The High Litter

11 pups, 7 females and 4 males, born January 28, 2012

Dreamer whelped her first litter, eleven pups, on January 28, 2012. You can see photos and videos of these pups on our blog. The litter theme of this litter, High, celebrating our hometown in New York’s Hudson Highlands (and maybe just a little of the 60s in honor of Shag). Their registered names all include the word “High.”

About this Breeding

Dreamer came from a litter of two, the last litter produced by our GRCA Outstanding Dam, Corey. Although during Dreamer’s first two years she got little training due to my health problems, she has developed into a delightful dog. She is smart, eager, attentive and very stable. She gets along well with other dogs and people of all ages. She is training in obedience, agility and field now and shows tremendous aptitude in tracking, which we hope to start this winter. She finished her Junior Hunter title and passed the GRCA’s Working Certificate test recently and is well on her way to running Senior Hunt tests. Dreamer is extremely birdy and is a fun dog to hunt pheasant over!

Dreamer is nicely built with a lovely head and expression, nice topline and tail carriage, and good substance. The quality of her type and structure were confirmed when she easily earned her CCA on her first attempt under three breeder-judges. Dreamer has a lovely dark eye, average pigment, full dentition and a scissors bite, though as she ages, it is moving toward even. She has a plush, red-gold coat that has some waves and curls. She moves cleanly coming and going and is balanced front to rear. I’d like a bit more front angle on her but she is well within the average for golden retrievers. She has tight cat feet and a powerful rear with lovely angles. She has a deep chest with adequate forechest and prosternum. She has a strong topline with a slightly low tailset and a perfect tail carriage. She moves, swims and jumps easily.

Dreamer’s hips are OFA Good with 40th percentile PennHIP scores. She has normal elbows and eyes (as of October 2011), and a normal heart. We had her eyes ultrasounded by Dr John Sapienza and he found her eyes to be completely normal with no hidden posterior ciliary body cysts. Dreamer is clear for prcd-PRA by parentage and does not have skin or food allergies. Dreamer’s sire, Kirk had OFA Good hips with normal elbows, heart, and eyes. Kirk died suddenly in October 2011 of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). Our research indicates that ALL is not a cancer that runs in families but we have selected an older dog with good longevity to be sure.

Dreamer’s dam, Corey, is still healthy and active at 11 years of age. Corey has OFA Excellent hips (reconfirmed at 8.5 years), with normal elbows and heart. Corey does have a mild case of pigmentary uveitis (PU) so we have selected a sire with little PU risk in his pedigree. However, buyers must be aware of this risk and that all pups will need annual eye exams from an ophthalmologist for their lifetime.

Dreamer’s pedigree shows good longevity; her paternal grandsire, Steeler lived till 13 1/2; her paternal granddam, Dixie, died recently at 11 of hemangiosarcoma but was competing in obedience up to the end; her maternal grandsire, the great Reggie lived till 15; and her maternal granddam, Sassy lived till 13 1/2. Dixie’s sire, Trey, is still alive at 13 1/2 and her dam lived till 15.

Nine-year old Shag is a bold, hard-driving working dog who has excelled with his first time owner and handler. As a young dog, Shag made the 2004 National Derby list and became Qualified All-Age before the age of 2. Since then, he had earned Open and Amateur Field Trial Stake placements in the US and Canada, made it to the sixth series of the Canadian National Open Retriever Championship in 2007, finished his Master Hunter title handily, and earned his Companion Dog title with placements.

I recently had the opportunity to spend time with Shag and loved what I saw. He ran well in a tough Master test, marking and handling beautifully. He showed he is strong in the water and has an excellent nose. After the run, he schmoozed with me, looking for belly rubs and pets. Shag exudes confidence! No matter where he goes or who he is with, he takes everything in stride. He gets along well with other dogs and people and is happy to hang out at home with the kids when he isn’t training or competing.

Shag is a handsome dog with a masculine head and athletic body. He has an intelligent expression with a dark eye and very good pigment. He has a scissors bite with full dentition. His coat is dead straight and wash-and-wear with good undercoat. He has appropriate substance with good depth and breadth of chest. He has good angulation front and rear with adequate forechest. Shag’s topline is level and strong and he carries his tail straight off his back. He moves like the athlete that he is although he is a bit longer in leg and lighter in bone than is ideal.

