Golden Retriever puppies Archives

Our Litter Of Golden Retriever Pups – Week 8

Nov 9, 2017 By Colby 15 Comments

On November 9th, 2016 Raven gave birth to 6 beautiful Golden Retriever puppies.

Happy Birthday, Berlin, Koru Bear, Buster, Patriot, Spirit, and Gunner!

YAY! We’ve finally reached the finale! Week 8 with our litter of Golden Retriever puppies!

If this is your first time visiting our series about our litter of Golden Retriever puppies then first start by checking out week 1 with our Golden Retriever pups.

There were some big milestones during week 8 including:

Temperament Testing.
We had to make our final decision on which 3 puppies we’d raise as service dogs.
It was time to send our puppies to their new homes. 🙁

Without further adieu lets get on with week 8 of Golden cuteness!

Want to know what you should do during your first week home with a new puppy? Check out our post on what to expect from your 8 week old puppy.

Golden Retriever Pups Week 8

We decided to bring home a litter of stuffed Golden Retriever puppies from IKEA. That makes 12 puppies in this litter!

QUICK TIP: One thing we always do is get the scent of the litter mates on a plush toy and send it home with new owners. This way puppy’s will have a similar smell when they get to their new home. Our favorite toy for getting the scent of the litter is the Snuggle Puppy w/ heartbeat and heat pack. While it can’t replace a littermate it’s the next closest thing.

I love the little guy in the bottom right corner 🙂

Golden puppy pile x2 - Can you tell which are real? — Golden puppy pile x2 – Can you tell which are real?

Everyone continues to grow at an accelerated rate.

To get an idea of how big these puppies will be when full grown, Mommy Raven weighed about 70 lbs and Daddy weighed about 90 lbs.

Puppy	Shave Mark	Color	Weight (Day 50)
Liberty (Berlin)	Right Back Leg	Green	10 lb 15 oz
Tank (Bear)	Left Back Leg	Black	12 lb 12 oz
Trooper (Buster)	Right Shoulder	Red	11 lb 1 oz
Patriot	Left Shoulder	Blue	13 lb 9 oz
Spirit	Lower Back	Pink	11 lb 11 oz
Gunner	Upper Back	Brown	12 lb 4 oz

Half of our Golden Retriever puppies went home on day 54.

Two days shy of their 8 week birthday.

Here’s their final weight the day our 3 little guys and gal went home:

Liberty (Berlin): 12.6 lbs
Tank (Bear): 14.5 lbs
Trooper (Buster): 12.4 lbs
Patriot: 15.5 lbs
Spirit: 13.3 lbs
Gunner: 13.9 lbs

Golden Puppies Week #8 Highlights

Day 53 – Temperament Testing

Lets start with temperament testing.

We took each puppy individually and did a rigorous (ehh, not really) test to find out which puppies would be best suited to do service dog work.

We already had a general idea of each puppy’s temperament based on observation over the past 8 weeks.

Overall there wasn’t a lot of variance between our Golden puppies on the ten temperament tests we performed.

However, there were two tests that stood out:

The Retrieve Test – We crumpled up a piece of paper next to our puppy to get his attention. When we got our puppy’s attention we threw the paper about 5 feet from the puppy then observed his reaction.
The Umbrella Stability Test – We took an umbrella, opened it about 5 feet away from the puppy, and placed it in on the ground then observed the puppy’s reaction.

I mentioned we performed 10 tests, but the results of the above two ended up determining which puppies would be our next service dog puppies in training.

Day 54 – Choosing Our Service Dog Puppies In Training

And the our next service dog puppies in training are:

1. Liberty (Berlin) – While she performed about the same as all the other pups on every other test, Liberty stood out during the Umbrella Stability Test. She was the only puppy to enthusiastically approach the Umbrella. We knew from day 1 that Liberty was a confident puppy and had a good feeling that she would have no problem with the Umbrella. She lived up to our expectation boldly and playfully engaging the umbrella.

2. Tank (Bear) – One of the larger puppies in the litter, Bear was our little cuddly buddy. He did not do well on the Umbrella Stability Test and neither did three of his siblings. However, Bear was a standout when it came to the Retrieve Test. Bear was the only puppy to run out, pick up, and bring back the crumpled up piece of paper. Not only was he the only one to do it once he did it several times! I’ve read that Guide Dog Trainers have great faith in the Retrieve Test as it shows a willingness to work for the owners.

