Our Litter Of Golden Retriever Pups – Week 5
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We finally hit the backside of our 8 weeks with our Golden Retriever pups!
Week 5 marked the beginning of crazy, rambunctious puppies. Well not really crazy, but maybe so if you compare them to puppies week 1-4.
They are still a ton of fun, but bigger puppies equal bigger poops and more mess to clean up.
Anyhoo…on to week 5!
QUICK RECOMMENDATION: If you’re getting ready to bring home your own Golden Retriever puppy then we highly recommend reading Puppies for Dummies. It’s a great book that will help you on your journey of raising and training your puppy.
Golden Retriever Pups – Week 5
I notice I have fewer notes in my notebook as the weeks moved forward.
This was probably a result of more time spent cleaning up poop and less time observing and analyzing puppy behavior.
One thing I did continue was keeping track of puppy weights.
Here’s our chart for Day 29:
| Puppy | Shave Mark | Color | Weight (Day 29) |
| Liberty (Berlin) | Right Back Leg | Green | 4 lbs 15 oz |
| Tank (Bear) | Left Back Leg | Black | 5 lbs 4.5 oz |
| Trooper (Buster) | Right Shoulder | Red | 4 lbs 9 oz |
| Patriot | Left Shoulder | Blue | 5 lbs 7 oz |
| Spirit | Lower Back | Pink | 5 lbs 1.5 oz |
| Gunner | Upper Back | Brown | 5 lbs 0.5 oz |
Yep, the puppies continue to grow at an accelerated rate.
These guys are projecting to be bigger than expected. Here are a few highlights from week 5:
Golden Puppies Week #5 Highlights
We kept working on socializing these little guys having friends and family stop by regularly to handle and play with these little guys.
For your information, if you ever have a litter of puppies, not to worry it’s not too difficult to get “volunteers” to help socialize your pups.
Day #29 – Car rides in the laundry basket
We continue to take our Golden pups out for car rides in the laundry basket.
Note to self: this laundry basket will soon be too small for this litter of puppies.
Day #30 – Pee pads? Good or bad idea for our litter of pups?
Experiment: We added some pee-pee pads to the whelping box in hopes that the pups would naturally do their business on the pads and keep their poopies away from their sleeping quarters…
Results: The pee-pee pads were the puppy’s favorite doggy bed as well as a wonderful new chew toy! Oh, and on the rare occasion, they’d use their pee pads as they were intended…for pee-pee and poo-poo 🙂
Day #33 – Introducing the litter to new sounds
We started bringing more unusual sounds in and around the whelping box.
One, in particular, was spoons, pots, and pans.
Everyone hesitated but recovered well after hearing these new sounds.
That’s a wrap for week #5! Our puppies are more mobile than ever and the poopies are piling up!
That being said these little fur balls are fun, fun, fun…did I mention they are fun?
In case you missed our other posts about our litter of Golden Retriever pups take a look back at past weeks:
- Week 1 – Six Golden Retriever puppies are born!
- Week 2 – Pups’ eyes are opening and starting to waddle.
- Week 3 – First bark! Good or Bad…Adorable 🙂
- Week 4 – Little guys are starting to eat solid foods.
- Week 5 – This is Week 5!
- Week 6 – Fluffy, cute, adorable…that’s a 6-week-old puppy!
- Week 7 – The great puppy escape artists!
- Week 8 – Our golden puppies head to their new homes.
So what do you guys think?
Have you ever raised a litter of puppies?
What was your experience like?
Tell us your story in the comment section below.
If you’re prepping for a litter of puppies you want to check out Puppy Culture DVD and Workbook. Great information on raising a litter of puppies from beginning to end.
On the other hand, if you’re about to bring home your first Golden puppy then you’ll want to check out Puppies for Dummies. A great book that will give you a solid foundation for raising and training your puppy.
Are you getting ready for your first litter of puppies?
If so make sure you gather all the whelping supplies you’ll need for newborn puppies at least 2 weeks prior to their due date. We’ve had a couple of litters arrive several days early.
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Check out more of our favorites on our New Puppy Checklist.
The early weeks raising the litter was easier then raising a single puppy because mom takes care of most of the care and cleanup. However, starting around week 5/6 the pups get very active and get very messy…just think poop wars…
My first dog, Linus threw up every time we road in the car for the first couple weeks. It wasn’t fun. Hopefully getting the puppies in the car early helped these guys adjust more quickly to riding in the car.
The puppies grew fast as you’ll see when we get to week 8!
Having never raised a single puppy, let alone a litter, it’s very interesting to see their growth. Such cuties, I look forward to the next weeks post.
I’m surprised that there is a such a difference in weight so early on! 1 lb difference is a lot for a little 4-5 lb. puppy. So interesting! And great idea taking the puppies in the car so early. My friend got a foster dog and he threw up all over the car…I assume the dog didn’t ride in the car when he was little. 🙂 Probably more comforting for the puppies with their brothers and sisters in the car with them. Can’t wait to see what week 6 is like!