Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

Although it was wet, dreary, and chilly outside, the atmosphere was warm and bright in the whelping box. The heater in the corner certainly helped, but mostly the warmth was generated by the spontaneous smiles and good vibes generated by the interaction of people and puppies. All good. More visitors, family, and friends shared the warm puppy atmosphere today. Everyone left smiling and happy.

Emma was a very good sport all weekend. I think she felt safe with all our visitors. These dogs have an uncanny way of judging the inner good of people, and everyone passed with flying colors.

The energy level in the whelping box has picked up considerably in the past two days. The pups are lurching around on all fours and starting to interact with each other more than just finding a sleepmate to cuddle. But cuddling is still their favorite activity right behind eating. They don’t seem to mind if they are on the bottom of the pile or on the top as long as they can snuggle.

Barbara changed the collars to the velcro ones now that the puppies necks are large enough to fill them. Here are our three little girls: Miss Yellow, Pink, and Purple.

Their eyes are open but they don’t yet react to most visual clues. Their hearing won’t be developed for another week, so they get around mostly now with their sense of smell.

The most exciting part of today was meeting some new clients/families who came to look the litter over. The excitement in the children’s eyes was priceless. So were the science questions from the young boy who wondered how the nipples worked. Like a straw in a glass of milk I think I told him. Hah! Our good friend and co-breeder, Donna Talbot also dropped by with her son Trystan. Each of us has a dog from the other’s litter.

For those readers who came to visit and don’t see your picture here, not to worry. We will get everyone in cyberspace before this adventure finishes. More visitors and adventures tomorrow.

At last some signs of growth and change in the whelping box. All the pups have been gaining weight with the two largest boys now over two pounds each. Here is Mr. Red on the scale, who still looks like an out of shape guinea pig.

But today a number of the pups started opening their eyes more than a squint. At the same time they seemed to get more strength in their legs and began to lurch along with their bellies off the ground for the first time. If you enlarge the thumbnail photo of the group, by clicking on it, and look closely at Mr. Red, you can see that his ear canal is starting to open as well. Miss Yellow had her eyes open tonight and gives you a golden paw hello.

Barb and I are just starting to socialize the pups by holding them one a time and have them listen to our idle chatter about each of our day’s events. As you can see in the photo of them in the white box, they are starting to get longer and fill up most of the space now.

I will be on call tomorrow and so no further posts until the weekend. There should be some great changes to share by that time. All the pups now have deposits as of late this evening. We are excited about the folks and families committed to one of our dogs and look forward to meeting everyone we don’t yet know. Stay tuned.

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.