Eyes Wide Open!

Look, I'm 12 days old and I'm the first one to open my eyes!!!

Puppy Progress

Right from birth, we identified the puppies in order of birth by marking them each with a different colored string around their necks.  This is useful to identify them so that we can weigh them and keep track of each one's progress.  We enter the weight into a spreadsheet, to keep track on this graph below:

Week 1 progress - they are all doing well!!

Puppy's are 1 week old!

Well, it's been a busy week here at the Bates' household!  

Our biggest puppy!!

We've been doing extra laundry, making sure Daisy has plenty of food and water, outdoor time and alone moments with her family while babies are sleeping.   While she steps out for a moment, don't think those puppies are left alone for long!  Our whole family can't get enough puppy time. They are SOOOOOO sweet! Daisy Mae has proven to be a VERY attentive and excellent Mama!  We are constantly amazed at the individual care and gentleness she gives to those 10 little puppies. 

Every morning and evening the puppies get weighed to make sure they are progressing nicely.  We have had a bit of a challenging week because two of our lowest weight females were not gaining at all.  We were giving them extra time alone nursing (a head start) while the others waited patiently in a separate heating pad lined box.  After a visit to the vets, we've been bottle feeding every two hours, day and night.  Needless to say, we are tired, but we're happy to announce that for three days in a row they each have been gaining at least an ounce - which is HUGE for them!  Yay!!  All of the other puppies are growing by leaps and bounds.  Our biggest puppy was 17.6 oz. at birth and as of today is 25 oz!  It's quite amazing how quickly they grow and change.  Here are some 1 week old photos. Enjoy!  

Our smallest puppy being burped
after bottle feeding

Second to the smallest female
being bottle fed

the two smallest puppies - now up 3 oz.!!! 

another picture of the smallest female puppy - absolutely adorable

Puppies for Sale!!

Daisy Mae's Pure bred AKC registered

Golden Retriever Puppies

4 Females, 6 Males born Monday, June 25, 2012 to go to new homes the week of August 20^th.

$750

Daisy Mae is a red, three year old Golden Retriever and this is her first litter. She has had both hip certifications, the Penn Hip and the OFA. Daisy and the sire are both AKC registered and the puppies will be as well. A genealogical study back four generations was conducted. The sire's name is Colby and he is a light gold Golden Retriever.

      Please call to be placed on a list. 

                   (603) 542-4372

 We will call you when the puppies are ready for a visit (end of July).  If you would like to pick out a puppy, we will put a collar on the puppy marking him/her as yours with a $400 deposit due at that time.  We encourage you to visit the puppy several times over the next 3 or 4 weeks so that he/she gets to know you.  The remaining $350 will be due upon picking your puppy up to bring home the week of August 20th.  

Meet the Bates Family

Tim and Angie Bates and family 

                               (no, this isn't our home....just the last family picture taken this Spring)   ;-)

The Whelping Room and Nursery

This is the entrance to the
 "Nursery" from our Family Room

This is our Whelping Room and "Nursery."   In our barn, which is attached to our house, we have a newly built family room with a separate mudroom.  This was the perfect private spot for the "Nursery" because it is nearby and yet can be private as need be.  Tim made a custom whelping box to fit the space.  The whelping box is roomy and has a pig rail to prevent any puppies from getting getting stuck or squished behind Daisy when she lays down.  It also has washable liners that we change regularly.  An electric heating pad is available in the box in case the puppies wander away from Daisy or if she needs to go outside for a bathroom break and breath of fresh air.  We also keep an electric heater in the room to monitor the temperature so that it is always an optimal 75-80 degrees for the puppies.

Whelping box with pig rail

plenty of room for all....before we know it,
they will fill up the space!

an electric heater to keep puppies to keep the room at 75-80 degrees

our family members take turns
spending A LOT of time in here :-)

The big barn door slides open into the
Whelping Room/Nursery - an outside entrance for visitors
(currently a not-quite-finished mudroom off our Family Room)

The Puppies Arrive!

Male Puppy #1 arrives
and gets right to nursing

Monday morning, June 25th Daisy Mae started to have contractions and woke us up at 2:30 AM by licking Tim's hand and whining a little.  Tim settled Daisy comfortably in her whelping box, woke Angie up and the first little puppy arrived at 4:50 AM!  He was a beauty at 13.8 oz., don't you think?  One right after another they came and by 11:59 AM she had given birth to 10 puppies!  Four females and six males.  The smallest puppy (female) was 10 oz. and the largest (male) was nearly 18 oz!  Puppies and Daisy went to the veterinarian's office that afternoon for their first check up and the doctor declared them all beautiful and healthy!

We're up to three puppies!  Two boys and one girl 

...and now we have EIGHT!

Do you want to see newborn puppies in action?  

Click on the arrow below to play a short video clip.

                                10 beautiful Golden puppies

10 contented pups and a very happy Daisy
 (and one of her many favorite toys, "Chipmunk")

a close up of three snuggled up on the heating pad
we keep a heating pad in the whelping box in case they
 wander too far from Mama and need a warm place to lay