We are catching up on sleep and are very proud of Mocha’s mothering skills. She is fantastic with her babies! For those who were waiting until after the birth to see if enough females were born, we had six girls born, and we have 2 female deposits available. There was a chance that pickup day was going to be Labor Day weekend, but it looks like it will be the weekend after now. Please text us if you are interested in one of these females. Have a great Friday!
Mocha got her puppy count X-ray yesterday, and I’m going to guess there are 9 puppies. She is doing well, and we are getting her puppy area setup little by little.
I love this part of canine pregnancy. Mocha’s belly is very large, and she just trots around like it’s nothing. Any crazy antics are muted, and we all just try to feel for puppies moving and enjoy the calm before the sleep deprived puppy “shower” (I can’t bear to call it a storm, because I really love it). We’ve got just under 2 weeks until her due date! Whiskey and Rye got their CHIC numbers, which is a fancy ID number a dog gets when they complete all of OFA’s recommended tests. Toffee has passed her hips, elbows, and heart with flying colors, and she will get an updated eye exam soon. Happy early 4rth of July!
The ultrasounds showed that Mocha is pregnant, but Rye is not. Rye had some excess mucous in her uterus that could be any number of things. The vet thinks she has a chance at conceiving on her next cycle so we will try again next time. Whiskey, Rye, and Mocha completed and passed their OFA heart and eye exams, so all OFA’s are current. Limited Registration deposits are now open. Please text me if you are interested in one of Mocha’s pups, and I will get back to you to schedule an interview or to tell you that we have filled deposits. I will do my best to respond to everyone eventually! These pups will probably be going home around Labor day Weekend, if all goes well. Happy Father’s Day Weekend!
Whiskey, Rye, and Mocha will be completing their yearly OFA Eye and Heart exams on June 13th, and Rye and Mocha will be getting a pregnancy ultrasound on the 16th. Mocha got out of her enclosure during her heat cycle and tied with Whiskey once, so there is a chance that she is currently pregnant and will have pups ahead of our originally scheduled plan. She is showing signs of pregnancy along with Rye (though dogs can have false pregnancies), so they both will be checked. Mocha will complete her Orthopedic OFA’s after she turns two in November, and her pups will be covered by our health guarantee just as if she had already completed her testing. Both Mocha’s parents were tested and cleared, and she is very athletic and strong, so we are not worried about her passing.
As the opening of the deposits for limited registration draws nearer, I’ve been receiving texts inquiring about the deposit process. We have about 70 people waiting in our approved applicants pool for a puppy at this point. However, there is no telling who has moved on and found a pup elsewhere this year. 4 females are reserved already via Full Registration and Priority Limited Registration, so any more pre-birth female deposits that we accept will need to be comfortable with a pup from either litter. The two guardian homes that we have had lined up for over 6 months, have both communicated that they are unable to commit to a puppy from these litters due to a change in life circumstances. We plan to keep at least one if not two girls from Whiskey and Rye’s litter if she has enough, and one from Mocha’s, but we will need guardians for them eventually. If you have any interest or willingness to participate in our guardianship program, please fill out a Guardianship Application. Keeping these girls is foundational to our program, and we know they would get more attention being with their own individual families. We plan to announce the results of the ultrasound Friday, June 17th, and we will begin scheduling deposit interviews at that point. Anyone who is interested in Guardianship, Full Registration, or Priority Limited Registration is welcome to text us at any point to put down a deposit BEFORE the ultrasound. Phew! Thanks for reading (or skimming) through all that! Hopefully we’ve got a couple of good sized litters on our hands, and if not, we’ve got some beautiful girls coming up who will hopefully drop some pretty pups early in 2023!
We have completed a successful artificial insemination with Whiskey and Rye! I have not caught them in a tie with my own eyes, but they were doing their best at trying for one for the past two days. She’s a little tall, and he’s inexperienced, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. There is a good chance we’ll have pups regardless of a tie taking place because of the successful AI. We will get an ultrasound around June 5th, and we’ll keep you updated.
We are working on our website, so things might shift a bit. We have added a “Priority AKC Limited Registration” option for families who have more specific timelines for getting a puppy or for clients who are pursueing service dogs and need to have more specific needs met in the puppy placement process and don’t want to wait until we open limited registration deposits to solidify their place in line. We also have several girls in Guardianship who will begin their testing soon, and we hope to keep the wait time for puppies down to a minimum once 2023 hits. We’re doing our best to plan and accommodate as many people as we can, but even the best laid plans don’t always come to fruition as hoped. We are having fun growing and working for a better future program regardless of the results though, and we wish you a happy rest of your week!
Rye went into heat a couple days ago! It’s two months earlier than we expected, so we hope it goes smoothly. We plan to match her with Whiskey if all goes well, and we’ll update everyone once a breeding takes place with a timeline for the ultrasound. Limited registration deposits will open after the ultrasound if it is successful. These pups will go home at the end of August, if the breeding produces a successful pregnancy.
Hello! First off, we are proud to say that both Whiskey and Rye completed their final OFA X-Rays on their hips and elbows, and they were both good! We will be updating their eyes and heart for the year soon as well. The next litter will probably be Whiskey and Rye. We planned to use Tank until Whiskey completed his tests, and Whiskey has passed with flying colors. We’re now just waiting for Rye to go into heat again.
Second, Toffee was bred to Bridger from Red Prairie Retrievers over a month ago, but her ultrasound showed no pups, so we’ll try again in August, which might mean Christmas puppies! Both guardians that we had lined out for the next litter have decided that they aren’t quite ready to have a pup yet, so we will probably have a space or two for female guardian families. If you are interested, please fill out the guardian application. We like to wait until pups are born to see if any of them catch our eye, but let us know if you are interested. We are planning and hoping to be back in the Dallas area between 2024 and 2025 if that makes a difference for anyone who might be on the fence about participating in that program.
Third, we would like to announce that the text updates have not been working as well as we had hoped. We will still text and save the phone numbers of our approved applicants, but after this litter, we will go back to primarily using this blog for updates. We will post about it on our social media as well.
Lastly, our dogs in Guardianship seem to be doing very well, and several will be turning two this fall. Their heat cycles have established themselves, and we hope to provide several patient families with some beautiful pups. Thank you to everyone who has shown us support these past couple years! We hope to meet several of you soon!
Hello! Today we are testing out some mass texting technology, and I fear it might have doubled up on some texts for people, or may not have gone through to all of our Approved Applicants. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we appreciate everyone’s patience during this learning curve. If you know you are an approved applicant, but you didn’t receive a text today, please text us so we can get that fixed.
Toffee is expecting her heat cycle this month. We will hopefully have an update for you about a breeding by the end of the month. If not, hopefully it will be in March! Today is Ryes 2nd birthday, and it was supposed to be Whiskey’s birthday as well had he been born on his due date. So, Happy Birthday to my bestest pups, and Happy Ground Hog Day to you all!
Wednesday evening, Rye gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. He was a little big for her (1.2 lbs.), and I had to pull him out by his hind feet that were just barely sticking out after she had been pushing for an hour, but everything went fairly well. Turns out that Rye is a super cuddler when she is in labor. She followed me everywhere and kept trying to crawl into my lap and give me all the kisses. This birth was during a big snow storm, and though I was nervous about the logistics of everything if there were complications, I was reminded of how blessed I am that I get to witness and help these beautiful dogs bring new life into the world. Thank you to everyone else who enjoys having Goldens in their lives, because it enables me to do something that I absolutely love! Thank you to everyone who was wishing us luck and praying for a safe delivery!
