The Puppies came last night!

I was right on time.

I had my first puppy at Midnight, the second at two am and the third at five am and the last one at six am.  I was exhausted and so was my whole family.

I had three beautiful girls and one strong boy. 

I had so many visitors today.

I feel so loved!

xxxooo Daisy Delilah new mom

Since You Asked

Here are some Golden Retriever Facts

The temperament of a Golden is what makes them special.  They are kind, friendly, and confident. They are friends to all especially children and really never know a stranger.

• They are extremely intelligent!  According to the ranking in the book "The Intelligence of Dogs" by Stanley Coren, the Golden is ranked 4th.  They are surpassed only by the Border Collie, Poodle, and German Sheperd.
• Very Popular...They ranked 4th as the most popular dogs in the U.S.in 2009
• "English Cream" is a description of the coat color and slight variations in the  U.S.Golden standard.  They are all still Golden Retrievers.

Some Ancestry on Daisy and Moses

Where did You Get your dogs?
Daisy and Moses were both adopted from the Solid Rock Goldens Kennel in North Carolina.  They have the most beautiful dogs in the country in my opinion and certainly the most loving breeding environment that I have ever seen.  Jim and Joy Kramm are wonderful and loving people as well as outstanding breeders! Their website is http://www.solidrockgoldens.com/ and I highly recommend visiting it!  It is guaranteed to make you smile....and want a precious puppy!

Daisy was born 6/30/07 She is AKC registered and OFA certified.  Numbers available upon request. She is essentially half English Cream and half American.
Her Sire was Buddy Boy call name, Websen-Gold Rush.. He is an American Golden ; his bloodlines include 42 champions in 5 generations. The dam is Sheba an "English Cream" and also comes from a long line of champions from England, Norway, and Finland. She has 40 champions in 5 generations!

Moses was born 8/11/08.  He is AKC registered and OFA prelim certified.  Numbers available upon request.  My boy Mo is a full "English Cream" His Sire is Prince, a strong beautiful Golden from Russia.  He is the son of an International Champion.  His dam is Cara/ call name Tara  Mediguard of Romania.  She is a gorgeous "English Cream" from Romania.  She comes from a long line of European Champions and has an OFA Hip rating of Excellent.

Moses and Daisy come from excellent stock and represent our financial and personal committment to the Golden Retriever breed.  The puppies from this litter will be combinations of the traits of the English standard and the American standard.

What is the difference between the two you might ask?
Well, there is a  lot of info. online, but basically there are slight variations,  The primary difference is the coat color.  The Goldens of European descent tend to have a wider and shorter muzzle, a blockier forehead, shorter legs, slightly deeper chest, and a shorter cream colored coat.  A Golden of primarily American stock is normally lankier and less stocky.  They have denser coats and come in varying shades of Gold.  Why? There are some excellent discussions on this online and some interesting genetic articles discussing the origins of the Golden color. I tend to lose a little interest halfway through these discussions because I just love my dogs and am happy whatever their color is as long as they are of good temperament and healthy.  Beware of buying dogs based on color alone!!!

What is OFA certification?
This is an independent x-ray evauluation of the dogs hips and elbows by the Orthapedic Foundation for Animals.  This says that they are not prone to having hip displasia and have good hip joint conformation.  This is an expensive test but very important!  Both Daisy and Moses are OFA certified.

Feel Free to contact me at Mercerbk@aol.com if you are interested in having one of our precious PUPPIES!!!!!
                                       
                                        Kim

Waiting on the Stork!

It Does Take A Village!

The nursery is set up, the cigars have been bought, everyone is on alert, Dr. Lee is standing by and now we wait!  We went to have another x-ray on Friday and we have four puppies.  There is no cause for concern about the size of the litter, it just means that Mose's "little soldiers" only met up with four of Daisy's "call girls" so to speak.  I am undecided about how I feel about this...on the one hand 4 puppies are easier to manage, but that also means that some people including me are going to have to wait for the next litter.

It truly was a family affair setting up the whelping box and as you can see it is pretty cool. The little rails on the sides are called Pig rails and they keep the Mother from potentially squishing a puppy.  This is certainly higher tech than just going in a closet as in days of old.

 I think she likes it... of course I splurged on the fancy pads for the bottom when old sheets would do.  We will see which works better, but after all nothing but the best for Daisy Delilah!