3. Trooper (Buster) – Our smallest puppy by over 3 lbs. Trooper was our mini-mite. Even though he was the smallest he may have been the mightiest as he was the first of only 2 puppies (Liberty was the other) to climb out of the whelping box. While not exhibiting the enthusiasm of Liberty during the Umbrella Stability test Trooper had a more curious attitude towards the opened Umbrella as he approached, sniffed, and explored showing a more calm demeanor then Liberty. While Liberty showed exuberant confidence, Trooper showed a more a quiet, calm confidence and that’s what I was looking for in a potential service dog puppy in training 🙂

Patriot, Spirit, and Gunner went home with the breeder and she found them homes as loving family pets.

*For your information:

The response for the other puppies on the Retrieve Test ranged from ignoring to grabbing and running off to play with the paper.
The response for the other puppies on the Umbrella Stability Test ranged from slowly moving away from the umbrella to cowering and running away from the umbrella.

The Golden Bear Puppy - Checking out different surfaces. — The Golden Bear Puppy – Checking out different surfaces.

Day 56 – Puppy Names

Since the beginning of this series you may have noticed I listed 2 names for some of these puppies.

After choosing our 3 service dog candidates we allowed the puppy raisers to rename the puppies with names starting with the letter “B” since these would be our “B” litter pups (Archer was our “A” litter puppy).

Read more about how we name guide/service dog puppies.

After 8 weeks with these adorable puppies they finally got to meet their puppy raisers.

Bear stayed with us while Buster and Berlin went to new homes.

Awww...Cuddly Golden Retriever puppies! — Awww…Cuddly Golden Retriever puppies! – Bear and Buster!

Our Golden Retriever “B” Litter – One Year Update

Where are they now?

1. Berlin – Our former first lady (she was first born), Liberty first went to a puppy raiser home until she was 16 weeks old. Unfortunately, I did not have a puppy raiser to work with her for the full 18 months. As luck would have it the breeder we partnered with for this Golden litter was looking for a female puppy as a potential breeding dog. She already knew Berlin’s lineage (obviously) and took her in as a future breeder.

2. Buster – Our former little “Trooper” went to his puppy raiser until he was 18 weeks old and after a falling out with the puppy raisers (these things happen) we decided it was best to re-home him. Again, we did not have a puppy raiser to train him and we looked to a service dog organization we volunteered with in the past. We contacted Tender Loving Canine Assistance Dogs, set up meeting to have Buster tested, and he passed with flying colors. They fell in love with Buster on the spot and adopted him into their POOCH program where he is being trained at a prison to be a service dog.

3. Koru Bear – AKA “Bear”. AKA “Tank”. We kept our lil Bear to train as a service dog. From the beginning we knew he was a little softy, but he past the retrieval test with flying colors so we had high hopes for him.

We started taking him on outings to the book store, grocery stores, and shopping malls.

He never showed the confidence we hoped and while he would eventually adapt to places after several visits he was always hesitant in new situations.

We continued to work on building Bear’s confidence by taking him on socialization outings and enrolling him in basic obedience class.

He continued to progress and we were hopeful his confidence would grow as we exposed him to new environments and worked on his training.

At the same time an opportunity arose and we had to make a decision with Bear.

Our friends had recently lost their long-time Golden Retriever, Sugar and also tragically lost a puppy they had adopted.

If Bear wasn’t going to make it as a service dog I’d have to find a home for him.

While I didn’t want to make this decision before his first birthday I also thought this could be the perfect home for him if he wasn’t meant to be a service dog.

After discussing with my wife we decided to see if our friends were interested in adopting Bear.

They said YES! And the rest is history.

You can follow Koru Bear’s adventures on his blog, Facebook page, and Instagram.

Heck, he has a huge following cheering for him every step of the way!

Once again, Happy Birthday to our Golden Litter!

That concludes our 8 week journey with our Golden puppies!

