Goldenboy, you and i are of the same breed my friend. He is out of Flambeau Retrievers here in MN. I come from a family that has always had Goldens and I will be continuing the tradition. Field Goldens are a passion of mine and one I hope to expand upon as time goes by. We may need to connect as my boy is now 7 and I'll be looking to bring another into the family before he gets too old. He's a hard running, fine nosed, aggressive (to a fault at times) and athletic hunter and he and I have a special bond.
My opinion of Flambeau is mixed. Trigg, my boy, is a great hunter and I'm very happy with him. That being said, we've spent a small fortune on him trying to keep him healthy with the vast majority due to skin issues (hot spots, allergies, yeast infections, etc.) Needless to say, going into the next pup, we'll be much more diligent. Fortunately, he's happy and so are we.
Let's stay in touch. I'd love to hear how things are going with your pups.