Farmington Valley Golden Retrievers

Everyone here in dogville is just fine! I am getting used to sleeping on this lumpy cot in the basement, and the interrupted sleep is just like being on call, although with a lot less stress. When the background squeaks change in volume or urgency, I become wide awake and on my feet to find the unhappy critter. Usually a pup has just lost it’s way and needs help finding mom and its box mates. With this being Emma’s third litter she has a quiet confidence that was missing in her prior two pregnancies. She is careful about each of her offspring and if she wants my attention, she will start with a low whine until I respond. The pups are now almost two pounds each and feel like plump guinea pigs when you hold them. Their eyes have not opened fully yet, and they still don’t react to noise. So our anxious army of waiting visitors must be patient a little while longer.

Barb’s days are spent close to home and basement. Any noncritical tasks that involve leaving the house are crossed off the to do list. A few of Barb’s daily tasks include weighing and checking each puppy’s health, monitoring Emma’s intake and health, cleaning the whelping box and area, and getting the paperwork and registration forms in order. Once the puppies get another two weeks behind them, the work will increase exponentially, as Emma will no longer take care of their toiletry needs and then we both will be on that duty.

Now enough talk, and to follow are some recent photos of everyone. I know many of you are used to almost daily photos of our prior litters. My time however has been torn into too many directions with the obligations of my professional and mission duties. Once a week is the best I can do at this time with a blog update..

Clients are still replying to our inquiries, so we have several pups still to be assigned. Keep the faith for those still hoping for an email.

When our little ones are not nursing, they are cuddling usually in a big pile. This is when Emma decides to get a little freedom and leaves them for awhile. Also notice how uniform the color and size is of everyone. That is one of the hallmarks of a good breeding program. You want predictable results in conformation, color, and personality with few outliers. We are off to a great start with this litter.

Here are Emma’s mothering skills at work.

The puppies are starting to get their leg strength built up. They still wobble like drunken sailors on leave but every day brings progress.

There is a lot of pushing and shoving at the milk bar on Emma’s belly. Since there are not enough chairs for everyone, one will be struggling to find his or her spot until another is sated and then falls off the nipple asleep.

Then there are those oh so cute moments when you catch one puppy having a little close quality time with his/her mom..

Signing off now for this week. Puppy squeaks to everyone!

PS: We are aware that several parts of our website are not functioning correctly. We will be moving to a better platform in the next month or so. So please bear with us. Our computer Gods do amazing work. We expect to always have our website reflect the quality that we bring to breeding these amazing creatures.

Emma had her pups last Monday morning. Her adventure though began Sunday, a day earlier…

She had been getting bigger by the day as noted above, but on Sunday the poor thing looked like an overstuffed sausage.

She was more restless as Sunday wore on, and then she started to go into corners and scratch. We knew time was getting short and so we readied the basement. Out came the cot and up went Emma to settle in next to the whelping box.

With the human births that I have attended, there has always been multiple family members and medical attendants around. However, I have had the good fortune to spend the eve of Emma’s last two labors one on one in solitude in our cellar. Both times we spent the night crowded together on the small cot, her back and fur pressed against my chest. It has been a very unique experience sharing such a primeval ritual with another species. She is restless, and breaths in short panting breaths for hours at a time. The cot shakes with the force of her rapid breathing. Every so often her panting would stop and she would listen as if waiting for some inner signal. Beneath my fingers her babies were active. Hours go by. Occasionally she would give me a lick as if to say thank you for your support. Both of us drifted off to sleep for short periods of time, neither one of us changing our positions. Then on the morrow, about sunrise each time, she would get quiet, listen again, and then a large wavelike contraction would be palpable in her abdomen. Once that occurred, we moved to the whelping box and awaited the start of the birthing process.

Those events are described in the previous blog. After her enormous work, she enjoyed, deserved, and needed, a warm bath.

The following morning everyone began the daily ritual of the weigh in..

The other pups go into the little white box to await their turn..

Emma gets to bond with a little one on one time..

And after the whelping area is cleaned, everyone piles in for a snuggle before the next nursing moments begin again.

The pups have already been to the vet, and all are very healthy. We have contacted the earliest clients on our waiting list, and are very pleased to say that we have two families who have waited since our last litter almost a year and a half ago for one of our puppies. Their wait is over. We are moving down the list, but with vacations, it is hard to know if folks are getting their emails or phone calls. Over half the pups are spoken for now, with many more clients to go. If we do not get a response from the clients we have contacted this week by next Friday, they will lose their chance, and then we will contact the next people waiting. I am sorry we cannot satisfy everyone who has written us, but mother nature has given us what she has.