Just in case you missed any of the other blog posts in the series:

Week 1 – Six Golden Retriever puppies are born!
Week 2 – Pups eyes are opening starting to waddle.
Week 3 – First bark! Good or Bad…Adorable 🙂
Week 4 – Little guys are starting to eat solid foods.
Week 5 – Puppies love car rides…in the laundry basket 🙂
Week 6 – Fluffy, cute, adorable…that’s a 6 week old puppy!
Week 7 – The great puppy escape artists!
Week 8 – This is Week 8!

I hope you enjoyed our pics and insights into raising a Golden Retriever litter.

Raising a litter of puppies is a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. Definitely not for the faint at heart.

As our Golden puppies head to their new homes we wanted to give their new families a few tips by sharing one of our favorite articles on how to handle a puppy’s first night home. Best of luck to Raven’s first litter of lil’ Goldens.

If you have any questions or comments please leave us a note in the comment section below.

Are you about to bring home an 8 week old Golden Retriever puppy? If so, Puppies for Dummies is a good starting point for learning the basics of how to raise and train a puppy.

Our litter of Golden Retriever puppies week 8. Time to say goodbye to some of our lovely puppies. We trained these guys to be service dogs, but they won’t all make the cut. One of our last items on our list was temperament testing the litter. #temperamenttest #goldenpuppies #goldenretriever #litterofpuppies #servicedogintraining #puppyintraining — Our litter of Golden Retriever puppies – week 8

Our Litter Of Golden Retriever Pups – Week 5

Oct 6, 2017 By Colby 4 Comments

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 equals bigger poops and more mess to cleanup.

Anyhoo…on to week 5!

QUICK RECOMMENDATION: If your 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 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

5 Week Old Golden Puppies Play in 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 where the puppies favorite doggy bed as well as a wonderful new chew toy! Oh, and on rare occasion they’d use their pee pads as they were intended…for pee-pee and poo-poo 🙂

Golden Puppies - Pee Pads or Puppy Beds? — Golden Puppies – Pee Pads or Puppy Beds?

Day #33 – Introducing the litter to new sounds

We started bringing more unusual sounds in and around the whelping box.

One in particular were 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 then ever and the poopies are piling up!

That being said these little fur balls are fun, fun, fun…did I mention they are a 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 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.

Our litter of Golden Retriever puppies week five. Week 5 marks a time when we turn the socialization up into high gear. We get the pups used to new sounds, take them for car rides, and started working a little on their potty training. #goldenpuppies #goldenretrievers #litterofpuppies #goldenretrieverpuppy #retrieverpuppies #litterofgoldens #puppypottytraining — Our litter of Golden Retriever puppies week five.

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.

Our Litter Of Golden Retriever Pups – Week 4

Aug 16, 2017 By Colby 10 Comments

Golden Retriever Puppies - Week 4 — Golden Retriever Puppies – Week 4

I hope you’re still following the eight week journey of our Golden Retriever puppies.

If not, and this is your first time to the site you’ll probably want to take a look back at Week 1 , Week 2, and Week 3.

On to week #4!

Here’s what happens with a litter of Golden Retriever pups in week 4:

Golden Retriever Pups Week 4

All the weeks we spent with our six little Golden pups were a joy, but week 4 just might be my favorite.

Puppies are adorably cute at 4 weeks and they are interacting and starting to show personality.

Meanwhile Raven was still being a good mama and cleaning up the poop and pee messes and generally keeping a tidy whelping box.

If you want to see the puppies in action we shot all the video in this sponsored video for the Carlson Portable Pet Pen during week 4 (except for the clips of Bear at 5 months old):

See what I mean about adorably cute!

One of the most important things is to make sure all the puppies are gaining weight.

For 8 weeks I weighed all 6 puppies once a day.

Here’s the Day 22 weight chart:

Puppy	Shave Mark	Color	Weight (Day 22)
Liberty (Berlin)	Right Back Leg	Green	3 lb 12.5 oz
Tank (Bear)	Left Back Leg	Black	4 lb 2.5 oz
Trooper (Buster)	Right Shoulder	Red	3 lb 8 oz
Patriot	Left Shoulder	Blue	4 lb 4 oz
Spirit	Lower Back	Pink	4 lb 3.5 oz
Gunner	Upper Back	Brown	3 lb 13 oz

Our chunky Tank got passed up by Patriot and Spirit! Meanwhile Trooper dropped to the back of the pack.

All pups were gaining weight everyday which was a good sign.

