Smok'ngold Retrievers

11/08/2024

I am so grateful to Dr. Bonnie Brandt, Michelle Brice Jordan and the rest of the staff at South Country Vet!! I know that I would not continue doing this if I didn’t have you in my corner!! You definitely deserve that Business of the Year Award!

Some days we do really get to play with puppies! We loved seeing these rambunctious little Golden Retriever puppies today. They got vaccinated, health checks and microchips. Almost everyone took everything in stride...we can forgive a couple of the boys for being a bit sucky!
We enjoy our puppy days!
These babies new owners are so lucky to be getting such nice dogs!

10/30/2024

Sent by a friend!!! Lol

10/29/2024

Sending out a huge thank you to Nicole Cochran, Marie Chantal and the students and staff at the Ecole Ducharme in Moose Jaw for inviting me and my little crew of hooligans in for a visit today!

They had a blast and were totally wiped all the way home. Managed to get a second wind as soon as we got back though😳.

10/24/2024

She may be small but she’s mighty!

10/20/2024

•Pet your dog, all the time
•Talk to your dog, all the time
•Allow your dog to follow you, all the time
•Allow your dog to be on your lap or laying on your feet, all the time
•Pet, soothe, comfort your dog when it whines or barks for attention...or is simply anxious
•Allow your dog to demand affection/interactions
•Be emotionally dependent on your dog to the point that unhealthy dependency and interactions are no longer noticed
•Allow your dog to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants—aka, provide no structure, rules, or accountability
•Foster an environment of chaos, stress, and anxiety
•Refuse to train and pattern calmness
•Refuse to crate train your dog
•Refuse to correct your dog when inappropriate behavior occurs
•Refuse to train your dog how to be independent/alone by using a “Place” command, “Downstay, and/or “away” time in the crate
•Let your dog out of the crate when it whines or barks
•Avoid training or anything that makes your dog temporarily uncomfortable or unhappy—in other words, cater to your dog’s every desire/need, designing your life around your dog, rather than having your dog fit into yours
•And many, many more...

Basically, baby, soothe, allow, enable, disable, lean on, omit teaching necessary life skills, prioritize what feels good for you rather than what does good for your dog, and through this master plan of leadership-free chaos, and systematic cultivation of creating a toxic dependency between dog and human...you’ll ensure that when you leave, your dog will be a true emotional mess, because you haven’t prepared them to be calm, obedient, strong, resilient, robust, independent, and alone.

10/18/2024

Can’t believe these guys are only 4 weeks old. They seem so much older. One of these boys is still looking for his forever home, lots of drive, very birdy, would love to place him in a hunting home.

10/16/2024

10/10/2024

Great shot of Sadie (Smok’nGold’s Perfect Timing). Great capture by Give A Dog A Bone Photography.

10/04/2024

One way ticket to snuggle city.

10/01/2024

You get what you pet

Having been a veterinarian for almost 3 decades, I have seen the tide of how animals are treated change drastically. When I graduated dogs were dogs, now dogs are considered to be higher ranking than people. In our crazy world, people love their dogs more than they love their own families and they treat their dogs better than they treat other humans and I am sorry to say that we are destroying our dogs mental health because of it.

It is increasingly common to go into an exam room and have a dog that is growling at me and trying to bite and the owner is petting it telling it that it is a good dog. It is NOT being a good dog and it should not be rewarded for growling and trying to bite. It is important that we train our dogs properly and we use right language with them. Never is it ok for a dog to growl and try and bite in an exam room where nothing horrible is happening to them and feeding into that behavior does not make it better for your dog, it trains them that their fear is a good thing and it is not.

Mental disorders are exponentially increasing in our dogs and it is us owners fault. Please stop treating your dog like it is some fragile child and start treating it like it is a dog. TRAIN them and teach them commands and correct them when they are wrong and stop thinking you are going to hurt their feelings if you do. Dogs are dogs, not small humans. They need training and proper instructions or it leads to horrible anxiety issues in them and I can assure that that behavior is going to hurt your feelings way more than being an adult and training your dog to be a good dog instead of a spoiled child.

The following are a few copied excerpts from an article that I read this morning from a dog trainer. I feel like there are a good reminder for all of us on exactly what are dogs are and what they need.

"Your dog is a dog, not a human child. Constant unearned affection is a killer and creates an unhealthy addiction for both dog and owner. Your dog will love you unconditionally but will never respect you unless you give it reason to.

The most basic of basics, your dog must learn how to be still in any situation. If your dog can’t be still around any distraction, you will never have control.
Recall
Sit
Down
Walk nicely on leash
Out, meaning release anything in your mouth

You MUST have a language dedicated to your dog that your dog can learn by you being consistent and applying meaning to the words you use. Your dog MUST know what yes means, but also MUST know what NO means. If nothing comes after those words, yes equals reward for good, no equals correction for bad, your dog will never give meaning to either. Your dog’s name is not a command, or correction. NO should not be your dog’s middle name.

The training starts the second you bring the dog home."

09/30/2024

Due to a change in life circumstances for one of our puppy families, we have one male puppy that has become available.