Litter Plans – Winter / Spring 2027

Update – 7/7/26

We received some good news today, putting us one step closer to our goal of a litter with Mable.

After submitting X-rays to OFA for Mable’s hips and elbows back in June, we finally received her official results. Mable has been cleared on both, with Fair hips and Normal elbows.

For those who may not be familiar, OFA grades hips as Excellent, Good, or Fair (all considered passing ratings with no signs of dysplasia). If there are signs of dysplasia, the ratings can range from Borderline, Mild, Moderate, or Severe.

A Fair rating means the hip conformation is within normal limits, but there are some minor anatomical differences compared with dogs rated Good or Excellent.

Interestingly, when comparing Mable’s hip X-rays to her mother’s, they look almost identical. Her mother received an Excellent hip rating, while Mable’s sire was rated Good. With Mable’s health, structure, temperament, and accomplishments, we are confident in her ability to produce exceptional puppies when the time comes.

This leaves us with two more tasks to complete before moving forward with breeding. We need to complete her eye exam, which will also be filed with her OFA health clearances, and we want to earn her AKC Junior Hunter title.

For the second part, we signed Mable up today, after receiving the good news, to run in a hunt test in Cabot, VT, on July 25th.

We’re excited about where things are headed and the progress we’re making. Thank you for following along on Mable’s journey. More to come!

Update – 7/1/26

Mother Nature always has the final say, and for us, she said no Fall 2026 litter.

Mable, who we expected to come into season in late August or early September, pulled a fast one on us and went into heat in late June. Since we weren’t ready to breed her yet, our plans have changed.

Our updated timeline means we’re at least another six months out from what we originally planned, putting us into early 2027 for another breeding attempt, which would likely mean Spring puppies.

The good news is this gives us a little more room to breathe and focus on some of our goals, including earning additional hunting titles and completing her remaining health clearances.

June 6/7/26

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about our next planned litter, so we’re creating this journal entry as an ongoing update page that we’ll continue to revise as we make progress.

Our hope is to have a litter out of Mable Moose this fall / winter.

Mable turned two years old in December, and before we consider breeding her there are several important milestones we want to complete.

Health Clearances

Before any of our dogs are bred, they must pass a series of health clearances and comprehensive DNA testing. These include:

• Hip X-rays
• Elbow X-rays
• Heart examination
• Eye examination

Mable has already passed her heart examination and completed her DNA testing. She is scheduled for hip and elbow X-rays this June, and we are currently working toward finding an OFA eye clinic that works with our schedule.

Finding the Right Stud

In addition to completing her health clearances, we are working on pairing Mable with a stud dog that complements our preservation-minded, old-fashioned Golden Retriever goals for this litter. A proven stud with AKC Hunt titles, strong health clearances, and a pedigree that pairs well with Mable’s strengths.

Hunting & Performance Goals

We also hope to earn Mable’s AKC Junior Hunter title before breeding. We’ve been training toward that goal and currently plan to enter a Fetch test in June as a warm-up, followed by Junior Hunter and perhaps WC (Working Certificate) tests in July.

Tentative Timeline

If everything comes together as planned—including health clearances, finding the right stud, and accomplishing our performance goals—we hope to breed Mable on her next heat cycle.

Based on her schedule, we estimate that her next heat could begin sometime between mid-August to September. If that timeline holds, we would expect puppies to be born in October or November, with go-home dates falling around December or January, so Christmas or New Year golden retriever puppies.

As always, Mother Nature has the final say, and we’ll continue posting updates here as plans develop. We will not be opening applications until we have all our health-clearances. Keep checking back for more.