Omega Man, our first Golden, was a delightful, smart, handsome, and extremely trainable dog.
Unfortunately, he developed cancer when he was 8 years old and died within 6 months. There was no question that
we wanted to replace him with another Golden Retriever -- the question was, how could we be sure
of finding one with the same brains and delightful personality? We started to learn as much as we
could about bloodlines, and discovered that several generations back, most of his ancestors were
field/service dogs.
In the Golden world, the breed has developed two distinct types. Starting in 1970, following the
success of a show Golden named Cummings' Gold Rush Charlie, the conformation/show dogs have
become increasingly heavy boned, with long bodies rather low to the ground, and with long, silky,
flowing coats. The most desired showring color is a pale gold. At
around the same time, the field Goldens, owing to the influence of an English import named
AFC Holway Barty, diverged in another direction. Most of the field dogs are various shades
of red gold, typically darker than the show goldens. They are frequently
lighter boned, longer in the leg, and have shorter coats than the dogs that are currently
successful in the conformation ring. While many of the field dogs have wonderful conformation,
some of them are rather small with foxy heads. White markings, while discouraged in the show ring,
are more common in field lines.
We wanted the best of both worlds. First and foremost, we wanted the intelligence and
trainability of the field goldens, who are excelling in obedience, agility, hunt, field
trials, search and rescue, and tracking. On the other hand, we still wanted correct conformation,
a more typical broad golden head, and good size. We found all that we were looking for at
Adirondac Golden Retrievers in central New York state. These
dogs are talented, joyful, love to work, and make great companions both inside and out.
We purchased Adirondac Hilfy of Fern Hill as a puppy in 2001, and she has been
everything we hoped for. She is beautiful, brilliant, energetic, talented, and a great companion. A wonderful
mother, she is the foundation of our breeding program.
Goldens at Home
10-month old puppy playing in the snow
One of Hilfy's 2005 puppies by Mr. Speaker
Another Mr. Speaker x Hilfy puppy
With our own breeding program, we hope to continue in this tradition. Our goal is
to breed conformationally correct and handsome dogs that are lovable and loyal companions
and excel in all the working fields. Our first three litters were by AFC AFTCH Rosehill's Mr. Speaker MH OS FDHF —
May 28, 2005, August 3, 2006, and March 26, 2007.
On June 5, 2008, we had a litter by Ditto
(Trifectas Repeat Performance *** UD MH WCX CAN CD,CGC). All puppies from this
litter are sold, and our next litter won't be until spring/summer 2009.
Information about getting one of our puppies is here.
