New Beginnings…

Welcome to another 1st for us!  Glenannon Station Golden Retrievers  very 1st blog! My intentions for this blog are to take our followers through our Empowered Puppy Enhanced Training Program. We are going to start this with our entire litter of Gracie and Bravo puppies, who are due within the week. 

Raising Golden Retrievers is a 2nd Career for me. Well, with more accuracy; I should probably say it’s a 2nd career for me, a 2nd job on top of my husband’s full-time career, and a much needed commitment on all our children’s behalves as well. Prior to this I have worked in Early Childhood Development and Public Health, all revolving around helping young families. That’s why this has been such a great fit;  I’m still working in early childhood development – this time around with puppy’s brain connections and development and I’m still involved with and helping families, but this time families of all kinds and ages. I try to establish a good rapport with our puppy families, even before the puppies are born. This way, I have a good sense of which puppy will be the best fit for the family and which family is a good fit for the pup.  

From the beginning, we’ve been doing way more than breeding dogs and selling puppies.  Establishing positive brain connections and getting puppies off to the best start has been what we’re all about. Our puppies join their new families being well socialized to people of all ages, animals of all shapes and sizes, sights and sounds of the community and household, and taken for many rides in our vehicles. We introduce the pups to crate and potty training so they have a foundational base prior to  moving into their new homes. But, this was just the beginning. Several of our adult goldens have very impressive lines of service and therapy work behind them. I am currently working toward Therapy Dog designations with the St. John’s Therapy Dog Program for several of our goldens and look forward to weekly visits at our local hospital, schools and nursing homes. From there began plans for our Enhanced Training Program. This program is based on the research and expertise of the Empowered Puppy Program in the United States. It’s founder, Kim Paciotti, has raised and placed hundreds of puppies and has proven that early puppy development is the key to happy, healthy puppies and adult dogs. 

We can’t wait to pilot our Enhanced Training Program with Gracie and Bravo’s litter.  We’ll be starting their training before their eyes and ears are even opened. These puppies will be trained as a whole being – mentally, physically and socially. Training puppies at such young ages will allow us to assess their individual personalities and train according to who they are, instead of generalized “one size fits all” training, will stop unwanted behaviours before they begin and will help to build strong relationships between the puppies and their new owners.   The select litters which we plan to be part of our Enhanced Training Program will have the potential to go on to further training as working service dogs, therapy dogs or enjoyed at home as family pets. 

I sincerely hope you will follow our journey over the next 9-12 weeks! My next blog will be to announce the arrival of Gracie’s puppies.  It won’t be long now, we’re on official puppy watch!