Engelman’s Golden Nuggets

08/04/2026

We have taken Loki to the stud twice now and will do a final visit tomorrow at some point. So in about a month we will find out if she took or not. I’ll be contacting everyone for deposits once we confirm the litter but will be double checking with those on our list prior to that. I will reach out the start of next week with the first 3 male and 3 female families. Of course if more than that are born we will be contacting others on the list to see if there’s still interest and that will be done in order of contact. But that won’t be for two months from now.
Most of you already know that show potential always are top picks and we don’t give that out to many people, if any. Service prospects (not therapy dogs) are up next, and therapy/pet placements after those two. We do have two families on our list for both those mentioned since we now know what the stud produced with our female last litter, and we opted to use that same stud one more time before we retire Loki. So I am expecting puppies of similarities of last litter with the same two parents.
For those wondering what entails a show/breeding prospect and what entails a service dog prospect is the evaluations done at 7-8 weeks. We do temperament testing as well as evaluations for conformation at around 7 weeks to place those puppies accordingly. We do not guarantee any dogs to be champions in the ring and don’t guarantee any dog will be a service dog. But we do all that we can to determine possible puppies for those positions to the best of our ability before they leave. We have just recently started breeding for the ring and making sure the conformation is that of the breed standard. We have produced two service dogs to date and I’m not talking about those that did their own training. I’m talking of professionally trained service dogs that aid their persons daily. Countless therapy dogs and ESA dogs have been produced from our dogs.
We again, are very small home based hobby breeders that have one, maybe two litters per year. We raise all our puppies in the home and work on textures, temperatures, touch, sounds, smells, potty training, positive reinforcement, and daily socialization to people and animals. We do follow a modified version of the puppy culture training. I know our waitlist is long for many people, but I refuse to be a commercial breeder and not invest everything I have into each puppy that’s born. With keeping numbers small it allows time for that. I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far, and I’ll share a few photos from the last couple weeks. I’ll also be reaching out to some of you next week early to see if there’s still interest and collect deposits next month when we confirm.

07/27/2026

Good news!!!! Loki has finally started her heat late last week. For those on our wait list I’ll be reaching out to everyone after we take her to the stud. She’s a little late, but better late than never.

Also wanted to share some recent pictures of the dogs and again, how we incorporate our dogs as family. Our dogs are our family and we include them in everything we do. I couldn’t imagine it any other way. I also shared some pictures below that popped up in my feed from exactly 7 years ago with Khaleesi and my oldest grand daughter and it’s crazy they were just together on the couch 7 years later and they now live a few hours away. Thought that was cool and ironic.

But just dropping into share the news about when we can expect the next litter. It’s usually 2 months after she is with the male, that we can expect the arrival of 🐶🐾…so exciting.

07/21/2026

I had to share this lol.

07/18/2026

Khaleesi, our watermelon eating queen.
retriever

07/10/2026

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far.
I wanted to update everyone and let people know that Loki seems to be very close to her cycle starting. She is a few weeks past due but that’s not shocking figuring she just had a large litter and her body needed some time to recover. I haven’t forgotten about those on our waitlist. I will be reaching out to you all when it does start.

Us humans are at the dogs mercy when it comes to their schedules. She’s always been a dog that goes 6-8 months between, and has never been exactly to the day of starting, as some dogs are.

I’ve been going to classes every Monday and Tuesday night for training with Lyric and Kami. Lyric is in Puppy kindergarten and Kami is in basic obedience. Both are doing great. Kami has already taken this class once before, but with the puppies in the house and less time to work with her, I wanted to do a refresher class. Next week if Lyric does well on her final exam she will get her AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy title.

Our dogs have been enjoying lots of family get together and company this summer. They really enjoyed the fireworks and the Fourth of July. I’ve always been blessed to have Goldens not afraid of the fireworks and other loud noises. Kami was in heaven on earth when she got to swim with all the grandkids and nieces and nephews that were here on the fourth. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her happier.

We have a birthday litter in just a few days and I’ll
Be sure to wish them a great day at that time. Until then, have a wonderful summer and wanted to check in with everyone.

07/07/2026

This is great history on the standard of the Golden Retriever over the years and how it has changed over the years and how rules were set.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=372410643365671&id=100063722988824&mibextid=wwXIfr

A Brief History of the Golden Retriever Breed Standard
© 2019 GRCA Breed Standard Committee

In 1932, when the Golden was officially recognized by AKC as a separate variety of Retriever, the breed standard used by AKC was essentially identical to that of the Kennel Club in the UK. This standard was quite brief and lacked much detail, probably assuming that the reader would know what the "basics" were. This standard was chosen by AKC because the Golden Retriever Club of America (GRCA) was not founded until six years later, in 1938.

In the early 1950s there was much discussion about the standard, especially in regard to size. Even though size was stated in a footnote to the standard, this was often ignored in the show ring, with some notable dogs well above the stated 23-24 inches. Bad bites were common, and often overlooked. After much research and discussion, a new and more complete standard was written, voted on by the membership of the GRCA, and approved by AKC, effective in 1955. For the first time disqualifications were added, including deviation of more than one inch over or under the stated height range, and overshot or undershot jaws.

In the late 1970s there was again a need for a more comprehensive standard. A great deal of effort went into this work over several years, to describe the structure and character of the Golden Retriever. There was no change to the "ideal," but considerable detail was added to the description of what that ideal was. This standard was approved in 1981.

In 1990, at the request of AKC, the standard was reformatted to accord with AKC's desire for all standards to use a uniform order of sections. Basically, it was just a "cut and paste" re-ordering of parts; no essentials were changed. This is the standard currently in use.

07/06/2026

Today I would like to wish a very happy 6th birthday to our first litter ever. This was the litter that started it all for us by an accident, but it turned out being a blessing, not only for us, but for the families that brought the sweet puppies home. So without further ado, I would like to wish Khaleesi and Leo’s first litter of puppies a very happy sixth birthday.

07/04/2026

Wishing all of our friends and followers, as well as all of America, a very safe and happy 4th! 🎆🎇🇺🇸