Our dogs (your puppies parents) live with us in the pretty Bay Of Islands. Home to rich rivers and clear blue beaches. Our dogs love to play at and visit many local spots. You can find their adventures on our social media pages. They are happy well socialised dogs. Trips to the markets for fresh local produce, cafes, bush walks, beach trips to golden sandy places are favourite adventures for them. Our dogs are loved and given positive force free encouragement at every interaction with us. Growing up like this give them stable mental health and confident natures for breeding your wonderful puppy.

Because our dogs are so well socialised with many different people on outings they have outgoing gentle natures which is passed on to your fur child. I have, in most cases raised the adult dogs of  your puppy from puppies themselves. If I haven’t raised the parents myself I have chosen the stud for my girl or purchased my female from breeders I trust.

I have omitted fieldline Golden Retrievers from my breeding programme as these are a working dog breed not so suited to town living. Their slimline bodies with less feathers are not as popular with my clients who prefer a ‘traditional Golden’ look with a large boned body, broad head and beautiful tails and legs. The tempermant of my Bellawai Golden Retrievers are active, cuddly, calm and fun dogs without the driven fieldline influence.  Little things like this make a huge difference to your expectation of your puppy. We have a deliberate colour variation to our purebred Golden Retrievers from English cream to Gold. These colour variations give flexibility to the coat colours you can enjoy. A variety of shades of Gold result which gives clients more colour choice to select from.

If you have invested in a Bellawai Dog you have chosen a lifetime of support and the start of a wonderful extension to our family.

At Bellawai it is a full time occupation for me to care for the parents of your dogs in their off season and give them so much love and care during their whelping and puppy rearing time. I only breed every second season from the mother of our puppies. This ensures your puppy is not from a burnt out parent. All of these little things matter and I take pride in breeding ethically started puppies.

Your puppy is born inside our purpose renovated whelping room with us right there. For two weeks after the fluffy arrivals Si and I share sleeping next to the mother dog and puppies. Si and I take sleepless four hour shifts so we are awake and available to help support the mother dog with attaching puppies for feeding, making sure mastitis isn’t establishing and the puppies are feeding well. Just like a Doula, nurse and midwife (Let’s call it a midwoof!). We find we have enough sleep for ourselves by doing this shiftwork for the first 14 days and it means no puppy is unsupported. Our young adult, teenager and young primary school sons also spend cuddle time with the puppies so your furbaby gets lots of learning time with men, children and their friends at the age appropriate time for your puppy.

We develop a close bond with each fluffy puppy from the moment they are birthed and I assist with the delivery. Birth support means that each puppy feeds straight after being born to give them the necessary colostrum for health. Immediate feeding helps reduce stress hormones in your puppy. A human trust bond give them an attached confidence which is a caring start to life.

Breeding one litter of newborns at a time with due dates far enough apart that none of the female dogs have pressure of the birth date doubling up to be sure we are available to support as required. Often support is just to sit and be present with our mother dog while she settles in to motherhood.

Early neurological simulation ENS and Early Scent Introduction ESI starts at day 3 to day 16. These careful and gentle measures give your puppy confidence and resilience to new situations as they grow. We follow a programme for the safety of your puppy and with care not to overstimulate.

Bellawai, Golden Retriever pups are introduced to open crate training from three weeks old. This helps them feel safe in a den environment. I follow with closed crate training from 5 weeks old with some of their siblings. At 7 weeks they learn to have short periods of time in their crate without their littermates and practise this until they go to you at 8 weeks old. Voice marker training and Click training begins when your puppy is six weeks old. Your puppy learns to sit, touch and recall. We share the same words suggested to you to use so that puppy is familiar with the force free praise that encourages them to want to obey.

Prior to your puppy leaving Bellawai you will have emailed to you 3 training videos to help with the basic training of your puppy using force free techniques. These videos are of our retired stud dog Vincent as a puppy and present with some of our puppies from a previous litter.

These videos sent prior to the arrival of your puppy will help you become familiar with the gentle training style we use. Bonding with your puppy prior to their arrival is important to us. We share loads of photos and videos on our social media pages. We also have a private group of those wanting to join with other puppy parents of the same litter you are expecting from. This is a nice way to meet other Golden Retriever Bellawai human parents.

Keeping in touch with us is always encouraged and we are here for the lifetime of your dog for support and advice. We always welcome photos and videos to be sent to us. It brings so much joy to see your furbaby grow up.

I have a boutique sized Golden Retriever breeding programme so I don’t always have puppies available from my girls Poppy, Willow and Olive. Please feel free to contact me to request to be added to our waiting list.