Shag’s pedigree is filled with talented working dogs that also had good health and longevity. Shag’s sire was the great Rugby, AFC Emberain Rugby. Rugby won his first Derby at 10 months of age, is the only golden in history to be on the National Derby list before he turned a year, and became both an Amateur Field Champion and a member of the GRCA’s Field Dog Hall of Fame at the age of 4. Rugby was an excellent sire, producing pups that excelled in field trials, hunt tests, obedience and agility. He died unexpectedly at 9 1/2 of an unknown illness, possibly tick borne, but apparently not cancer.

Shag’s dam was Grace and Lisa’s wonderful bitch, Audie, who was QAA and a Master Hunter lived till 14 according to her owners. Audie produced a number of ** and *** dogs, including Trifecta’s Bet on Me***, who is a double-header winner (winner of the Open and the Amateur stakes at the same field trial).

We expect intelligent, focused working dogs with the ability to excel in any performance game. They will do best with experienced handlers who want to compete at high levels in multiple venues: field, agility, obedience and/or tracking. They will be confident, stable animals who will seek to be working partners with their trainers. This pedigree has very good longevity, soundness and health.

Gaylan’s High Litter

Ripple” headed for Cape Cod where he lives with Jay and Nicole Merriman, along with Trix from our Gamebird litter and their older dog, Chase.. Ripple will be hunting with Jay and doing agility with Nicole.

ripple03

Glee” stayed with her dam, Dreamer, her grandma Corey and Aunt Una. She will hunt with Andy and do hunt tests, obedience and tracking with Gayle.

Indy” headed south with Mary Porter. They will focus on agility together.

Peak” joined Rosie Higdon’s gang in southern VA, which includes Risk from our Gambling litter and Brass from our Fire litter. She and Rosie are doing hunt tests, tracking and obedience.

peak03

“Winston” has traveled the world but is now settled on a Carribean island with Debra Condren where they are enjoying the good life!

Lynn and Paul Munch have had Gaylan’s dogs since the late 80s. Scout is their most recent addition, joining Trapper from our Music litter.

scout_02

Hunter” stayed in NY and lives with Nancy and Paul Novograd, as well as Ryder from our Derby litter. Hunter and Nancy are going to do hunt tests and obedience, in addition to advertising work and more.

Grace” is off to Chicago with Kate Lindahl. Together they are learning all sorts of dog sports.

Jack” moved to NJ with Chuck and Maryanne DiIorio, and Castle from our Dancing litter. Jack and Chuck are doing agility, tracking and obedience.

Zap” moved south to MD with Sandy Ziemski and Jig from our Irish litter. Sandy and Zap are doing agility and hunt tests.

Pedigree for Gaylan’s High Litter

Sire
UH Trifecta’s Shag-edelic CD MH CCA WCX *** VCX OS
Qualified All-Age; Amateur Pointed; Master National Qualifier
(10/7/2002-2015)
Sire
AFC Emberain Rugby WCX OS FDHF
Derby list at less than 1 year (3/16/1999-10/23/2008; COD: suspected TBD)
Sire
FC Wraiths HTR MN Bro Macdhuibh OS
(10/14/1995-6/14/2010)
Dam
Emberain All Buttered Up CDX JH MX MXJ WC OD
(4/11/1995-2007)
Dam
Trifecta’s Audie Cum Laude MH*** OD
(3/7/1995-1/2008)
Sire
GMHR Topbrass Rudy Of Trifecta CDX MH WCX *** OS
(7/25/1988-12/10/2001)
Dam
Trifecta’s One Heck Of A Splash MH WCX OD
(12/17/1989-6/22/2004)
Dam
Gaylan’s Dreamcatcher JH WC CCA CGC TT
(4/8/2008-present)
Sire
Coppertop’s Captain Kirk CD MH WCX CCA VC
(4/10/2004-10/21/2011)
Sire
Comstocks Steelcity Superman MH CCA WCX ** OS
(1/21/1995-10/11/2008)
Dam
OTCH Coppertop Celebration UDX11 OM7 RN TDX JH CGC WCX CCA VCX OBHF OD
(5/10/2000-7/27/2011)
Dam
U-CD Lornadoone Encore Encore UD SH MX MXJ NF WCX OD VCX CCA TT CGC
(6/6/2000-7/16/2014)
Sire
OTCh Meadowpond Stardust Reggie OS OBHF
(10/6/1981-1996)
Dam
MACH U-CDX Gadabout’s Naughty But Nice UDX MXG MJS Can. CD ADHF OD Therapy Dog
(7/5/1996-12/5/2009)

This pedigree page was built for free at SitStay.com