In the summer of 2000, my daughter begged me to buy a pup. I told her that I would only say yes, if we bought a Golden Retriever. I had seen these dogs, and their love for all, along with their patience and tolerance with both young and old. I read "Watchers," by Dean Koontz three times, and had fallen in love with "Einstein." We purchased our first Golden Retriever, Cassie in October 2000. After doing extensive research and putting a lot of thought into it, we decided to breed Cass when she was 2 years old. We have Dr. Richard Orzeck and his wife Theresa to thank for their advise and emergency assistance involving labor issues. He acquainted us with genetic problems inherent to Goldens and how to do our best to screen our dogs and avoid some of the health issues that are common with the breed. We enclosed two-and-one-half acres around our home and pond with fencing. Since I worked out of our home, I was able to supervise, train and play with our expanding group slowly over the next few years.