Welcome to Gaylan's Golden Retrievers' blog. Here you can follow our puppies' development and read about issues that are important to us. Reader Beware! We are serious dog breeders so may discuss the gory details of our breedings. But if you would like to follow the birth and development of our puppies, read on. Of course, during the months we don't have pups, I'll share my thoughts on the state of golden retrievers and purebred dogs in general.
Today we moved the pups to a new box so we could start potty training. As you can see, 2/3 of the box is potty area and 1/3 is play area. Of course, they play in the potty area, too. Our puppy buyers tell us how thrilled they are because their puppies are almost potty trained when they get home! This litter should be no different...and this is where it all starts!
No new photos on SmugMug yet, but here's a video of their first few minutes in the new box. Enjoy!
Can you believe how big the pups are getting? Mr. Brown is over 5# and
Ms. Yellow is not far behind. Did you also know that size in the litter
is not at all determinative of adult size? In one of our litters a
buyer was very hesitant to take a certain puppy because he was the
biggest pup in the litter. At three years old he's right in the
standard and as she says, the perfect size for her.
Friday was an exciting day for the pups - getting to investigate outside
their whelping box. When we clean the box we usually do one of two
things: 1) put the puppies in a laundry basket 2) give them a feeding
session with Peach on a fleece on the floor. Last night I needed to
change out the fleece in the box because they no longer need Peach to
help them urinate, so the box was quite wet. They were up and raring to
go, so the laundry basket was not a good option. So I put a fleece
down on the floor and took some pictures while Lise cleaned the box.
They are walking quite well so Saturday they are being moved out of the whelping box into their first play area so we can start their potty training. In the meantime, lots of new photos are up. Enjoy!
Oh, yeah, you will notice another link in the sidebar to the Beer Litter - that's because Glee is in season and is being bred on Saturday! We are all prepped for pictures to go up! Please send fertile thoughts to Glee!
We test ears starting around Day 16 with a clap of the hands and look for a startle reaction. Yesterday we were 0 for 5...today we were 5 for 5! They had their nails done again today and are quite cooperative about it. Lots of general handling and kisses!
Peach is eating over 3# of food and enjoying every morsel. She is enjoying her daily runs which keep her very happy and for those of you who have been to an Avidog seminar or taken Your Litter A to Z, you know how important the dam's enrichment is for both her and her puppies!
New photos are up - remember videos are at the end of the pack. I checked and there is no way for them to be kept in date order.
... for Lise and me, but another day in the life of the pups. Wednesday is a busy day around here with teaching schedules, so the pups had an early day being weighed, having temps taken and having their box cleaned. During the day they were being handled a lot by friends and new toys are put into their box.
Tonight's scent was grass and they were really inhaling it. I cannot wait to take them outside!! Being out of the house all day, I have not taken a lot of pictures but here's a video for today's smiles!
Oh and that beeping noise you may be wondering about? That is the thermometer/clock/timer that I put on the pigrail. When you switch between modes it beeps. They keep knocking it off the railing and moving it. Just in case you were wondering.
Such a great time in the lives of the puppies. Eyes are open and the world is opening up to them. In another day or so their ears will open. Until then we don't have to worry about waking them up when we come into the room!
If, as they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words" ...
This
weekend the pups had more visitors. On Friday our friends Cindy and
Patti came out for the evening. Then on Saturday Lee and Dave were in
from PA for a hunt test so stopped by with our mutual friend Sandy.
Somehow I just knew that Sandy would pick up Mr. Blue first!
I love to watch young puppies mesmerize their visitors, whether they are here for 20 minutes or 2 hours. Peach is just amazing with everyone - keeping a close eye on the pups when they are being handled, but is not stressed about it.
So what have the pups been up to? The world is opening to them now that their eyes are open. They are mouthing each other in their short moments of play. If you were to watch them walk you would think someone spiked Peach's milk. In a few days their ears will open.
After spending the day with my dad Lise and I came home to weigh the pups and do ESN and ESI. Today's scent was lily - straight from the garden. We are thrilled that all the pups are over 3 lbs!
Although I did not take any video, there's lot of new photos up today - enjoy!
The puppies are 12 days old and right on schedule their eyes started to open two days ago and all are open now. They are up on their legs and, though rocky, are walking. ESN/ESI is going well and they have had eight visitors so far.
Mr. Brown and Miss Yellow chillin'
Peach getting some love from Patti
Trying to find a comfy spot
I will have more photos and videos on SmugMug later tonight.
It's just over a week and each puppy in the Light Litter has met our goal of them more than doubling its weight!
Light Litter @ 3 Days
Light Litter @ 9 Days
Their
eyes will start to open over the next couple of days, so we have
covered the windows to dampen the bright lights on their young eyes. We
won't be using any flash photography over the next couple of days either.
We have added toys appropriate for their age, and they love to snuggle with them.
We started ENS and ESI on Day 3 and so far they have had five scents: lemon, evergreen, cinnamon, tennis ball, rabbit skin and tonight we will introduce Anise, one of the nosework scents. Here's a video of them from the other day.
Stay tuned for more of the Adventure of the Gaylan's Light Litter. Be sure to check out the photos section on the right for more photos.
For Peach's last breeding we chose Linda and Mike MacDonald's wonderful boy Sixpak. Officially Peach is MACH4 Gaylan's Peaches 'n Cream XF MXS MJS T2B AD ADHF - and Sixpak is OTCH One Ash Stardust On Tap UDX27 AX NAJ OS OBHF CanCDX Superdog. As you can imagine, we were very excited about doing this breeding, not only because we are combining the genes of two wonderful dogs, but because it has been a year and a half since we've had puppies!!! Well, on Sunday June 7th Peach presented us with five beautiful pups, who in birth order are Ms. Yellow, Mr. Green, Ms. Red, Mr. Blue and Mr. Brown. Being an experienced dam, Peach knew what to do from the start. Four of the pups arrived without incident. Ms. Red, on the other hand, was trying to come into the world not only breech, but on her back instead of her belly. We tried everything we knew, including a couple of phone calls to the vet. Not wanting to do a C-section unless absolutely necessary, Gayle tried to get ahold of the pup's legs to help her over the pelvic crest. The whole process took an hour and a half with the sack breaking early on in the process, so we were prepared for the worst, and hoping for the best. Gayle was successful and when Ms. Red arrived not only was she alive, but screaming at the top of her lungs. What a beautiful sound!! The pups are being raised on Long Island by Marcy and Lise for their first six weeks and then everyone will head up to Gayle's for another 2.5 weeks while we do all their evaluations and eventually place them into their new homes. We invite you to follow along as we raise the Gaylan's Light Litter. I am having some difficulties getting the link to where photos and videos will be posted on the right-side so for now, use this link to get you there: http://caninehealthevents.smugmug.com/Gaylan-Litters/Light-Litter/49869489_Lj9WKQ
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