sweet girl with a very happy, silly, and very affectionate disposition.   She is active and playful and loves playing games with people and/or other dogs.   She is creative and smart -- if no one wants to play with her, Gem can take any toy and invent a new game to play by herself!   Gem is willing and biddable, intelligent, sensitive, and easy to train.  She is moderate in energy level, very easy to live with.  

Gem has her AKC Junior Hunter and GRCA Working Certificate, and is training for AKC Senior hunt tests.  She had her first real hunting trip September 2010, and successfully retrieved all the teal shot that day including a "double" -- Doug brought down two birds with one shot and Gem marked and retrieved both.  Gem has an AKC Tracking Dog title, and is training for an obedience competition career.   She is a stylish heeling dog, with a lovely heads-up heeling style, and good natural eye contact and attention.

At 60 lb, and 22.5 inches at the shoulder, Gem is a good sized girl.  She has a powerful front, solid topline, and plenty of rear drive.  She is light-medium gold in color, with a short, soft coat and modest furnishings.  Her pigment is solid black, with dark eye color.  Gem is missing a lower premolar on each side; this in no way affects her ability to retrieve.

Click HERE for Gem's web page and more photos of Gem

Click HERE to verify Gem's OFA and CERF health clearances on the OFA web site

Click to view copies of Gem's health certificates

Trooper and Gem both bring confidence, intelligence, willing easy-to-train temperaments, and charming people-oriented personalities to this breeding.  Its very likely the puppies will inherit some of both parents creative sense of humor!    We expect these to be active puppies with good "on/off switches" -- meaning they will need exercise (physical and mental!), but given adequate exercise, training, and attention, they should be able to be well-mannered house dogs.   We strive to produce a dog that you can live with and can have fun with!  A dog that can turn it OFF indoors and be calm in the house; but when you go outside to play, they can turn it ON and be ready to GO!

 The Golden Retriever breed standard calls for males to be 23 to 24 inches tall, 65-75 lb, and females 21.5 to 22.5 inches tall and 55-65 lb.   This breeding will likely produce puppies within that range.   They should be athletic dogs, fit for hunting and field work, or other activities such as agility or obedience competition.   They will likely have moderate medium or light golden coats requiring little grooming care other than occasional brushing.   Our breeding program is less concerned about the fashionable show ring looks of the day, and more concerned with producing dogs that are correct to the AKC Breed Standard and physically fit to serve the breed purpose of a hunting retriever.  While we expect Trooper and Gem's puppies to be well-structured and handsome, we do not expect them to be conformation show-ring quality.  

Puppies will go to their new homes no earlier than 8 weeks of age.   Prior to that age, approved puppy buyers may visit the litter, by appointment, and after 4 weeks age are invited to come play with and help socialize the puppies.   Our puppies are raised in our home, not in the kennel.   As they grow up, the puppies will be socialized and exposed to a variety of situations, including introduction to water and swimming, and birds.   They will used to being handled, groomed, having nails trimmed, and to spending individual time in a crate.    

The puppies will have declaws removed.   They will be wormed for intestinal worms.   Following current thinking on vaccination protocols for dogs, we no longer vaccinate puppies less than 9 weeks old unless that puppy will be traveling to a new home out of state or has other veterinary-recommended need for earlier vaccination.   Their dam is healthy and current on her vaccinations, and the puppies should be well protected by maternal antibodies until 9 weeks age or longer.   We require our puppy buyers to take their new 8-9 week old puppy to their own veterinarian within 3 business days of purchase for a well-puppy exam, and at that time first vaccinations can be done.   Puppies will be microchipped with Home Again brand microchips, and microchip registration with the AKC Companion Animal Recovery program is provided.

When the puppies are 7 to 8 weeks old they will be microchipped for permanent identification, and given conformation evaluations, temperament testing, and eye and cardiac examinations by veterinary specialists.   Following these evaluations, buyers will be matched to the puppy that best suits their needs.   

Our philosophy is there is no such thing as a "pick" puppy.   Every puppy is a unique individual, just as every buyer offers a unique home situation and has their own needs and expectations for their new puppy.   We strive to place each puppy in a home best suited for that puppy, and to offer each buyer a puppy well suited to their needs.  While a buyer's preference for a particular gender, color, or a particular puppy will be taken into consideration; ultimately we will select which puppy is offered to each buyer.   We feel that our experience in matching puppies to homes, our careful daily interaction with and intimate knowledge of the litter, and our understanding of the conformation/temperament/health testing means that we are best equipped to determine which puppy will best suit each buyer.  Our goal is that every buyer will feel they have been given their perfect puppy and The *Best* puppy in the litter!

No prospective puppy buyer will be approved until we first have had an interview in person with you and your family.   During that interview we will thoroughly discuss the terms of our sale contract, as well as the price of the puppy.   At the time the litter is whelped, approved buyers will be notified and asked to submit a non-refundable $200 deposit.  This deposit assures the buyer a puppy from that litter, although the exact puppy will not be determined until 8 weeks age.   The deposit also represents the buyer's commitment to purchase a puppy from this litter.   The balance of payment will be due when the puppy goes home.

ONE puppy is still available from this litter.   For more information or to request an interview, please contact Anne by e-mail to happydogs@vintagegoldens.com  or phone  281-702-6224 (9am - 8 pm).      For more information about Vintage Golden Retrievers please go to our home page and browse our web site at  www.vintagegoldens.com 

Anne McGuire
Vintage Golden Retrievers
Katy, Texas
281-702-6224
happydogs@vintagegoldens.com
             

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