Regalgoldens Golden Retrievers

Paige is such an attentive momma. “Just a Quick Look Around” Paige and her new family were relocated to the living room from our bedroom this week which is a pretty regal deal for mom. She’s got both a sofa and a love seat to stretch out on, not to mention some carpeting and some sections of cool wood flooring for lounging. There’s also a walkout to the backyard for private bathroom breaks or birdwatching. Paige didn’t need any convincing that this was a good deal. The pups reside in what’s called a whelping box: a 4 ft. square enclosure which we’ve lined with mats and towels, in order to accommodate the puppies’ rapid growth, we’ve had to raise the pig rails up a notch. These are rails around the inside of the whelping box, that are there to help prevent mom from accidentally squishing one of her kids. At some point during the following week, the rails can safely be removed altogether and an extension to the box will be added which will give the gang lots more room to play in. There a...

Our eyes are open, we're alert and playing! “Squish-proofing” The pups reside in what’s called a whelping box: a 4 ft. square enclosure which we’ve lined with mats and towels. in order to accommodate the puppies’ rapid growth, we’ve had to raise the pig rails up a notch. These are rails around the inside of the whelping box, that are there to help prevent mom from accidentally squishing one of her kids. At some point during the next couple of weeks, the rails can safely be removed altogether and an extension to the box will be added which will give the gang lots more room to play in. To enhance their experience, we’ve put stuffed animals in the whelping box as an obstacle course of sorts as well as fluffy playmates to cuddle with.  Now that their vision is established beyond simply being able to detect light, dark and movement, the puppies are becoming increasingly curious about their surroundings and each other. They’re staggering around and beginning to get acquainted with their ...

     “The Payback”   We were lucky last week when Chanel delivered her puppies during the middle of the day. As fate would have it, along with Paige’s pup came the payback. Pups are usually born in the wee hours, so this is how it was to be. Around one in the morning, Paige began to get restless and soon after, her water broke. Mr. Bluebell (dark blue) made his debut at 2:15 a.m., feet first of course. His sister, Miss Carnation (pink) demonstrated the correct way to exit a womb at 2:52. After Miss Pansy was born at 3:58, we thought we might be on a one puppy per hour programme. Not so. It wasn’t until 5:50 that Mr. Hydrangea decided he was going to plop out onto the gravel run during Paige’s supposed pee break. What is it with boys? Since the pack usually wakes up around 7:00, sleep was going to be out of the question.   It never ceases to amaze us how the little ones know exactly what to do from the first minute onward and how they instinctively suckle and how...

We do love our beauty sleep. “The Wrong Turn” Chanel has always been an exuberant mom and she demonstrated this fact the other day. On her way back into the house from a washroom break, she marched right past her own whelping box and straight into Paige’s, settled in and began to nurse Paige’s two-day old pups in true Golden spirit. Fortunately, Paige didn’t seem to mind. It’s exciting for us when the puppies’ eyes open at around the 10-day mark. Many of the puppies’ critical organs including their brain are not fully formed and they will spend several weeks developing rapidly. Since the gestation period in dogs is short (63 days), the tradeoff is that puppies are quite helpless at birth. Biologists refer to species that produce immature dependent offspring as altricial, which means “to nurse, to rear or to nourish”. It refers to the need for the young of these species to be fed and taken care of for a long period of time. Puppies are born with their eyelids tightly shut because the ey...

“A Lucky Break” It’s a rare treat when puppies are born during the waking hours of the day. The norm is that it usually happens under the moonlight in the wee hours, so Chanel did us a huge favour. We knew it was going to be a small litter and we were apprehensive about the poor girl having to squeeze out overgrown pups. The first to appear was Mr. Cardinal at 1:05 pm with no issues whatsoever. The next was his wingman, Mr. Parakeet at 1:50 (who was scooped up in mid-air during Chanel’s bathroom break in the run) followed by Mr. Oriole at 2:10 and their baby sister Miss Finch at 3:05. They were all born in record time, because it’s not uncommon for an hour or more to elapse between the birth of each puppy. The added bonus is that they were all pretty average in size, so it was not a particularly difficult labour for Chanel. With only four pups, there are no line-ups at the milk bar for each puppy’s share of their mom’s milk which contains antibodies so vital for the first several weeks...

