Kyon Kennels’ First Golden Retriever
In 1970 we purchased our first Golden Retriever, a female named Pamilla, mostly descended from the old English Drexholme and Boltby lineages. Pamilla introduced us to the show-world and she also went on to produce our first two litters and our first Canadian Champion. Our experience with Pamilla began our love affair with the Golden Retriever breed. Pamilla taught us what a Golden Retriever should be – a beautiful dog, with strong hunting desire while sound in mind and body, with a keen intelligence and a gentle disposition. Because of Pamilla, we’ve worked to develop our own distinct line under the KYON prefix.
Our First Golden Retriever litter
Our very first litter all lived until their seventeenth year. The dam was our own Pamilla and the sire was Dickie (nor ch Camrose Voravey 1871-1988). We were complete novices as breeders , but luckily had stumbled upon a combination of Golden Retrievers of exceptional longevity. Having a whole litter live until its 17th year set the standard extremely high for us and ever since that time we have always strived for longevity and soundness in mind and body in our Golden Retriever puppies. For 40 years, we’ve been committed to breeding for longevity. In a day when many Golden Retrievers die at such a young age, Kyon Kennels is proud that the average KYON Golden Retriever can be expected to live an exceptionally long life, with minimal health issues. Dickie has remained in all our pedigrees ever since our first litter and thus remains a major influence on all our golden retrievers to this date. He was owned by Grete Sofie and Eivind Mjaerum in Norway and was bred by Joan Tudor.
Our first top winner: Shea (1981-1996)
In 1981 we imported a phenomenal golden retriever puppy from Norway. Shea (Bda ch & Can BIS/BISS Ch Mjaerumhogda’s Kyon Flying Surprise CDX (OS)grew up to be a handsome cream golden retriever and won a total of 11 Best in shows in Canada; an unheard of achievement for such a light English type Golden retriever. He was also a keen retriever and garnered many obedience titles. By design he was also a descendant of the sire (Dickie – Nor sh ch Camrose Voravey, 1969-1986) of our first litter, since we wanted to maintain that line of exceptional longevity. Shea is behind almost every Kyon golden retriever of today. He was a marvelous producer and for well over a decade he had the honour of being called the top producing Golden Retriever in Canada.
To read an interesting article about the history of our kennel and our philosophy concerning our breeding program read “North of the Border” in our Documents section.
Experience Matters
Over the past 40 years Kyon has created a responsible breeding program and has not only contributed greatly, but has also shown leadership in the golden retriever breeding community. Karin and Wally have earned their retirement and now their son Sean owns and manages Kyon. Sean has learned from his parents and follows his own guiding principles to consistently apply over 40 years of experience in breeding and animal care. Whether boarding your pet or getting a puppy, our experience matters.
