Sharptail Ridge Golden Retrievers

The puppies are getting soooo much bigger! They weigh a few pounds now, instead of 10-12 ounces! We ended up bottle feeding them for the first week and a half, but now Rusty is eating more, and she has completely taken over. The pups are just getting their eyes open, so now they can see where they go when they creep around on the floor. In just a few weeks they’ll be outside eating solid food! It is always so exciting to watch the puppies grow and develop.

These pictures were taken just about a week ago. The pups still look almost the same, but they’re a little bigger and they won’t stay still, now that they can see!

Aaaaah. It’s puppy time again! I love puppies. Mattie and Auto had a litter on Jan 1st and the pups are ready to go! They’re getting cuter by the day, and we love playing with them! They’ve been wormed and they’ll have their first shots before they go. We’ve also started crate training them at night. If you have questions, email us at sharptailridge@gmail.com, or submit a puppy application HERE!.

Also, Rusty is expecting puppies! The litter is due around the 3rd of March. We’re already accepting applications and deposits for this litter. Tanner is the sire of Rusty’s litter, so pictures of both parents are on the Breeding Dogs page. (Or just click on this link!) I’ll post more pictures of puppies as they come! Thanks for reading!

Sooooo…the coldest month of the year just happened to be the one in which I (Gianna) got to train a dog! Fortunately for me, it wasn’t as cold as it usually is in January. Cold or not, I really enjoyed my first experience training a Golden for shed hunting!

Jeremiah, the owner of the dog I trained, told us that shed hunting is getting fairly popular, and that it’s rather difficult to find people who train dogs for shed hunting. We were eager to take on the job and learn more about shed training ourselves.

The first step of the course was training Whitney to retrieve antlers. She was already used to the feel of an antler in her mouth and quickly got used to bringing back the antlers – especially when I gave a small reward every time she did. Soon I was able to alternate throwing the dummies while she watched with placing them out beforehand so she could find them.

Meanwhile, I was also working on leash training and obedience. Whitney had never been on a leash before January, which made our first session…interesting. By the next day, she had figured out that the leash wouldn’t hurt her and she shouldn’t be chasing it all the time. Things progressed much more quickly after that!

By the end of January, Whitney was heeling off leash with only a few corrections; she knew to retrieve an antler (and nothing else) even without a command from the heel position; and she was finding antlers from farther and farther away without any directions from me!

Overall, I’m glad I had the opportunity to train Whitney. It gave me a better feel of how to train a dog for shed hunting, and it gave me an appreciation for finding specific way tricks to teach each individual dog. I have also learned to appreciate the fireplace though!

Much has happened here at Sharptail Ridge! Honey and Tanner’s pups are nearly all sold, there are only three left.  One family came up from Georgia to purchase their pup! They expressed their faith in Sharptail ridge by telling us they respected that we allowed potential owners to come visit our facility and see the pups before choosing one. It was exciting to meet the family, and the paper even came out to do an article about Sharptail Ridge and our wonderful, out-of-state buyers.

We are expecting more puppies soon in the new year! Maddie is expecting a litter within a few weeks, and we are excited to add her to our website! We will post again with the number of pups in the litter, etc.

We are doing some training again this winter. Gianna and Eric will be training a Golden Retriever over the month of January. More on that later!

On a healthy note, Sharptail Ridge has switched dog foods. We used to use Purina dog chow and puppy chow for all of our dogs and pups, but Honey (dog) had an allergy to the food. We have since switched to Life’s Abundance. Elisa has researched the food and found it to be a healthier choice than Purina – and true to form, it has stopped Honey from scratching, and her allergies are gone. We have faith that this is very healthy brand of dog food! If you would like to purchase some, or simply learn more about the brand, you can find it HERE

Happy New year!

Hello fellow dog-lovers!

This has been a rather uneventful but still interesting week. The puppies have their eyes open and are learning to crawl around quite a bit. They are growing fast and becoming ever more adorable! They were whelped in the house but they’ve been moved outside now. Honey seems glad for the extra space!

On another note, Gianna insisted decided to include Rusty in her senior pictures! Here is a preview of the pictures. Look for more of the two of them on the website soon!

Nothing spectacular has happened, which means that plenty of small things have. Certainly they are still things worthy of note, however. And so here you are.

Honey is showing! Her pups are due any day now and we’re getting excited! We received a call from somebody who got one of our dogs once, and they’re interested in buying another puppy. New litters are so exciting!

Hunter…the hunting dog…sold to a man from Indiana! Josh has been working with him for several months and Dad has continued the training. We’re glad he’s gone to a good home!

Molly has been here for training for almost three weeks. Her owners came for dinner on Sunday and were pleased to see her progress! We’re enjoying having her here for training!

Until later, friends!

Eric took the dogs out hunting the opening day (of course!) and every day thereafter that he could. Tanner and Misty have been the lucky dogs that get to prove their status as hunters. Report has it Tanner was glorying in his role. (Misty was mostly along for the experience.)

Between Eric and Josiah they bagged five ducks – Josiah also proved his status. He shot his first duck this year, then got two more that afternoon. I don’t think any of us have had the chance to forget that he out-shot Dad that day.

It’s been a good season so far! The guys can wait to get out and let Rusty have a go at some of the retrieving.

Yeah, it’s not exactly the way it worked for me…I  just started school. But after training  our dogs in obedience and field all summer, it’s their turn for a break! We have been working with the dogs twice a day for twenty minutes each time. Now we can take them out and test their knowledge and skills. I think hunting  is as much fun for them as it is for us! We’ll be updating you shortly with more hunting news and pictures. Please check out the Training tab for pictures and info on what and how we train.