I forgot to mention that before Raven had her puppies we looked for a small scale to weigh the puppies.

Most of the scales we came across had a 10 lb limit.

We knew that the puppies would likely exceed 10 lbs before we sent them off to their forever homes so we researched and found a baby scale that we figured we’d be able to use when Emma arrived.

We purchased this baby toddler scale and it worked great with all our puppies.

We’re now using it to track Emma’s weight and since it has a 45 pound capacity she’ll have to share with any new litters. 🙂

Golden Puppies Week #4 Highlights

Day 22 – Nail Clipping

Golden Pups Week 4 - Cradling while trimming puppy nails — Golden Pups Week 4 – Cradling while trimming puppy nails

Puppy nails/claws get sharp in a hurry.

I started clipping nails once a week with regular human nail clippers.

When cutting nails I only cut to the part where the nail starts to curve.

The puppies all did well during nail trimming sessions and it also gave me a chance to handle all four paws getting the pups used to relaxing with humans.

Day 26 – Walking On New Surfaces

Now that the puppies were stable and walking more normal I started introducing them to new surfaces.

We were able to get them out on the dirt, grass and concrete in the backyard.

The little guys are a bit cautious as it’s much different then walking on the safe confines of the whelping mat, but eventually they forgot about the surface, played, and explored.

Golden Pups Week 4 - Puppies exploring new surfaces. — Golden Pups Week 4 – Puppies exploring new surfaces.

We also start introducing our pups to the crate and start working on teaching them calm behavior while in the crate.

Day 27 – Solid Food…Kinda…

This was the first day I introduced solid food.

It’s actually very funny because the puppies have no idea what it is until they eventually shove their faces in the mush.

I took their regular puppy kibble, soaked it in hot water for 10 minutes, and smashed it up into a mush.

Like I said the puppies really don’t know what’s going on until eventually their nose hits the mush and they start chomping away.

One of the early problems is making sure everyone gets an equal (or close to) amount of food.

We allowed the puppies to eat their solid food and still nurse throughout the day.

We didn’t start weaning the puppies until around week 6.

Just in case you were wondering we fed our puppies Wellness Core Natural Grain Free Puppy Food.

Why Wellness Core Grain Free Puppy Formula?

We feed the older dogs Wellness Core Grain Free Original Formula so we figured the transition from the puppy formula to the original formula would be easier on the pups when the time came to move away from puppy food.

Okay guys and gals that’s a wrap!

Golden Retriever pups week #4 is in the books!

Check out our other Golden Retriever puppy growth week by week blog posts:

Week 1 – Six Golden Retriever puppies are born!
Week 2 – Pups eyes are opening starting to waddle.
Week 3 – First bark! Good or Bad…Adorable 🙂
Week 4 – This is Week 4!
Week 5 – Puppies love car rides…in the laundry basket 🙂
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 tell us a little about your experiences.

Have you ever had the chance to raise a litter or meet a 4 week old puppy?

Tell us about your experiences in the comment section below.

Are you expecting a litter of Golden Retriever puppies? If so, you should check out Puppy Culture DVD and Workbook to help you get started.

Did you just bring home an adorable 8 week old Golden Retriever puppy? If so, Puppies for Dummies is a great book that will give you the basics on how to raise and train your new puppy.

Our litter of Golden Retriever puppies week 4. Our Golden puppies are quite adorable at week 4 and not as messy as they will be in weeks 5-8. These Golden pups get their nails trimmed every week and learn to walk on new surfaces in preparation for service dog work. #servicedogpuppy #goldenretrieverpuppy #goldenpuppies #puppyintraining #litterofpuppies #goldenretrievers — Our litter of Golden Retriever puppies – week 4

If you’re preparing for a litter of puppies you might want to check out our whelping checklist and make sure you have everything you need before your puppies arrive.

Our Litter Of Golden Retriever Pups – Week 2

May 25, 2017 By Colby 4 Comments

Our litter of Golden Retriever Puppies Week Two — Golden Retriever Puppies Week Two

Welcome to week two starring Raven and her litter of Golden Retriever pups! Week 2 marks several key milestones in puppy development.

In case you missed it here’s a link back to week 1 of our Golden Puppies.

