WE ARE NO LONGER BREEDING FLAT-COATED RETRIEVERS. TO FIND LINKS TO PUPPY RESOURCES PLEASE SEE BELOW UNDER "LITTER NEWS".
About Us - John & Donna Wagner
Mocha, Jet & Charlotte; October 2020
We live with our two Flat-Coated Retrievers and a Boykin Spaniel in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. We brought our first Flat-Coat, Emma, home in the summer of 2004. Unfortunately little Emma had an undetected congenital heart defect and we lost her at 13 weeks of age. Thanks to her breeder we soon found another puppy, Katie. We quickly discovered as many other FCR owners do, that they are like potato chips - you can't have just one. Tara, our foundation bitch, joined our family on New Year's Eve 2004. Then along came another Emma in spring of 2007; named after her Aunt Emma. In 2009 Tara had her second litter of 10 puppies. Our puppy evaluator told us not to let the top male go to a pet home and to hold out for a show home. Jet is still here - I think he found his show home! After losing both Tara and Katie in the fall of 2013 we decided that if we had another litter we would keep the top girl. Mocha was the top pick from the Gemstone Litter in the summer of 2014. She is our first liver pup and is our first AKC Champion and Grand Champion. She earned her titles completely from the Bred By Exhibitor class with John handling her. They keep us very busy! We are members of the Flat-Coated Retriever Society of America, the Finger Lakes Retriever Club and our local kennel club. All of our breeding dogs receive OFA clearances for hips, elbows, patellas, heart and eyes. We have also begun having DNA testing done through Embark to be sure that our dogs are not passing along any genetic diseases or conditions.
May 4, 2018: We have met the criteria and we are now an AKC Breeder of Merit!!
June 3, 2019: After searching for a Flat-Coat puppy with no luck we decided to take the plunge and add a new breed to the pack. We had been considering a Boykin Spaniel for a couple of years but they are hard to find in upstate NY. When I checked availability on the AKC puppy site I found a breeder on Long Island with a litter. We had actually met her a couple of years ago at a local dog show. Since she was in the process of moving to TN and felt that she didn't have the time to work with a puppy she decided to let us have the top girl. July, 2020: We are having a lot of fun with Charlotte - she is doing well with her field training and is finally taking an obedience class with John. Covid 19 has put a lot of things on the back burner. We entered her in her first show in the fall of 2019 but due to cancellation of most dog shows that are in the Northeast she has not been back in the ring. Hopefully we can get going again soon. August 17, 2020: Charlotte earned her first title today after completing her first obedience class. She aced the CGC (Canine Good Citizen) test. Now we'll have to wait a while for the next level until her instructor is ready to start classes again. Classes have to be held outside to keep everyone 6' apart which has caused classes to be cancelled several times due to excessive heat or rain.
Happy Birthday!
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January 13, 2021: Happy 9th Birthday to the Superstition Litter! The 6 remaining pups are all doing well and we love hearing from their families. Unfortunately Dugan crossed the Rainbow Bridge in late December, 2020 from cancer. We're sure that Leo, Buster and Cinders were there to greet him. We were lucky to see Shadow in May when he and his mom traveled from SC to pick up his new baby sister Emma from Mocha's Spring Litter.
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Litter News
We are no longer breeding Flat-Coated Retrievers so please do not email us. If you are interested in a puppy go to the website of the Flat-Coated Retriever Society of America. There you will find the contact information for the membership chair who can give you a list of breeders. There is also a link under "More" to the AKC website where you can click on "Find a Puppy".
Summer 2020: We are hoping to have a litter of Boykin Spaniels in late 2021 or early 2022. It all depends on Charlotte doing well in the show ring which is on hold right now. Many shows have been cancelled due to the pandemic and we are waiting until it is safe to travel. She also needs to pass her clearances which can't be completed until she is 27 months old which will be in June of 2021.
Summer 2020: We are hoping to have a litter of Boykin Spaniels in late 2021 or early 2022. It all depends on Charlotte doing well in the show ring which is on hold right now. Many shows have been cancelled due to the pandemic and we are waiting until it is safe to travel. She also needs to pass her clearances which can't be completed until she is 27 months old which will be in June of 2021.