Also, Honey and Tanner have a litter due around mid-October and they’ll be ready to go just in time for Christmas! We’re expecting a big litter, and the pups should be anywhere from light coated to dark. For pictures of the sire and dam, just go to the Breeding Dogs  tab on our webiste (click on the words.) Honey is the dam and Tanner is the sire. If you would like to see their pedigrees, you can check out the Pedigrees  tab also! (click on the word) And to get your claim for a puppy in early, just submit a Puppy Application (click on the words to go to the page) and we’ll get back to you right away! There are several pictures of past puppies in various places on our website, including the Current Litters page(scroll all the way to the bottom),

Here are the promised pictures of the fair! Kiara took the Junior Showmanship Champion trophy in 4-H. Josiah won Reserve in Beginner A obedience in Open Class and Grand Champion in Beginner A Showmanship, also in Open Class. Kiara and I took grand and reserve respectively in Junior Novice, Open class and I took Reserve in Rally while she won grand again in Showmanship, Open Class.

Hey all! It’s almost time for the Pennington County Fair, which means the Pennington County Dog Show! We’ve been training for Obecience all summer, and three kids (Myself, Kiara and Josiah) will be showing Rusty, Tanner and Misty respectively. The dog show starts on Wednesday at 10 a.m. and goes until 6 p.m. We’ll let you know later how it goes!

      For the show, we’ll have each have a 1-on-1 test with the judge in the arena during the judging for our level. Josiah and Misty will have to walk an L pattern with different walking speeds with stops (the dog is supposed to sit when you stop walking) and then he will have to walk a figure-eight with stops and have his dog stand and stay while he walks away and lets the judge check the dogs ears and teeth. The most challenging part of this is that the surroundings are entirely new for the dog and it’s very distracting. When all of his level has had this test, they’ll all be called back into the arena for long sit-stays (1 minute) and down-stays (3 minutes). 

     Kiara and I will have the same elements in our test, but our L pattern and figure-eight will be off-leash. The long sits and downs will be 3 and 5 minutes respectively, and Kiara and I will have to go out of sight of the dog. We will also have to have our dog hold a wooden dummy in their mouth for 30 seconds.  

We’ll give you an update after the fair!

Hey friends and dog lovers, much has happened here at Sharptail Ridge!

      Summer – and primary dog training season – has begun. Each of us kids takes a golden or two for training. We work on obedience training first: things like sit, stay, down, come, etc. This gets them in shape for the 4-H Dog Show. We also work on field training; basic retrieves, blind retrieves, double retrieves. The basic retrieves get the dogs ready for more complex maneuvers. If they can handle basic retrieves, we begin to work on double retrieves, throwing two dummies out at the same time and asking the dog to go for one at a time. This teaches them to follow arm signals – essential for blind retrieves. Once a dog can handle blind retrieves, they are much more prepared for huntig (in case they miss where a duck lands…) than if they were only ready for retrieves. We also add to their preparation by training some in the CRP and in water.

     Our dogs are not the only ones receiving training. Kouchee is here for about a month of obedience training. Last night we did a specieal training session; we asked the owners to come out and watch Kouchee being training so that they could learn how to keep up with her training at home.

     We have another litter of puppies! Mattie, one of Honey’s puppies owned by Darcy Pesta, has been bred by Auto and has a litter of 12 puppies! Find pictures of Auto and Mattie on the Current Litters page.

      And finally, we have added a new page to our website! If you’re looking for a vacation and not a new puppy, then go to our Dog Boarding page and get all the information on our kennels!

Have a blessed week!

Gianna

The puppies are growing quickly! They are four weeks old now, and they are starting to find their legs. They’ve begun walking all over the kennel and even playing with each other. They’re beginning to show their personalities – mimicking the adult dogs by wrestling and using kanine body language. Of the eleven puppies, there are only three left, and all are females! Check out our puppy application page for more information, or look at the breeding dogs page to see the pictures of Honey and Tanner.

Honey’s puppies have arrived! Honey started having pups around 11:20 p.m. the 19th and the last one was born at 6:45 a.m. Sun. Mar 20th. We now have a litter of 14 healthy, cute, and wiggly pups! We’ll be posting pictures soon. To send in a puppy application, go to the Puppy Application page of our website. Please contact us with any questions!

~Gianna

Hello fellow dog-lovers. I’m back with a doggy-slobbered chin to give you an update from the kennel.

Ringo, a black lab, came for training a little over a month ago and proved to be a constantly energetic addition. He was always on the go, at the end of  a month he’d learned enough to curb his energy in favor of obedience. The Johnsons were happy to take Ringo home and happier to see how much he’d improved during his training!

Louis, a female puppy from Honey’s 2010 litter, is also here for training. It’s amazing to see how much she’s grown since we last saw her. She is a very quick learner and really enjoys the training. Eric (trainer) says that she really enjoys retrieving. He has been working her on a rope for a few days now, but on the third mornng after he started when he let Louis out of her kennel she ran to the equipment and started dragging the rope towards him!

To find out more about what we train and prices, go to this page.

Hello all! News! Honey has been bred, and is expecting a litter of pups around March 20. For a picture of the parents, please visit the Breeding Dogs page. Honey is the mother, Tanner is the sire. If you are interested, you can submit a Puppy Application! For a picture of Honey’s last litter, just scroll down! We’ll have more news when she get’s closer to Mar. 20. Keep watching!