A few things to note about the first couple weeks of puppyhood:

- I was lucky enough to be there to whelp Raven’s first litter and all the puppies came out happy and healthy, but I was still a bit nervous during those early weeks as I was told puppies cannot regulate their temperature so I wanted to make sure their living quarters were not too hot or too cold.
- I slept the first few nights right next to the whelping box to make sure everyone was doing well.
- The puppies did great during week 2, but Raven developed mastitis. Luckily we were able to treat her with antibiotics and heat compressions and she made a full recovery, but scary none the less.

Our Golden pups hit a couple huge milestones during week 2. Read on to see what happened with our Golden litter…

QUICK RECOMMENDATION: If you’re thinking about getting a Golden puppy we highly recommend reading Puppies for Dummies before getting a puppy. We read the 1st edition before bringing home our first puppy, Linus over 14 years ago!

Golden Retriever Pups Week 2

When the pups were born we marked them with shave marks on different spots on their bodies.

As they got older we gave the pups names and collars to differentiate them from each other.

Puppies were born a couple days after Veterans Day so we went with a Veteran’s Day theme for our puppy names.

Here’s our puppy chart:

Puppy	Shave Mark	Color	Weight (Day 8)
Liberty (Berlin)	Right Back Leg	Green	1 lb 12.5 oz
Tank (Bear)	Left Back Leg	Black	2 lb 2 oz
Trooper (Buster)	Right Shoulder	Red	1 lb 15 oz
Patriot	Left Shoulder	Blue	2 lb 2 oz
Spirit	Lower Back	Pink	1 lb 13.5 oz
Gunner	Upper Back	Brown	1 lb 14.5 oz

Day 8 – Ohhhh…The Puppy Piles!

The result of puppies sleeping close together to keep warm?

Puppy Piles! Puppy Piles! Puppy Piles!

You’re going to see lots of puppy piles throughout this series of posts, but there’s nothing wrong with that…is there?

This little Golden Puppy found the perfect head warmers...SIBLINGS! — This little Golden Puppy found the perfect head warmers…SIBLINGS!

Day 11 – Eyes Wide Open!

What an exciting day for me and the pups.

I started noticing the puppies eyes opening for the first time on Day 11.

It’s not super dramatic you just start to see the eyes cracking open a little bit.

You’ll see a lot of pictures of pups with eyes wide open by the start of week 3.

Golden Retriever puppies opened their eyes during week 2/

Day 13 – Puppies Start Walking…I Mean Waddling 🙂

Puppies started walking on day 13…if you can call it walking.

It’s more like waddling, but as adorable as can be.

No more army crawl for these cute munchkins!

Two or our Golden puppies, Bear and Buster.

And that’s the end of week two for our Golden Retriever Pups!

Lets do a quick recap:

Puppy Piles are adorable 🙂
Puppies eyes start to open.
Puppies start to walk/waddle.
An end to the army crawl.

Week 2 of our series on Golden Retriever puppy growth week by week is in the books!

Check out our other Golden Retriever puppy growth week by week growth charts:

Week 1 – Six Golden Retriever puppies are born!
Week 2 -This is Week 2!
Week 3 – First bark! Good or Bad…Adorable 🙂
Week 4 – Little guys are starting to eat solid foods.
Week 5 – Puppies love car rides…in the laundry basket 🙂
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 how about your guys?

Have you ever raised a litter of Golden Retriever puppies?

Or maybe you have a litter of puppies coming soon. If so, you might want to take a look at our whelping checklist to make sure you have all the supplies you’ll need when your puppies arrive.

If you have any questions or comments please leave us note in the comment section below.

If you are about to raise a litter of puppies we highly suggest Puppy Culture DVD and Workbook to get your started.

Maybe you’re checking out adorable pics of Golden puppies because you’re preparing for a Golden baby of your own? Puppies for Dummies will give you the basics on how to raise and train your new puppy.

Our litter of Golden Retriever puppies week two. Lots of milestones during week two in a puppies life. Eyes and ears start opening. Of course one of the greatest things…you get to see the first puppy waddles AKA walking. #goldenretrieverpuppy #goldenretrieverpuppies #litterofpuppies #litterofpuppiestips #puppylitter — Our litter of Golden Retriever puppies week two.

