If you want an idea of what our puppy families are saying about their Pine Grove Farm Golden Retriever puppy: Izzy is the very first puppy to be born to Cassie using Rowdy as the sire and she is the dog we decided to keep. This time around we were going to breed Cassie to a dog named Ledger out of Texas (who happens to be Teddi’s sire), but through a series of unfortunate circumstances, that breeding did not happen. With a flurry of phone calls along with some great serendipity, we were able to pivot to a different sire for Cassie’s second litter. That sire is Rowdy!! Yes, the same sire as the very first Cassie litter. Using Rowdy again was pretty much a no-brainer. The first litter was a HUGE success and the comments we have received about our puppies have been tremendous. The first litter, Cassie X Rowdy – 2023 was born in December 2023, with all but one of the puppies going home to their families in February 2024. The one that did not go out to a family, already had a family who had selected her; US! We’re pretty sure the selection was mutual. We started Izzy on some of the basics of training, but also gave her time to be a dog. Starting in September 2024, Izzy went to her trainer Rod King. Rod was intent on getting her started, through force-fetch, and into some of the basics of being a great retriever, with the plan to send her to advanced training in the January – February, 2025 timeframe. As of this writing, 29 May, 2025, Rod still has Izzy and is training her. To state it bluntly, he thinks the world of Izzy, with him telling me, pretty much EVERY TIME I see him, “She’s a really good dog.” If you know Rod, that is HIGH praise. Here are some more of the comments Rod has made about Izzy, and from what we’ve heard from the other Cassie X Rowdy -2023 litter parents, everything he says about Izzy can be applied to all of her litter mates. • “Izzy was very easy to start. She took to force fetch very well.” • “She is happy being a dog – has a wonderful switch - and playing with the other dogs, especially the puppies, but she absolutely loves the work and teamwork of training – that’s where she’s happiest; maybe as happy as when she is with her family.” • “Once we could get into the ponds, teaching swim-bys was very easy with her, she’s well accomplished in that.” • “Her marking is better than Cassie’s and she’s doing some really long single marks and blinds.” – this is very high praise, because Cassie is an outstanding marker. • “She has cold blinds down for water and land.” Rod has also done some basic training for Sam, a littermate to Izzy who stayed local to the area. Rod has this to say about Sam: • “I trained Sam in force fetch, collar conditioning, and the basics of marking and retrieving. Training both Sam and Izzy, well, they’re very similar and easy, very easy to train.” Cliff, another male from the Cassie X Rowdy – 2023 litter went to Gary and his family in northern Wisconsin. Here is what Gary said about Cliff: “Cliff has made 2 trips this year to SD and is progressing nicely. The first weekend he was a bit confused but followed Candi and bumped into his first hen on day two. The second weekend we went back out on Oct 31 and he was ready and has figured out what we are doing. He is a big boy and sure has a great temperament. Soft mouth, drive for birds was he found his nose. The kids out there loved him and so do the hunters. I was able to sneak away one afternoon for an hour just Cliff and I and we got 2 birds. I'm sure we could have gotten number 3 with a little bit more time, but we were called back to hunt with the group. You should see him playing with a 4 month old small lab pup. LOL Cliff is a wonderful dog. Thank You for allowing him to come home with me.” Rod knows about this upcoming litter and has stated that if any potential owners want to come to eastern Iowa and work with Izzy so they could see their pup’s potential, they are welcome to come out and work with the two of them for as long as they would like, running Izzy through ALL of her paces!