I’ve had a few days off this week and the weather has been overall very nice. The dogs tag along with me everywhere. They get bored when I do some of the yard work, and so I have to do it in short doses. Otherwise when I look up there are a couple of new big holes dug in the lawn or more flowers missing from their pots. I caught everyone in that watchful waiting mode today, all wondering why they haven’t been out yet for their run.

For the past two days there have been frogs in our pool. I wonder just where they come from? There is no free standing body of water for miles. Anyway the girls had some fun trying to catch them with their paws.

At the end of the adventure all frogs remained healthy and unharmed, while Riley (red collar) was particularly frustrated that she couldn’t catch one!

This morning Barb and I took Emma for her pre-labor XRay. While not absolutely necessary, the XRay allows us to know a little better how many pups to expect. There can be a long interval between puppies born, and the last few may not fare well if she has an obstructed labor or other complications. So this way we will seek emergency help if her labor becomes dysfunctional and not all the puppies have arrived.

She was very calm at the vet’s office. On her return home, she walked onto the first step of the pool and cooled off.

Now for the fun part of this blog: some audience participation. Get out your magnifying glasses and see how many heads and/or backbones you can count! First, though, click on the photo to enlarge it.

She obviously has a good sized litter coming. The vet office staff and us reckon 8 to 10 plus one or so. You can really empathize with her maternal condition when you see how much work she must do to successfully birth everyone. The wait is getting shorter..

Nothing satisfies like these very warm days of midsummer… Enjoying the heat of the sun resting on the patio, and enjoying the flowers that you so diligently planted in the Spring.

Everyone here is just marking the days until Emma’s due date of 8/08/08. She is moving much slower, taking up much more room on our bed at night, but still enjoying life in the pack… quietly.

The girls still enjoy chasing chipmunks in the front island and chewing various flowers that only they know are good tasting.

Like the youthful exuberance of young children on summer vacation, their smiles say it all!

…while those of us here who are older and saddled with more responsibilities, carefully watch and wait. Like this bush in the background, that I have been trying to mold for the last four to five years, we are expecting our hearts and spirits to soon soar with the arrival of this long awaited litter.

While we await the birth of a new litter of pups in early August, the wheel of life continues to turn for the rest of us and our animals. About 2/3’s of the folks on our waiting list are those who have lost a departed canine companion and friend. We get photos from our friends who come upon an old picture, and send it along with their remembrances of a family member too soon gone. And although I see life and death in many forms every day, most people see little of my world, and may only bump against the true reality of our short existences when their beloved pet passes.

Our friend Ken recently sent us a few more photos of their first golden Holly who died this Spring.

I recently came across a poem that seemed appropriate, author unknown.

“I Stood By Your Bed Last Night”

‘I stood by your bed last night, I came to have a peek. I could see that you were crying. You found it hard to sleep.

I whined to you softly as you brushed away a tear, It’s me, I haven’t left you, I’m well, I’m fine, I’m here.

You lay there very quietly, then smiled, I think you knew, In the stillness of the evening, I was very close to you.

And when the time is right to cross the brief divide, I’ll rush across to greet you and we’ll stand side by side.

I have so many things to show you, there is so much for you to see. Be patient, live your journey out… then come home to be with me.’

It is nice to daydream that somehow and somewhere we will all meet again, whether as spirits or particles of knowing cosmic energy. Like fireflies perhaps, we may soar on night’s breeze, intermingle, and, share the company of the universe.

More troubling to me this week was the number of people who came up to me at the office and hospital, asking if I could help them place their beloved dog, cat, or rabbit. Tough economic times are forcing folks young and old to move, and sometimes their new home doesn’t allow for their pet to accompany them. While some people can discard a longtime companion with little regret, the pain involved for most owners is terrible to witness.

One of our breeding friends sent us this moving video that was on YouTube. My family has already seen it, but for our readers, this speaks to the deep bond that forms between animals and mankind when love is the glue..

Click on this link and be sure your sound is on: http://videos.komando.com/2008/06/26/christian-the-lion/

Parting with a dedicated living companion (even one the size of a lion) is one of those experiences I hope to never have. The sense of loss and confusion in the mind of the animal must be equally unsettling.