Confession...This isn't really Jake. It's actually Deanna but changing the name & photo is beyond my web design competency level. ANYWAY, welcome to Ross Fork Retrievers. We raise English Cream Golden Retrievers in beautiful central Montana. We also do some other things, like operate a registered Angus cattle ranch, provide private practice mental health counseling & equine therapy sessions, & raise our 2 kids - Zandy, age 4, & baby Hayes. Here are the human members of our family in a rare moment where all 4 of us are sitting relatively still at the same time...
Several years ago, I made the very conscious decision to re-prioritize my schedule around enhancing joy. Did I want to be working for an agency with mountains of paperwork while someone else raised my kids? No. So I started my private practice and made the commitment to balancing my schedule in a way that worked for myself & my family. This freed up some time for doing the things that truly bring me joy and life passion. Now when our family needs to move cattle I can hop on my horse and help. I can be a part of trips to the pool, dance lessons, yoga classes, fishing, hiking, gardening. I can sip coffee on my porch (or wine, depending on time of day...) & actually see my friends. I prioritized doing all the things that bring me joy WITH the people who bring me joy and I haven't looked back. And guess what brings a lot of joy...
This dog
Yep, this is Kadie Bear Stevenson. She is a 4 year old English Cream Golden Retriever and quite possibly the best dog ever. She lovingly goes pretty much everywhere with me. Need help cleaning the crumbs from under the table? Kadie is there. Entertaining kids by playing with sticks, tolerating dress up, and going for 'walks' on the leash with a preschooler? She's on it. This dog chases her tail to make my kids laugh and when they cry, she howls right along with them. Kadie helps on our ranch by tirelessly chasing the local gophers and keeping an eye on the bird population while accompanying me on horseback rides. Kadie even goes to work with me. She's a therapy dog in my counseling practice and probably does as much to support my clients in working through trauma, building healthy relationships and improving quality of life as I do. She's 'worked' to build literacy and empathy with kids in our local preschool and elementary schools. She 'helps' at our summer horse camps and she's a fixture in my counseling office. When I took 12 weeks off after having a baby, I got a lot of requests to 'just bring kadie in' to visit her 'clients.'
This dog brings a lot of joy to a lot of people. And maximizing joy is kind of my thing which brought about the decision to spread this English Cream Golden Retriever love by responsibly breeding her. This led me to partner with #montanamistgoldens & #oregonmistgoldens where I learned A LOT about breeding dogs from the best. We selected the best sire we could find in the country, JCH Bulgaria Amore Veritas Think Me Twice "Hit." He's stunningly handsome & incredibly sweet. He also happens to have a resume that includes the Junior Champion of Russia and some really impressive genetics. Here he is...
Well they definitely like each other ;) and the rest is kind of history...