Stay Tuned for further updates! We are waiting with breathless anticipation and a tiny amount of trepidation for the PUPPIES!

Kim...posting for D today :)

My Baby's Daddy

We Don't Need no Maury Povich!

I have been asked this a lot lately soooo The Father or sire I should say to my litter is Moses.  No, it cannot possibly be Hank as some of you have mistakenly postulated because he was neutered long ago and I can assure you there was no reversal.  He does give it a good go once in a while but at 13 years old, it does not work out very well.  It is like watching things in a doggie nursing home, but I digress.  Anyway, Moses is my baby's daddy.    

  

Moses came from Solid Rock Goldens in North Carolina.   Jim and Judy Kramm are the most wonderful breeders! I will write more about them later and their breeding program.  Dad got Moses for my mother for Christmas two years ago.  It was a surprise and he was in his crate under the tree when they got home from church on Christmas Eve!  Our older Golden, Annie had passed away in the Fall  so Dad knew she was missing having another dog.  I mean, afterall, can you really have too many dogs???

Moses is a full English Cream Golden Retriever.  He is from completely different bloodlines than me...we are not into inbreeding around here....(you can see enough of that at your local Wal Mart...lol).  They paid for full registration so that we could have our precious litter. Can you tell I'm EXCITED!  Oh yes, the EZWhelp box came today in the mail.  That name still cracks me up...maybe they should come out with some EZBirth stuff for humans...oh yeah they already have...they are called DRUGS!  Hmm... EZbirth stirrups, EZbirth forceps...EZbirth massaging hospital bed...it really is endless.

Ok, Gotta GO! xoo

Daisy

PS. My Mother is playing with some photoshop thing LOL

More Pictures Of Daisy D

Daisy at THE LOVE SHACK

on AMI

I Love My Girl!

And She Loves Me!

What to buy? what to buy?

Whelping Boxes 101

Who knew that having puppies would be such a big deal?? My Mother is freaking out about something called a whelping box.  Apparently, you can buy a store bought box to deliver your babies in...who knew? Back in the day, you went under the house  found a corner without spiders, dug a little hole in the nice cool dirt and you were set.  They'd try to coax you out sometimes, but most of the time they just left your food for you and there you stayed.  Now, sometimes the fancy house dogs stayed inside and went in a closet and delivered on old towels or an old flannel bathrobe.   Times Sure Have Changed...

This is one of 5 different "whelping boxes" that my Mother has been researching online for goodness sake!  This model is the EZwhelp  box (like they know ha! imagine if they called it "the hurts like hell and is a mess box" ).
Apparently, this is not the cadillac of whelping boxes, but is a good solid medium.  FYI these boxes can be made at home out of wood or bought online out of wood or plastic covered cardboard.  My Mother chose the cardboard because it will be lighter and easier to move around. Personally, I think she was sucked in by the name and the cute website. She says it will be easier to clean, but I'm doubtful.




 She also ordered the "weaning box"  this is so the puppies can move around as they get bigger.... kinda like a rec room for pups. I guess we are in High Cotton  to be ordering all this stuff....she even bought pads shhh I'm definitely not supposed to let Dad know. 

There has been much discussion about all the clean up and about the size of the litter.  We aren't sure yet how many there are yet, but I am feeling good right now.

                                                                Daisy on April 7, 2010             

Talk to Ya'll Soon!

Ciao!

Daisy

PUPPIES!!!!

Daisy Delilah is Pregnant!

Spring Break 2010

Well, it was with much trepidation that I had my pregnancy test today.  Did you know that dogs do not just get to go on a stick like humans?  It is only by blood tests...somebody really should invent something for dogs that we can do at home.  I thought I might be expecting because my family has been making little snide comments about my weight and to be honest I have gained a little.  You know I am a full figure girl but 8 pounds in 4 weeks is a little much.  ( My Mother is putting on a little weight too...I'm just sayin)  Dr. Lee says that I will be due the last week in April. 

Do I look fat to you?

Thank goodness it happened after Spring Break!

I like to spend my days looking at kayakers and fishermen.  My Dad put a light in the water and I also like to stare at fish.  My favorite thing by far is barking at the birds. I own this canal!

Anna Maria! My favorite place to relax is on the dock! 

I just went on my first kayak ride...good thing nobody knew I was pregnant because I am pretty sure that would have been out.

Please keep up with my adventures and my pregnancy!  My Mom is so excited that I'm sure she will be blogging a lot!