Golden Retriever Puppy Growth Week By Week Pictures

Jan 28, 2017 By Colby 17 Comments

This was the first time we had a chance to chart puppies from birth until 8 weeks old.

We tried to take as many pictures as possible so we could have a journal of our Golden Retriever puppy growth week by week.

When raising guide and service dog puppies we usually bring home our puppies at around 7-8 weeks old.

On occasion we are allowed to see puppies before 8 weeks of age, but they need to stay with their mother and siblings during those important early weeks to get milk and antibodies from mama and learn how to interact properly with siblings, learning important behaviors like bite inhibition.

Our experience with puppies from birth to 8 weeks old was limited at best.

During our days as a foster we raised two litters of puppies, but both were already 3-4 weeks old by the time we got them home.

More recently we had the opportunity to meet Archer’s litter when they were 4 weeks old and then again at 6 weeks to do temperament testing.

Unless you get the opportunity to raise a litter of puppies it’s unlikely you will get to see much of the early stages of puppyhood.

The good news is I’m going to share my pics and experiences with Raven’s Litter from birth until 8 weeks old.

QUICK TIP: If you’re raising a litter of puppies check out Puppy Culture DVD which has tons of great tips for raising a litter of puppies. We actually own the Puppy Culture DVD and Workbook which includes charts, lists, worksheets and other great information for raising your litter.

If you’re raising a litter of puppies don’t limit yourself to just the information in the Puppy Culture DVD and Workbook (or any single source). We (and so should you) gleaned information from DVDs, YouTube Videos, White Papers, Websites, Mentors, Trainers, and Personal Experience.

Keep your eyes and ears open and absorb it all like a sponge!

Golden Retriever Puppy Growth Week By Week Pics

Our litter of Golden Retriever Puppies Week One

I’d love to make this one long post chronicling our Golden Retriever puppies growth week by week for all 8 weeks, but it would probably amount to over 50 pics and a very slow loading page so instead I’m breaking this into 8 blog posts (one post for each week) that will include my notes and 3-5 pics from that week.

Birth To 1 Week Old

Guess what? This was the first litter we ever whelped!? We got a lot of advise, but we were largely on our own.

UPDATE: We’ve now raised two Golden Retriever litters, a German Shepherd Mix litter, and Chihuahua litter for a total of 23 puppies!

At some point in time I’ll put together a quick guide on whelping a litter of Golden puppies, but until then let me tell you a few quick items we purchased and built:

Whelping Kit for 12 Puppies – this kit came in super handy. I wasn’t sure how many puppies we’d have so I ordered the 12 puppy kit.
Large Puppy Dish – great for feeding the puppies when they moved to solid food.
Whelping Mats – we ordered 2 of these mats and washed them several times a day.
Whelping Box – Our friends really like the EZWhelp Fab System Whelping Box. We have a homemade whelping box built by my father-in-law, but if we continue raising litters I plan on purchasing an EZWhelp Whelping Box.

UPDATE: Guess what guys and gals? We recently put together a whelping checklist with all the supplies we gathered together to help out with our second litter of Golden Retriever puppies. Check out our whelping supplies checklist here.

One Week Old Golden Puppy - Keeping his head warm — One Week Old Golden Puppy – Keeping his head warm

Puppy Weight Chart:

Birth:

Largest Puppy: 1 lb .5 ounces
Smallest Puppy: 1 lb

When these guys were born they were tiny! However, none were overly huge and none were extra small. No runts and no beasts.

Day 1 – The Umbilical Cord

One week old Golden Retriever puppy and her umbilical cord

One of my jobs when helping deliver Raven’s litter was to make sure she didn’t chew down the umbilical cord too far. It was my understanding that when the cord was chewed down to the base of the belly it was sometimes difficult to get it to stop bleeding.

I took the hemostat and pinched the umbilical cord about 2 inches from the base of the pups belly then cut the cord rather than let Raven chew it off.

I kept the hemostat on the cord for about 2 minutes to let it clout. The umbilical cord dries up quickly and then within a day or 2 it falls off.

Day 3 – Mama And Puppies Need Rest

Mama and Golden Retriever Puppy face to face.

Life of a 3 day old puppy: Sleep, Eat, Pee/Poop. Repeat. Raven was a good mama and took care of her poops.

She stayed in the whelping box almost the entire first week only taking breaks to pee/poop and eat her own meals.

