Why I Haven’t Had a Litter in a While

Why I Haven’t Had a Litter in a While

A Note From Alexy, North Creek Golden Retrievers

If you’ve followed North Creek Golden Retrievers for any length of time, you may have noticed something:I haven’t had a litter in quite some time.

That has been intentional.

Ethical breeding isn’t about producing puppies on a schedule or meeting demand. It’s about making long-term, sometimes difficult decisions that put the dogs first — even when those decisions are emotional, inconvenient, or misunderstood from the outside.

Over the last couple of years, my focus has shifted away from breeding and toward developing my dogs.

Focusing on the Dogs in Front of Me

Instead of planning litters, I’ve been deeply invested in working with my Goldens in conformation and obedience. I’ve spent countless hours training, conditioning, evaluating structure, temperament, and overall soundness — the things that truly matter if you care about preserving and improving the breed.

Showing and training dogs is not easy, fast, or cheap. But it is necessary if you want to breed responsibly.

I’ve also been making very deliberate, health-conscious decisions for each of my dogs — decisions based on what is best for them as individuals, not what might be easiest or most profitable for me as a breeder.

Bellini’s Retirement — A Hard but Ethical Choice

One of the hardest decisions I’ve made recently was retiring Bellini from my program.

Bellini was spayed and placed into a new forever home where she will live a full, loved, spoiled life — exactly as she deserves. Letting her go was emotional. Anyone who breeds ethically will tell you that dogs are not just “breeding stock.” They are family.

But ethical breeding also means knowing when not to breed.

It means recognizing when a dog’s best life is no longer in a breeding program, even if that choice is painful. Bellini gave me so much, and my responsibility to her didn’t end with a potential litter — it ended with making sure her future was safe, stable, and happy.

Ethics Over Convenience, Always

I know there is demand for Golden Retriever puppies. I see the messages. I feel the pressure. But I will never rush a breeding, cut corners, or compromise my standards just to produce a litter.

At North Creek Goldens, ethics come before timelines.Health comes before hype.Dogs come before demand.

Breeding responsibly sometimes means waiting, sometimes means saying no, and sometimes means making choices that are invisible to the public but deeply personal to the breeder.

Looking Ahead

When North Creek has another litter, it will be because the timing is right — for the dogs, for their health, for their future, and for the integrity of the breed.

Until then, I’ll continue doing the work behind the scenes: training, showing, learning, evaluating, and making the choices that ethical breeding requires — even when they’re hard.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support, trust, and understand that doing things the right way often means doing them more slowly.

With gratitude,

Alexy

North Creek Golden Retrievers