Jo

Thank you for your interest in buying your new friend from me. I want to share with you how I rear my puppies and why, so you can be part of the process of rearing a healthy dog from the start. My experience is based on over 40 years of breeding and being involved with dogs, so I think I have a fair idea what is best practice.

My Kennel Name is Moonwater and I have been breeding dogs since 1972 and Goldens since 1995 and Labradors since 2025. 

I bred my first litter of puppies when I was 14 years old. I wanted to be a Police Dog handler and used to go out and watch some of the Dog Handlers train their dogs. I bought a German Shepherd bitch called Donna and mated her to a Police Dog. Since then, I have always enjoyed seeing new life come into the world. I worked with dogs professionally and owned a boarding / breeding / training kennel in Scotland which we ran for almost 20 years.

After that I still bred dogs in a small way, initially GSDs, then Golden Retrievers and more latterly Labradors. I have a keen interest is seeing the puppies develop their personalities and have learnt to evaluate their working skills within the litter. One of my GSDs became Police Dog of the Year and was given his award at Crufts.

I have trained dogs in security, searching for articles and people, tracking on hard and soft surfaces, obedience, agility, assistant dogs, also a diabetic alert dog. Our company supplied dog and handler teams to The Ministry of Defence, protecting strategic locations around the UK.  

My aim is to breed in a holistic and ethical manner, taking into account temperament, health tests, suitability of homes and the sort of life style I can offer the dogs.

I had a break from breeding for several years recently as I had an accident and couldn’t walk and am just starting again as I have people who have had dogs from me before wanting a second, third or fourth puppy. I am just a small breeder, currently with four bitches who all live “as pets”. I was on the Kennel Club Assured Breeder Scheme when that was running and now because of the new Licensing requirements I am registered as a Licensed Breeder with West Northamptonshire Council. I also used to run a small acupuncture and healing clinic, so my focus is on health and wellness in both my dogs and my clients.

All my dogs and any stud dogs I use are always fully health and DNA tested, over and above Kennel Club requirements. My Golden bitches are usually a mix of show and working lines because these crosses make the best pets, lower the breeding co-efficient which gives genetic diversity and therefore better health. I find the fully show bred dogs lack brains and trainability and have issues with cancer. The working lines are smart, sometimes not as good with other dogs as the show bred dogs and the gene pool is very small. My Labradors are from working lines so need to go into active homes. They are very good at settling at home, providing they get plenty of exercise and mental stimulation. I have a facebook page Moonwater Golden Retrievers and I post photos, videos and information on there.

I aim to breed friendly, affectionate, intelligent, biddable Golden Retrievers and Labradors who are sound in both mind and body. These dogs are perfect as active pets or as competitive companions who could excel in obedience, agility, field or working trials. Most of my puppies go as loving pets where their happy disposition enhances life for many families and my dogs are carefully selected to ensure their temperaments are suitable to be with children and other animals. I am interested in motivational training where the dogs are encouraged to think and learn from their experiences and have completed several courses in clicker training.

I want the experience of buying a puppy from me to be a mutually good experience, where you get a healthy dog that suits you and I feel satisfaction that I have done a good job in breeding and rearing your pup. I take every precaution I can to ensure they arrive safely and that their early weeks are the best I can provide. So I would like to share with you how I go about this.

We live in a small house with a large outside building which doubles as a garage and a whelping area. It has tiled floors, double glazed windows, an insulated roof and has a washing machine, tumble drier, sink with hot and cold running water, freezers and a fridge! When we have pups they are usually born in here, as it is a safe and quiet space for Mum to spend time with her babies. Sometimes they may be born in the lounge and transferred outside when they are about ten days old. I use baby monitors to keep an eye on the bitches before the pups are born and during the whelping I sit with them, helping and encouraging where I can. After they arrive the pups still need to be monitored constantly so I do regular two hourly checks and have the baby monitors on all the time. The pups are born onto vet bed, which is on top of rubber matting to provide a safe non-slip surface and after a few days I change this surface to a specialised whelping surface from America, which provides better grip for growing babies.  

The floor surface is really important, as recent studies have suggested that hip dysplasia is not purely genetic but that it can be caused by slipping or by over exercise as a puppy grows. The thinking is that if a puppy slips and their hind legs are over-extended to the back or the side, this stretches the ligament that hold the femur (leg bone) into the hip socket. Because this ligament is weakened, the head of the femur then moves around more in the socket and wears the immature joint, leaving it broader and shallower than it should be. Joints can also be affected by things that affect the immune system like a reaction to vaccination and to excess weight or over exercise. Studies looking at puppies moving in the whelping box show that it is important that their little paws can gain traction as early as a few days old.

As the puppies grow, I move them from their whelping area into a large kennel during the day, which is also covered by rubber matting and has disposable bedding on top. From this they can have access to an outside run, which helps with toilet training. The only access they have to other older dogs is through a fence or when strictly supervised, this is to prevent any injury. I use sound CDs and introduce novel items to them at appropriate stages and handle them on a regular basis, getting them used to standing for examination and having teeth, ears, eyes, tummy and bottom checked. By the time they come to you, most have a good recall already, sit for a treat and will have had at least two sessions of lead training.

It is important to provide as good and as natural diet as you can. I use a combination of top quality complete food and raw puppy food called Natural Instinct. If you feed a wheat, maize or cereal based diet you may at some time in your dog’s life find that he or she has allergies or ear or skin problems. This is not a breeding issue but a dietry one. Keep the diet clean and healthy and you will have a healthy dog.