Hi

Just thought we would send you a couple photos of Wilf now he’s reached the grand age of 1! The photo in the snow was his birthday shot taken today.

He’s still a bundle of mischief and is a total joy to have. We’re still having problems with recall if another dog is in view, otherwise he is terrific and very well behaved.
We hope all is well with you.

With very best wishes

Kerry and Richard

Welcome to Sophie and Kiara’s diary.

Hello my name is Sophie and I’m 14 years old and have recently acquired my first gun dog which is a yellow labrador retriever named Kiara. She is a dark yellow bitch which is why i called her Kiara as this means dark and is also a very pretty name.

I got Kiara from Gill Bell in Lincolnshire, Gill had given Kiara the best start in life as she’s fazed by nothing, very loving and socialable. Kiara’s kennel name is Toprosell Chestnut, her father is Field Trial Champion Boltonabbey Remus and her mother is Brunbois Alice Go Lightly owned by Gill and is better known as Kelly.

Here are some photos taking in our first few days.

Breeze is coming on strong with drive and enthusiasm, she’s a keen loyal retriever with energy to spare. We have been doing the basic’s to get a good foundation ready for the next step’s, she is now stopping on the whistle within a controlled environment and beginning to take directions.

As always the weights have been fairly even through out this litter how ever there has only ever been one contender for heaver weight!

Even though the weights vary the puppies are very similar size’s and look no different in comparison.

I’m sure there new owners are getting very excited as that special day creeps forward to taken there new found friends home and we do hope they will keep us all up to date with all the little mishaps whether in be good news or bad.

So fingers crossed we will all be able to watch this fantastic litter grow here on the blog.

As we approach 7 weeks of age, we are quickly changing shape and personality. From being very sleepy to bundles of fun.

Optigen is the name of an company in America which have recently managed to find and isolate the gene that causes hereditary diasess in dogs, one of the most promanent being pracd-PRA. This means that even in pups, it is now 100% possible to tell if the pup is likely to suffer form pracd-PRA later on in life. The DNA test can be done either from a blood sample or mouth swap from the dog and you’ll recieve the result within 2-6 weeks.

The test will give you one of these three results:

Normal \ Clear The dog doesn’t have the gene and will never get pracd-PRA nor is it not possible for the dog to pass on pracd-PRA to any of it’s offspring.

Carrier The dog carries one pracd-PRA gene and will never develop pracd-PRA but will be able to pass on the gene to its offspring.

Affected The dog has pracd-PRA and is very likely to go blind. This also means that the dogs offspring will be either ‘carrier’ or ‘affected’. A dog needs to have the gene twice in order to be ‘affected’.

To find out of other tests and range of breeds they are suitable for click here.

The British Veterinary Association have a hereditary eye disease screening programme. The scoring system categorises the eyes as either ‘affected’ or ‘unaffected’ for a range of conditions. The test is only indicative of the state of the eyes at the time of screening. Some conditions may show no clinical signs until later on in life, so dogs used for breeding should be tested annually.

To read more on the eye testing click here.

Hip scoring is a procedure used to determine the degree of hip dyplasia in dogs.The hip score is the sum of the points awarded for each of nine radiographic tures of both hip joints.The British Veterinary Association uses the following criteria to determine hip score:

1. Norberg Angle
2. Subluxation
3. Cranial Acetabular Edge
4. Dorsal Acetabular Edge
5. Cranial Effective Acetabular Rim
6. Acetabular Fossa
7. Caudal Acetabular Edge
8. Femoral Head \ Neck Exostosis
9. Femoral Head Recontouring

The lower the score, the less the degree of dysplasia present. The minimum (best) score for each hip is zero and the maximum (worst) is 53, giving a range for the total of 0 to 106.

To find out the average score of your breed click here.

The weekend of the 10th of May we traveled down to Ware in Hertfordshire to run Flint, our Golden Retriever Stud, in a Golden Retriever special puppy competition held by Eastern Counties Golden Retriever Club.

It was a record for the Golden Retriever Club as entries hit an all time high. There were three individual working tests to test the working ability of the Goldie’s. The 1st test was to test steadiness of the lead walking to heel with a marked retrieve along side gunfire. The 2nd test was a walk up to heel followed by a double mark. The 3rd and final test was a marked retrieve in water.

I think the hardest test of the day was dealing with the immense heat. At the end of tests the judges gathered to discuss the working ability of the Golden retrievers they had seen, a few minuintes later the results were announced……… 1st place of the Special Puppy Golden Retriever Test goes to number 7, Mr and Mrs Hutchison with Haddeo Thesfus Of Fallowfen “Flint”. We were over joyed and hope his success will continue.