Meet Winters Goldens
We are located in Winters, California which is in Yolo County and very close to Sacramento and San Francisco. We are a small home breeder, and therefore puppies are raised inside of our own home and cared for 24/7. We look for families that will give our pups an immense amount of love and care because that is what they experience every single day in our home.
We started breeding Golden Retrievers out of love because we wanted everyone to be able to experience how amazing they are and be able to love one. We take our responsibilities very seriously and strive to ensure top-quality health, safety, and well-being of all our puppies.
Our puppies are socialized daily with children, family, and other pets. They are exposed to different noises and sounds to help them get used to our everyday routines! All of our puppies go through training in order to best prepare them for their future families and life experiences.
We follow the BAB empowered breeder curriculum to raise all of our puppies. This program starts with our parent dogs and ensures that we are honoring them, their health, and their well-being first and foremost. Every puppy born into our hands is a miracle. We are responsible for teaching each one of them that the world is a good and safe place. We will empower them while they tackle tasks that challenge their nerve strength in order to build confidence. Each of our puppies will go through the following before going home:
Our Program
HEALTH-TESTED PARENTS
Our journey begins with healthy, happy parents. Our parent dogs are extremely well-mannered, have great temperaments, and undergo not only genetic but also physical health testing. A healthy puppy begins with healthy parents. It is important that our parent dogs are the best examples of what a Golden Retriever should be in order to breed the best puppies.
Early Neurological
Stimulation
Puppies that are gently handled and stroked during their early days help them learn that human touch is a pleasant experience. ENS will be conducted with every puppy from day 3-16 of life, which is believed to be a time of rapid neurological growth and development. ENS is believed to impact the neurological system by "kicking it into action" earlier than what is normally expected. Some benefits observed in dogs that are exposed to ENS include improved cardiovascular performance (heart rate), stronger heartbeats, stronger adrenal glands, more tolerance to stress, and greater resistance to disease.
PINE PELLET POTTY TRAINING
Starting at 4 weeks old, puppies will learn to go potty in pine pellets. This is just an introduction to potty training, and puppies will need further training when they go to their forever homes.
Resource Guarding Prevention
While resource guarding can be a normal dog behavior, it’s not a desirable one. Puppies coming from the most compliant even-tempered parents can display resource guarding due to natural animal survival instincts. Resource guarding becomes a dangerous problem though if a dog is willing to bite or fight to keep an item. This is why we make sure to create a conditioned emotion response to humans taking high value things. By trading them one high value item for another high value item, we can condition them to view something being taken from them as a positive thing and prevent resource guarding before it ever even happens!
PREGNANCY & WHELPING CARE
Our journey begins with healthy, happy parents. Our parent dogs are extremely well-mannered, have great temperaments, and undergo not only genetic but also physical health testing. A healthy puppy begins with healthy parents. It is important that our parent dogs are the best examples of what a Golden Retriever should be in order to breed the best puppies.
Early Scent Introduction
This program is designed to enhance a puppy's ability to identify and react to specific scents. It has been studied and shown that dogs exposed to ESI earn more scenting titles, which is an AKC sport. Even if you do not plan on entering your dog into competitions or taking them hunting, ESI training is a great skill that your dog will have in case of a future need.
We begin crate training with our puppies as we believe that it is important for their transition home, as well as their safety and potty training. By getting them used to sleeping in their crates alone at night before they go home, it makes the first few nights away from their littermates easier and less stressful for them as they are already used to it. By creating a safe comfortable space for them in their crate, your family will be able to keep them safe from anything that they could get into when you cannot watch them. Crate training is also extremely important in aiding with potty training. By crate training them, it is easier to prevent nighttime accidents since they cannot wander throughout the house to find a place to potty. We begin crate training by using a snuggle puppy for them to sleep with, covering their crates with a lightweight/breathable blanket, and playing classical music (which is good for their mental development and stress management). We send this snuggle puppy home with them in order to help them with their first nights home. Although we start with crate training, it is important to understand that the first few nights away from their littermates can still be a bit difficult for them as they adjust. They may “cry” a bit at first, but our hope is that you and your puppy will have a peaceful transition.
Crate training
At 3 weeks old we move into a more advanced curriculum with our puppies. We begin a “10-step puppy massage” every day and increase pressure weekly. We use our 10-step handling exercises to ensure our puppies are exposed to various types of touch, handling, and sensation. This includes eyes, nose, inside mouth, around collar, tummy, down back, pull tail, tug on ears, and tapping nails.
10 Step Handling
At 3 weeks we also begin socializing our puppies to different sounds, sights, textures, things to climb on, run through, and more. We believe in empowering over enabling our puppies. We set them up to conquer physical and mental challenges every day. By doing this we build our puppies' nerve strength and confidence as well as problem-solving skills. Our goal is to provide our puppies with a stable and enriching environment for the first 8 weeks of their lives.
Curriculum
We use exposure activities to introduce the puppies to new things and surfaces. By exposing the puppies to a variety of items and challenges at a young age they are able to build confidence and nerve strength resulting in them becoming a less fearful adult dog. We expose our puppies to a huge variety of tactile, balance, and surface activities to set them up for a successful future without fears of walking on reflective surfaces, uneven surfaces, raised surfaces, textured surfaces, steps/ramps, or wet surfaces. This exposure, like sound desensitization, allows for more opportunities to explore and learn about new things in their new environment while they are young and impressionable.
Exposure activities
At 6 weeks of age we conduct a puppy aptitude test on each individual puppy. During the test, we focus on 12 important puppy temperament traits to help make sure you get a puppy that fits you, your lifestyle, and your needs as well as honoring who the puppy is. Once temperament testing is completed families will be able to see scorecards of each puppy in order for them to make the right decision for their family on go-home day. Picks are made in order of a family's place on the wait list on go-home day. NO EXCEPTIONS
