It was a
busy weekend for Summer and the puppies as they met more families
but as usual Summer was happy share her puppies in exchange for
cuddles. She was described yesterday
as "very charismatic and a great mum".
Yesterday Aasha, who is almost five months, met the puppies "in
person", rather than through the mesh of the puppy pen. She is
a very sensible puppy and really enjoyed spending time with the
puppies. Summer was happy for Aasha to be with the puppies
too.
The
puppies seemed to like Aasha too!
After
playtime Summer and the puppies relaxed in the puppy pen.
The
puppies associate the pen with sleeping and were soon all enjoying a
Sunday afternoon nap with their mum.
18th November 2008
Below is a video clip
of the puppies at five weeks old. As you can see the puppies
are very playful now and have short bursts of rough and tumble,
before settling down for a sleep!
There is standing room
only now at the milk bar!
Hello Mum!
Summer enjoys a bowl of
goats milk - and the puppies enjoy helping her clean the bowl
afterwards!
Summer loves keeping her
puppies clean!
Time for a sleep again!
19th November 2008
Today's
photos were sent by Ray and Ann who recently visited the puppies and
have named their puppy 'Buddy'. "Thank You".
The
puppies have all been named by their families and all have lovely
names.
"The
Boys" are Buddy, Chester, Gus, Henry, Charlie and Storm.
"The
Girls" are Bracken, Morgan, Izzy and Elsie.
As yet
Kendaamber Miss Sunshine has not been named.
There
are different systems for matching puppies with their families -
some breeders allocate puppies to families, some use a traditional
"1st, 2nd, 3rd......pick system.
Some of
my friends use a system where families pick two puppies and will
have either their first or second choice. If the breeder is
keeping a puppy or a possible show home is waiting they will be
assessed at around six weeks for "potential". Once the
"pick of dog and/or bitch" have been decided then each family/puppy
can be confirmed. Friends have advised me this systems works
well, and it does seem very fair.
Families
visiting the puppies have found it very difficult to choose their
puppies, and most have either said "Can we have them all?" or "It
really makes no difference as they are all lovely". I think
this is due to the fact the puppies are so evenly matched in size
and colour, with only slight differences in head shape - although
this is changing constantly. Only one puppy was chosen as a
first choice because it went and sat on someone's lap - which was
the method I used with our first dog Molly.
One
family who were looking for a boy will be having a girl due to an
error on my part - which I put down to lack of sleep in those first
few days and my inability to count! I am very grateful to
Colin and Teresa for being so understanding and we know Morgan will
be cherished! Although friends have assured me it has happened
to others as those first few days are very intense, it is a mistake
I never intend to make again!
All of
the puppies have superb homes - all have either lived with, or still
live with a Golden Retriever with the exception of one family, but
they also have had experience of living with a dog.
Next
week Blake's owner is coming to look at the puppies. This is
common practice by stud dog owners who have a keen interest in what
their dogs have sired in general and to different lines.
For
responsible breeders the aim is to 'create' an ideal companion - a
Golden Retriever that is sound in body and in mind, and the Breed
Standard should always be the 'blueprint' being aimed for with
regard to general appearance, characteristics and temperament.
I am
very grateful to friends, who have many years of breeding
experience, who support and advise me - I could not do it without
them!
One of these puppies will
be Buddy.
Over the
next few days we will start introducing the puppies to the outside
world for a few minutes at a time. We also plan to take them
on short journeys in the car. This has worked well in past and
we feel it is worth the effort - even with eleven puppies!
This
morning we have moved the puppies into the conservatory so they have
more room to play. They will also have direct access to
outside from here. The puppy pen was getting too small and
although they were very clean and used one corner of the pen to go
to the toilet, during playtime they were accidentally rolling around in "Pooh Corner".
They
soon settled into their new room......
.....and
were soon using the newspaper again.
Summer
has always managed to squeeze herself into a small basket and this
morning was no exception!
Miss
Purple decided a cosy spot under the radiator was much more
comfortable!
The
puppies will all be showered again today!
21st
November 2008
The
puppies are fascinating to watch and are great time-wasters!
Here is
Mr Green - acting the clown as always!
Miss
Purple enjoying a light snack from the milk bar.
There
will be less and less of this over the next week - the puppies now
enjoy four meals of Arden Grange a day.
The
puppies all have bright eyes and wet noses!
They are
very content - some have short bursts of rough and tumble while
others prefer to watch!
The
puppies sire, Blake, has gained his Show Gundog Working Certificate
- which proves he has brains as well as being handsome. I have
noticed some of the puppies enjoy carrying things and when they do
look extremely proud of themselves.
But
looking cute is what they do best!
They
still have lots to learn!
Summer
will soon be going on a diet and exercise regime now that her hard
work is almost done. She has not lost any condition and has in
fact gained weight even though she has been feeding eleven puppies!
This is down to the fact she has a very nutritious diet and very
little exercise! She will go to hydrotherapy and we will
gradually increase her walking over time, starting on lead, to give
her muscles and ligaments time to readjust. She will
eventually be allowed to fun free, which she does at great speed -
she is the fastest dog here so we are sure she will soon get her
figure back soon. We followed this principle with Libby
in the summer and she has regained her figure very quickly - her
coat is glossy and wavy and all she needs is feathering and a 'show'
trim to complete the picture. I am grateful to friends who
advised me to care for nursing mums this way - it certainly seems to
be the recipe for a very content and happy mum and puppies.
23rd November 2008
The puppies have been
weighed again this evening as they are due to be wormed tomorrow.
They are now too large for ordinary scales so we are using fishing
scales. All the puppies will leave with a "goody bag" - which
is ideal for putting puppies in to be weighed.
None of the puppies were
phased by the experience.
After being weighed it was
time to rest again.
Today we have introduced a
crate to the puppies, as some of them will sleep in a crate.
The puppies are very confident and were soon exploring!
