Once we had agreed that our next dog was going to be a Golden Retriever, the search was on.  Goldens are popular, so there are a lot out in the world. Given Riitta’s background in breeding, it was particularly important to her that we would have a nice Golden.  Not a “cute” one, not one that looked like it was probably purebred, but one that would easily be recognized as a great representative of the Golden Retriever breed. Through our search we met Edie Ward of Baileymist Goldens at a dog show (of course!) in November 2018. In our conversation, we aligned on the importance of preserving breed type, health testing, and standing behind the dogs you breed.  We were also fortunate that Niles (Jake’s Dad) was showing at that show and we were able to see him. Just a couple of months later, life with our boy began.

Although Jake is devoted to both of us, Paul is his person, and Jake is Paul’s boy.  It makes sense as Paul was the one home with Jake when he first arrived.  They do everything together.  They exercise, play, nap, build tables, renovate, and have even built much of our cottage together.  “Whatever you want to do Dad, I’m there.” Noise, construction equipment, dust, chain saws, whatever … doesn’t matter.  Jake is close and if not safe, he’s as close as possible, keeping an eye on everything.  He is also excellent at finding the smallest cut and wanting to make it all better by about a thousand licks.

So whatever Paul is doing is Jake’s favourite thing, closely followed by retrieving in the water at the lake, and running free on the trails near the cottage.  He watches over our group of four, including Katie, and you can see he is most relaxed when he knows we are all together. Jake is a calmer dog, and loves large stuffed toys … and screwdrivers.

Jake began to show a bit in 2019.  We were going to come back to shows in 2020, but then Covid. And another year. And another.  We were back in the ring in 2022, and Jake quickly finished his Championship.  Once Katie arrived, Paul had to step in as a complete novice handler (not even handling classes!) to show Jake.  They have become a great team, and now Riitta’s not quite sure when she will be able to sneak time in the ring with this gentleman.  But she would like to.  They were a pretty decent team too.

We can’t imagine our life without him.