Chanel - 49 Days (pre-parturition) Chanel does not appear to be slowing down, still running with the pack and getting into trouble with the rest of them. She did have a little extra winter weight, but it seems her pups have “grown” into her and she is looking good. She enjoys monitoring the perimeter of the yard for possible intruders and occasionally sounds the alarm for wild turkeys. She has a ferocious appetite, so we have broken her meals into three daily to hopefully satisfy her. She continues to eat a very well-balanced diet of antibiotic-free proteins which are rotated daily. She’s very fond of lamb and duck lately but is also having chicken, turkey, beef and pork. Each meal has a mixture of fruits and veggies to balance her diet. Chanel’s waistline now measures 33 inches or 83.8 cm.  Fetus at approximately day 39 By day 30, digestive and respiratory glands, muscles, bones, circulatory, genital and urinary systems, the skin and hair, the nervous system and all the puppy's se...

Fun times with our momma! “Private Dining” The dining experience in the whelping box has evolved from a free-for-all around a ring which is really just a round trough of sorts to private dining where each pup gets their own little bowl. The perceived competition means that they all eat their food at a reasonably fast pace, all except Mr. Crème Brûlée that is. He does eat most of it but then gets distracted by potential playmates around him. As he meanders off, the portly Mr. Blueberry Cobbler tries to clean up the abandoned bowl. Not so fast! We have rules here you know, so the bowl gets whisked away for Pepper to clean up. The gang went for a car ride today to visit our friendly veterinarian and received great reviews as expected. They were even well-behaved in the car, but no doubt relieved to return to the safety and comfort of their whelping box with their mom anxiously awaiting their arrival. Pepper has been a stellar mom who dotes on her puppies, checking up on them frequ...

Little Miss Strawberry Shortcake “Equipment Malfunction”   Since the pups are well on their way to being fully weaned, they always have a fresh bowl of water at their disposal. To this end, we use a spill-proof bowl. Every now and again, a litter of puppies decides to test that theory with some experimentation. This was no exception. While there’s an insert that helps prevent most of the water from spilling out, we can’t count the number of times we have to retrieve the bowl to refill it and replace all the wet towels in the whelping box. From day one, these little guys were quite confident and completely comfortable with their outdoor surroundings. Some litters are very tentative as they venture out, but not this one. They immediately went off to explore the grass, the rockery or munch on fallen twigs. Others used the vastness of the yard to engage in sporting activities with their siblings.  A popular activity is the game of tag in which each puppy exhibits a burs...

We are a happy bunch! “The Christmas Ornament” This was a week of adjustment as Pepper and her mini pack have now been relocated into the living room which is like a V.I.P. room for moms. She has both a sofa and a love seat to stretch out on for her ultimate relaxation while being able to keep a watchful eye and ear on her brood. What’s more, she has a private yard for a little walkabout which her puppies will use as their playground.  In the meantime, that’s where she and her two partners-in-crime, seven-month-old Dutch and Tulip consummate their digging projects. Pepper is so good-natured that she doesn’t mind that her two furry friends use her space as a thoroughfare en route to the backyard. Since Pepper has been enticed by the comfort of the sofa and no longer sleeps in the whelping box, we’ve removed the pig rails altogether. We also added an extension which expands the space from 4x4 ft. to 4x8 ft. Despite the plethora of real estate, the pups still choo...

It's all about interacting this week!  “The Jigsaw Puzzle”   The pups are spending a great deal of time playing and interacting with their siblings, so we’ll be expanding their living quarters very soon. In  the meantime,  they have gym memberships thanks to an elaborate play station and numerous plush toys at their disposal. While all of that is certainly fun, one of our favourite things is to watch them sleep. They have the most unique sleeping arrangements from the standard sibling pile where they’re all piled up in a heap to being interlocked in the most elaborate of jigsaw puzzles or Rubik’s cube to synchronized sleeping where they lie front to back, front to back and so on. To help the puppies continue to bulk up, they had their first raw feeding of hormone and antibiotic-free meat with organic vegetables, pro-biotics, vitamin supplements including vitamin C, bovine colostrum and Puppy Gold for eye and immune system development, goat’s milk and plain...