I feel like I dropped the ball with my blogging a bit this summer. (I guess having a newborn baby will do that kind of thing to you!) Jade’s first litter was born in May, and our whole family had an amazing time raising those puppies! However, looking back, I realize I did very little blogging about them, especially the latter weeks. So I decided it would be good to share some pictures and give a quick wrap up to our first litter of Golden Irish puppies.

This litter is one of those life experiences I chalk up entirely as a “God thing.” The Golden/Irish mix wasn’t really in our plans. We love our Goldendoodles and our Irish Setters, and we were planning to stick with those two breeds. However, we tried twice to have Jade bred with a Miniature Poodle, and it failed both times. It was very discouraging. For some reason I didn’t understand at the time, God was closing a door for us. After over a year of trying for Mini Goldendoodles, we decided to give Jade one more chance at motherhood by using our own proven male. Breeding her at our home would eliminate the stress of being boarded at an unfamiliar kennel, and it would give me the most flexibility for the timing of the breeding.

And God blessed us with a large and healthy litter! I love all the litters that come through our home, but this was definitely one of my favorites! We loved everything about these puppies. The temperament was a combination of our favorite traits of the Goldens and the Setters, and it also was a beautiful combination of looks. The two breeds blend very well, and we fell in love with the Golden Irish breed. We were so pleased with the outcome of the breeding, that we are planning to add the Golden Irish into our breeding program! It wasn’t something we had originally planned, but our circumstances led us here. If God hadn’t allowed Jade to have two failed breedings, we never would have tried for the Golden Irish cross. Looking back, I am thankful that she didn’t conceive on our prior attempts, because I am so excited to begin working with this breed!

Here are some pictures of the puppies from this summer. Aren’t they just gorgeous?!

This beautiful lady here (picture above) is training to be a service dog for a military veteran. I was so honored that one of my pups gets to have such an important job. When her family first contacted me, my husband and I both agreed that a Golden Irish has incredible service potential. Golden Retrievers are known for their eager to please disposition. Irish Setters are confident and social, not easily frightened or overwhelmed. Irish Setters have a drive to work and are very intelligent. Setters are, however, prone to be hyper and excitable, but the calm and mellow Golden Retriever nature balances that perfectly. I am very excited to hear more from her in the future as she works in a very important role in her family!

And this handsome guy is one of the puppies at 5(ish) months old. These dogs are STUNNING.

Aaaannnd… our next litter is in the works! We’re potentially looking at a litter early in the new year. 🙂 Yay! More details will be posted about the upcoming litter in the next month or so!

I hope you all have a great Monday!