Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

What an amazing weather weekend we just had. Ridiculously warm but immensely enjoyable none the less.

In our house, every morning about an hour after the big dogs have eaten, they gather together in the kitchen and look at me with anticipation.

They live in the moment, and are waiting to see if I say “walk” or “work”. If the answer is “walk”, the energy in the kitchen goes into warp drive and they can barely contain themselves until I can get them outside. We head for our usual route at the high school fields just after sunup.

Today, instead of plowing through January drifts of snow blown by the steady winds across the playing fields, they managed to find three or four large puddles left by the overnight rains. Never letting a chance to swim go past, they quickly soaked in the mud one after another.

The good news is that if you stay outside long enough, the golden’s thick water repellant coat will dry itself, and the mud and dirt just drop off. Thank god or Barbara wouldn’t let us back in the house most days. So the dogs ran around some more and finished their exercise run content and worn out.

A little towel drying in the garage at home and they are respectably clean again. Emma did great today, though not running as fast as the others, but able to clear her head after the nonstop demands of nursing. I am able to let them run free most mornings, because at this time of day we have the grounds to ourselves. Today, dogs seen: 0, wildlife encountered 0, People seen 1, (jogger).

Still, where is the snow? Goldens are four season dogs, and love the snow almost as much as water.

All the pups are growing and gaining weight on day 10 here in Dogville. These first days kind of blur together because the pups only eat and sleep. Still without eyesight and hearing, they are very limited in what they spend their days doing. Basically just nesting with mom and cuddling each other when they are sated of their fill of milk.

Riley and Solo continue to play mostly unawares of the life that is growing in the basement. Riley tried to sniff things out, but got an angry Emma in her face that quickly changed her mind this morning. Since there is only six month’s difference in age between Riley and Solo, they are constant companions in fun as well as mischief.

Our Lily, more traditionally colored, doesn’t waste much energy unless she has to. Nine years old and the Favorite Aunt, she has been around a good number of litters now, and really shines when the pups are big enough to play with outside.

The boys are bigger and heavier than the petite girls. Here is a photo of Mr. White, the biggest as of today, and Miss Purple, the smallest. Still when you watch her dig into the puppy pile to find a nipple, there is no doubt about her vitality and will.

Barb piles the pups into the “White Box” to keep them together when she cleans the whelping box every morning. At this point most of the pups’ coloring seems to be a light medium with one or two a shade darker and one or two a shade lighter.

Wait until you see how the box fills and overflows in the next three weeks until they totally outgrow that enclosure. More to come when there is something interesting to share. All the pups got excellent reports at their initial visit with Dr. Feldman.

I am very happy to report that everyone is growing and thriving. Emma is a wonderful mom and spends almost all her time either nursing or watching over her brood.

At this point she meticulously takes care of all the pup’s hygiene and bathroom needs. Amazing to see if hard to understand, but boy does this give her bad breath! The pups are just starting to open their eyes a bit, but their ears are still closed. They squeak rather than bark when they lose touch with their mom, but they are starting to enjoy group naps after their bellies are full. You almost never find one sleeping alone. They are social animals from the start and always want to be in contact with another puppy or their mom.

Their weights range from 3/4 to 1 and 1/4 pounds. The three females are still the smallest of the group. They are about the size of guinea pigs now. Will send more photos when they start to show more movement and personality. At this time there are two males without deposits. If anyone knows of someone interested in a golden puppy. please have them contact us.

Happy New Year to all our family and friends and clients! I was on call last night in the DR, but did not ring in the first New Year’s baby. In my mind though, there is no better way to start the new year by coming home and spending the day watching our new puppy family. I thought I would showcase our Riley today. She is two years young and in heat. She will be having her hips and elbows XRayed in February to be sure there are no signs of dysplasia. Then eye and heart checks to follow in the Spring. If all is well, then she will be bred with her next heat in early summer. Barb and I share her breeding rights with our mentor Sydney Waller, and Donna Talbot another breeding friend.

In the next eight weeks you will see a lot of pictures of Emma’s pups going forward with their growth and development. So I thought it might be fun to look backward on our Riley’s growth from adult back to puppy. The one shortcoming with this blog is the inability to really show the energy and excitement one of these animals brings to your family life. But I will try and use some photos that hopefully capture Riley’s energetic personality. Riley was around for Emma’s first litter with Solo being the only pup. Now she has an unending curiousity to go downstairs and visit the new litter. We keep her away at this time because of Emma’s protectiveness. Our youngest female, Solo, has never seen a litter of pups, so she is not aware of much difference in our house yet. Like an only child being forced to adjust to another baby brought into the house, however, Riley has been a little over the top with her need for attention and affection. Here she is over the past several days trying to be sure we haven’t forgotten about her. She still thinks she is at times a puppy.

She is one beautiful dog and can be regal at times, and in the next moment full of mischief.She always looks angelic when sleeping.

All goldens love to cuddle and Riley is no exception. The closer to your face the better, and at times it seems they are almost ready to “purr” with pleasure, especially with the added bonus of a tennis ball in their mouths.

Goldens are social animals and not with just people. If exposed at a young age, they get along very easily with other creatures like cats.

At eight weeks of life they have that legendary “golden coat”, but their personalities are somewhat hidden until they feel comfortable in their environment. Here Sydney Waller is doing her conformation and temperment testing before we brought her home.

And here Riley is spending one of her first day’s with us.

Amazing how time does quickly pass. But each day is an adventure and blessing with a golden by your side! I hope this “Riley flashback in time” will raise the level of anticipation for all our friends and clients who are counting down the eight weeks until their own adventures begin.

Stay tuned for more new puppy pictures. All are doing well.

Our household has a feeling of pride and thankfulness today, after a long night of worry and anticipation. Since Emma had only the one pup last time, it was anyone’s guess if carrying this many would present unusual problems for her. She did extremely well with no hiccups in her birthing adventure. The final count stands at nine total puppies with three being female and six being males.

Three of our four children were still here for the holidays, and all kept vigil overnight. Brian, Lauren, and Kristen all helped with the process, and I was home as well so the timing couldn’t have been better. Like most human labors, deliveries seem to arrive more often in the wee hours. Notice the clock time in the whelping room. This photo was taken about half way through Emma’s labor.

For the rest of the today we will reflect on just how amazing the miracle of new life is. And be thankful for the blessings that have been bestowed on our human and dog family this holiday week. Emma’s adventure started month’s ago with plans and hopes to correct her infertility situation. Those dreams have come to pass due to the amazing technology of veterinary medicine as well as the hard work of all involved.

For those family members and friends and clients waiting to hear from us about their place on our list and their dream of a golden puppy, we ask your patience. We are all sleep deprived here today, and we will contact everyone sometime this weekend. If anyone who has already contacted us is serious about a pup, filling out the puppy questionaire is the first step in the process. Please complete it if you haven’t already. These are our puppy children and we take the responsibility of finding great homes for them seriously.

Tonight we will visit Dr. Feldman to check out the puppies and Emma for any unexpected issues.