Exercise and training

My favourite place in the whole world..


Apart from this one...

Lillevenn does her fair share of imitating a couch potato, however she and her puppies come from working lines and therefore like wide open spaces and more importantly the opportunity to practise what they were born to do - retrieving! Working lines need a certain amount of mental stimulation to keep them happy. Lillevenn practises retrieving regularly for fun with the Southern Golden Retriever Club and in April 2011 took a more serious step and won her first working test (beginners class).
For more on training a gun dog see Lillevenn's breeder Christine Bridgwater on Countryfile (March this year):
click here

Because golden retrievers are susceptible to hip dysplasia, it is sensible not to put too much wear and tear on joints until dogs are 12 months. This means avoiding jumping (even climbing stairs should be avoided for a small puppy). Small puppies get all the exercise they need from play. For older puppies, a useful rule of thumb is to limit walks by the age of the puppy as follows: 13 weeks = 13 minutes walk, 20 weeks = 20 minutes and so on. By the time a puppy is 12 months they will have worked upto almost an hour's walk.

Phillipa Williams and Peter Bates

Phillipa and Peter Bates with Boycie (right) and Lillevenn after the two had mated in June 2011. Phillipa and Peter are very experienced breeders and this picture shows that both dogs have the similar working-dog style copper-tone rather than the "blonde" style most common among Golden Retrievers today.

Lillevenn and Boycie

Sorry for cutting you out Peter. Lillevenn (left) and Boycie looking understandably a little puffed after their romantic interlude in Yorkshire.

Feeding time

The BARF Diet
Lille has been reared on a biologically appropriate raw food (BARF) diet from birth. There are overwhelmingly convincing arguments in favour of feeding dogs the diet nature intended for them - better for digestion, teeth, coats and general health (see links). It means ensuring there is always a ready supply of fresh food in the fridge/freezer plus a few minutes to prepare some fruit and vegetables, but we feel it's certainly worth it. We have a stock of ready prepared ground meat/bones/vegetables from Darling's Real Dog Food (see link). Lillevenn has been eating a lot more of this iron-rich mix during her pregnancy and will continue to do so to build up her strength whilst she is feeding her pups. Her other favourites are chicken wings and carcasses and she is very partial to pears, bananas, natural yoghurt and raw eggs (shell too!). We recommend 'Give Your Dog a Bone' by Dr Ian Billinghurst as homework reading.
Complete Foods
We realise that not everyone may want or be able to feed a BARF diet to their puppy. For this reason Lille's pups will be weaned on a mixture of BARF and CSJ complete food so that the puppies will tolerate either once at home with their new owners.

3 weeks old

Lillevenn at 3 weeks old with brothers and sisters.
A lot of sleeping going on.
Lillevenn was bred from top competition lines (see pedigree). In 2006 her father's litter brother FTCh Marcus Maybe of Wadesmill won the IGL championship - the first Golden Retriever to do so since 1982! http://www.shootingtimes.co.uk/features/103189/A_golden_retriever_takes_honours_at_the_IGL_Retriever_Championship.html