Puppy eyes and ears are closed at this stage and puppies army crawl around the whelping box looking for a teat to suckle.

By the way, did you know I had to increase Raven’s food by 3-4 times during the nursing period!

Day 5 – The Puppy Piles

Puppies cannot regulate their own body temperatures and it’s important to make sure they stay warm.

We did everything we could to make sure our pups stayed warm by adding a 150 watt heat lamp to the whelping box and portable heating unit in the puppy room.

As I mentioned Raven stayed in the whelping box most of week 1 and of course…the puppy piles!

A few other notes from week 1:

Something to note about pee/poop. Raven had to lick the her puppies butt/genital areas to stimulate her pups to pee and poop. One thing I learned is if I had a puppy on my lap then do not let Raven lick those areas or be prepared for a little accident on your lap.
As well as stimulating the puppies to pee/poop, Mama Raven cleaned all the green gunk off of the pups when they were born and was diligent about keeping the whelping box clean by licking up any area soiled by her newborn puppies.
While caring for Raven and her litter Raven was really blowing out her coat that first week, but as time went on it slowed down. I heard from other friends this is common and that Raven blew out her coat much less than other mama dogs.
UPDATE: After raising our second litter I learned the importance of Probiotics. We got Probiotics for Raven before her first litter, but forgot to order them for her second litter. After an upset stomach for the first week or so we realized our mistake, got Probiotics, and no more upset tummy. 🙂 We gave Raven the Purina FortiFlora Probiotic.

One Week Old Golden Retriever Puppy Butts

So week 1 of our series on Golden Retriever pups is in the books! Check out our other Golden Retriever puppy growth week by week blog posts:

Week 1 – This is Week 1!
Week 2 – Pups eyes are opening starting to waddle.
Week 3 – First bark! Good or Bad…Adorable 🙂
Week 4 – Little guys are starting to eat solid foods.
Week 5 – Puppies love car rides…in the laundry basket 🙂
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.

Have you ever had a litter of Golden Retriever puppies?

Tell us about your experiences with puppies in the comment section below.

Are you about to raise a litter of puppies? We highly suggest Puppy Culture DVD and Workbook to get your started.

Not raising a litter, but getting ready to bring home your first Golden Retriever puppy? Puppies for Dummies will give you the basics on how to raise and train your new puppy.

UPDATE: I was recently asked when we start weaning and what do we feed our puppies. Check out Week 4 when you have a moment…hint: we start feeding our puppies Wellness Core Puppy Formula mixed with warm water for about 10 minutes at around 4 weeks old 🙂

One Week Old Golden Retriever Puppies Growth Stages and Pictures — One Week Old Golden Retriever Puppies Growth Stages

Are Golden Retriever Puppies The Cutest?

Jan 16, 2013 By Colby 25 Comments

Maybe I’m biased, but I think Golden Retriever puppies are the cutest darn things ever! Or maybe it’s just shiny new object syndrome because I’m pretty sure all puppies are cute. Anyhow, you guys have to check out this picture of our latest shiny new object: Clover!

A soon to be new puppy owner found our site and had several questions for us about bringing home a new puppy. We think that’s great because the more questions you get answered before you get your puppy the better off you are.

So without further adieu…introducing:

Clover The Golden Retriever Puppy

Cute Golden Retriever Puppy — Are Golden Retrievers pups like Clover the cutest?

So what do you think? Is she the cutest little thing ever? Not sure yet. Well take a look at this overhead shot:

Yep, she’s pretty darn cute. We’ve been raising and training Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers for our guide dog school over the past 6 years. We even had a Golden Retriever growing up. A few years ago we compiled a list to try and figure out which dogs make good family dogs and once again Golden Retrievers rose to the top of the list!

Of course without teaching your puppy basic obedience, socialization, and good house manners it doesn’t really matter what breed you bring home. So make sure to start your training from day 1 (or even start reading up before you bring home your puppy like Clover’s family did) and stay consistent, persistent, and patient when training your puppy.

How about you guys? We’d love to see pictures of your puppies! If you’d like to share a picture of your puppy please feel free to post to our Facebook Timeline or upload one through our contact form.

Do you think Golden Retriever puppies are the cutest? Tell us about it in the comment section below.