About Denali Kennels and Laurie Burks-Long
BREEDING SINCE 1991
Laurie Burks-Long is from Texas and breeds Golden Retrievers.
Breeding for "The Great One"
Laurie Burks-Long is from Texas and breeds Golden Retrievers.
Breeding for "The Great One"
In the beginning...
Laurie went looking for a dog to be her companion. She wasn't certain, but she thought that she might like a Golden Retriever. She went all about asking questions, for she had many questions, and read many books about pure bred dogs. One day, she came upon a fine fellow who said that he knew of a Golden puppy that she might be interested in. Now this puppy was the "pick of the litter" and had been reserved with a deposit before he was even whelped. But alas, the people who he was being saved for moved across the land without picking up their prized pup and so the "pick of the litter" was the last puppy left. Laurie saw this fine pup and it was love at first sight. Seeing this and only wanting the pup to have a fine home in which he would be loved, the breeders of this fine pup let Laurie have him at a reduced price since they had already pocketed the deposit money. Besides that, he was growing fast and eating them out of house and home. So, they cheerfully waved good-bye to Laurie and her fine new pup. Laurie looked at the handsome Golden pup and said, "What shall I name you?" His coat was so shiny that it reminded her of the gold that came from the mountains she had seen in Alaska. Then it came to her. She looked him in the eyes and said, "You will be Laurie's Yukon Gold."
Yukon matured into a handsome "Hunk of Burning Love" and became quite a charmer. Rare was the person or dog that he couldn't win over with his dynamic personality and humorous antics. He introduced Laurie to other "Golden People" and they soon came upon his first serious romantic interest, Gold-Sun's Whirlwind, although he just knew her as Lucy. Yukon and Lucy produced many fine offspring but only one was to stay with Laurie to carry on the Denali Kennels line while the others went to loving homes all across the land to be someone else's "Hunk of Burning Love." Sadly, Yukon and Lucy are no longer in this world but they wait for Laurie at The Rainbow Bridge and their Golden spirits are carried on by Denali's Kenai Kiss and her offspring and her grand offspring and her great grand offspring and on and on and on.
Yukon matured into a handsome "Hunk of Burning Love" and became quite a charmer. Rare was the person or dog that he couldn't win over with his dynamic personality and humorous antics. He introduced Laurie to other "Golden People" and they soon came upon his first serious romantic interest, Gold-Sun's Whirlwind, although he just knew her as Lucy. Yukon and Lucy produced many fine offspring but only one was to stay with Laurie to carry on the Denali Kennels line while the others went to loving homes all across the land to be someone else's "Hunk of Burning Love." Sadly, Yukon and Lucy are no longer in this world but they wait for Laurie at The Rainbow Bridge and their Golden spirits are carried on by Denali's Kenai Kiss and her offspring and her grand offspring and her great grand offspring and on and on and on.
Denali Kennels today...
Through our contacts in the DFWMGRC, we have been fortunate enough to introduce excellent bloodlines into the Denali line and feel as though we improve the breed with each generation. We have also formed relationships with kennels in other states. This has increased our choices in suitable studs. In our efforts to produce healthy animals, we follow GRCA guidelines by getting hip, elbow, cardiac and eye clearances on all of our breeding stock and insisting that any outside stock that we breed to has proper clearances also. After health, our next concern is temperament. The Golden breed standard describes the temperament as "Friendly, reliable, trustworthy. Hostility or aggressiveness towards other dogs or people, undue timidity or nervousness in normal situations is not in keeping with the character of the Golden Retriever." We develop the proper temperament with a program of breeding only the best tempered of our Goldens and socializing the pups by whelping and raising them indoors, giving them daily human contact and love. Of course, the dam and the sire, or a surrogate sire, are on hand to teach them all they need to know to be a dog, while we teach them how to be man's companion. Testimonials from our puppy buyers tell us that we are succeeding in producing excellent family pets. We hardily encourage everyone to take their dog to, at the very least, basic obedience class. We enjoy training our dogs to show in obedience competitions and have put Obedience titles on most of our dogs. Lately, we have been making strides in Field training as well as Confirmation. Q has earned his WC and we now have several UKC Champions. We feel like it's only a matter of time until we breed "The Great One" that can do it all.
The English connection...
While having a casual conversation with a more experienced breeder, Laurie asked, "What do you think the next step is that I should take with my breeding program to improve my line?" Without hesitation he replied that she should get a stud dog from England. That is what he had done in order to produce many champions. Thinking that was impossible, she forgot all about it until over a year later, while attending college, she saw a notice for an English Lit class that would be traveling to England for two weeks. She quickly signed up for the course and called her mentor to see if he could give her some breeders to contact while in England. He provided her with a short list, the most promising of which was John & Jess Clark's Sinnhein Kennel near Glasgow, Scotland. Laurie fell in love with his dogs, Sebastian & Toddy, as soon as they retrieved her into the house by grabbing the tail of her sweater and her wrist and gently tugging. Unfortunately, the Clarks were no longer breeding Goldens, but John promised to keep in touch and would let Laurie know of any breedings that she might be interested in. Nearly a year later, the message came that one of Sebastian's nephews had been bred to one of his daughters at Petsan Kennels near Manchester. Laurie phoned Ms. Susan Goodwin at Petsan and made arrangements to purchase a male. John would motor down from Scotland to pick the pup and Laurie would fly over to bring him home when the time was right. That is how Petsan Morgon (call name Q) came to Denali Kennels. Q was mentored by Yukon as a pup and was adored by all of the Denali girls. He was a dream come true. He is waiting for us at Rainbow Bridge.
Denali Kennels Pedigrees & Titles...
Laurie has worked hard lately putting more titles on our pack. Training for conformation, rally, obedience, and field takes many hours each week. Going to shows a weekend or two each month and bringing home ribbons and titles makes all that hard work worthwhile.