Visitation Policy
I understand how anxious & excited you & your family are to meet me & see my kennel & get to know many of my delightful Goldens. I share your enthusiasm, too!! Although I would love to be available for visits to the kennel on a regular basis, our large family, kennel & business responsibilities keep me & my schedules running very tight & busy. I am sure you can understand, therefore, that I need to keep all visits
- BY APPOINTMENT ONLY -
I do arrange several times through each year to have "OPEN HOUSES" – The "Open House" is designed to give folks, like yourselves, an opportunity to get to know me in a relaxed atmosphere, as your breeder, and to learn & see for yourself why & how I raise the wonderful Golden Retrievers as I do to bring out the special temperament & characteristics that make for a very special Golden of mine to be an addition to your very special family! If I don't have an "Open House" scheduled for a while, you are always welcome to just make an appointment to meet with me & be introduced to my Goldens.
Most people are rather unfamiliar with all that goes on here when raising my Emanuel Homestead Goldens. I thought it might be helpful for my potential Golden families to get a better feel for some of the considerations involved regarding the value & necessity my "Visitation Policy" for you & my new mother's & their new puppies.
New litters are born inside our home with us in a special "Birthing Area" & remain here under our close supervision & interaction with us & their moms, until around the end of the 3rd week or the beginning of the 4th week. It is at this time that I move both the Mom & her puppies from my "birthing area" into my "puppy nursery".
I do not have my expectant moms available to be seen by prospective puppy clients in the last few weeks of their pregnancy or their babies from the new litters once they are born to the general public till around the 5th – 6th week of age. This is due to the close attentiveness of the mom's to their young & the fact that the mom's are often quite sensitive to visitors who are strange to them during the first several weeks after giving birth. I am also careful to keep all of my own other dogs from my own kennel away from the moms & their new litters so as not to unnecessarily upset her or get her overly agitated.
My new mom's milk production is crucial to the new puppy's well-being (our attempts at trying to feed a litter of pups through supplement round the clock is a terrible ordeal & could end in a total failure & crisis for some or all of a litter!). I try to keep each new mom relatively quiet & secure in their special "Birthing Areas" within my home & not disrupted.
I do not, therefore, want to unnecessarily upset the mom's who are nursing the young pups, at this stage while the pups are solely dependent upon the mom's for all their sustenance. This, however, is only a temporary concern.
By the 4th week these same puppies will have begun to take in the special puppy mixture of additional food I offer them & also begin to drinking water on their own - making them less dependent upon their mother's milk. The moms are not as sensitive to changes, visitors & disruptions during this second stage of the puppies development & are "back to their normally outgoing & sociable selves" - welcoming visitors!!!!
I still continue to have my mom's stay right with their pups & nurse them until they join their new families. I am sure you can now better understand the critical nature of these first few weeks & why my visitation policy needs to be maintained. I do, however, often have older pups available or moms not being bred or at the later stages of their pregnancy that could be seen. Most families usually send in their deposit ahead of time along with their completed Client Information Form (which includes their information & the requested gender & coloring of their puppy, if important) & wait for the scheduled visit when their puppy or litter is around 6-8 weeks of age & my Puppy Assessments are completed. Families are comfortable with me as 'their' breeder, the extensive information I make available through my web site, information packets & e-mails & especially because of the referrals & recommendations of my families who already own one of my fine Goldens.
My puppies are de-wormed regularly in the weeks following birth, but do not receive their first immunization & vet check until into their 7th week of age. I am very mindful of these concerns & need to be somewhat cautious of "outside" exposures - as most contaminants come from either the soil of other locations or are carried, often unknowingly, by other domestic or farm animals. This is also the primary reason that, although I would love to see & meet other Golden's - many of which I have bred & raised myself (I often have folks back for second & third Goldens!) - I have to ask that other dogs not be brought to the property, in to my kennel or let out onto the grounds. It is preferred to not have clients bring other dogs in their vehicles the day they come for a visit, but to arrange for their other dogs to stay home or with a family member or friend. My dogs all know when there is another dog in a vehicle & it can get everybody wound up.
In addition, I have 3 males – Teddy, Cooper & Jedediah, who are often engaged in "courtship" & "mating" activities on a regular basis. I have at least one or more of my females coming into heat throughout the months each year!! This causes my outstandingly gentle & sweet tempered adult dogs to be particularly mindful & sometimes even "resentful" of "visiting" dogs coming in to "their" kennel & are more protective than usual of "their" mates. Females in heat are equally as oriented & protective of their "honey bears!!" Many folks are unaware of the close & intense attachments our dogs make with each other during this breeding time & how sensitive they are. A disruption can throw their "successful" breeding off - sometimes altogether - resulting in no pregnancy & no puppies!!!
I thank you for your kind appreciation of my "visitation" policy & trust that I am able to provide a considerable amount of information & photos through my web site & client access area. In addition, due to my high demands & schedule it is often very difficult to personally take &/or return most phone calls. Providing me with your email address will assist me in staying in close communication with you & your family. I often respond to contacts & inquiries at unusual times of the day or night when phone calling is less than appropriate for either of us!! Please accept this "non-intimate" form of communication - & realize that I would much rather get to know you more personally & will do so as time progresses.
If you have particular questions or concerns that have not been answered already within my extensive information, I will try to provide that for you. I look forward to getting to know you & working with you to provide for you one or more of my loving, adorable Goldens that Emanuel Homestead Goldens are so well known for.