Going-Home Preparations

Although the pups have another ten days or two weeks with us, we are starting all the steps to sending them home. Today, they got their first vaccine and their health certificates. They were terrific at Dr Jim's--confident and playful until we picked them up. Then they sat very calmly while Dr Jim weighed them, checked them out and gave them their vaccine. Not a cry out of any of them.

We decided to vaccinate them today based on Risk's antibody levels to distemper and parvo. We checked her levels two weeks before the pups were born and those results told us what antibodies the pups got from her milk in the first few days after birth. From there, we calculated approximately when their maternal protection against each disease would run out. Since her distemper titer was toward the low end, we needed to vaccinate the pups now to be sure they are safe when we walk them in the woods. However, her parvovirus titer was pretty high so it will be a few more weeks before their body can respond to that vaccine.

The pups traveled to and from the vet's very well. This was their second long car ride but there will be many more in the next week or so. It's a 35-minute ride to my vet's which is a stretch for such little guys. They cried a bit at the beginning and the very end, but otherwise, they slept and played with each other. The crying at the end was my fault because I forgot to potty them before crating them to come home. They had been sleeping while Dr Jim, Lauran Mancuso and I chatted so I should have realized they'd need to visit the litter box before I put them in the car. They let me know of my error about 10 minutes from home but they all held it. I was practicing the story I was going to tell a cop in case I got stopped for going a little over the speed limit. Thankfully, I didn't need it.

Tomorrow we are off to the veterinary ophthalmologist for their eye exams. We can't see all of the eye problems that goldens face this early in their lives but we can see enough to make that trip worthwhile. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes smoothly.

We added a big dog to the pack today. Skye, Gaylan's Winning Colors MH WCX joined us in preparation for her breeding to Brass, Brassfire's Seattle on a Lark MH WCX later this week. The girls all recognized each other immediately so Skye just fell right into step. I know Charlie and Lauran Mancuso miss her but it sure is wonderful to have her here with us, if only briefly. She'll go back home after the breeding until just prior to her whelping, which we think will be right around Halloween. Now there is a litter theme for you.

I'll post photos tomorrow.

Gayle