Gloria is a beautiful daughter of Maya, whom we own and love and were planning on breeding in 2022 after her OFA hips and elbows are finalized.
Rex is a dark coated red golden hunting line retriever, more intense and aggressive in his personality then we had expected, but very lovable, loyal and protective. We own & love him also. Though we purchased him with the clear intent to use him as our stud dog after he turns two years old and has completed all health clearances, we were waiting and watching to see how his temperament matures before we intended to actually breed him. Our concern has been the intensity and aggressiveness he showed on arrival from the breeder, and particularly peaking as an adolescent. I understand those traits are common in true hunting lines (his dad is a 3x Grand Hunting Retriever Champion and Master Hunter) but is not necessarily expected or desired in the average urban/suburban family, and it is a divergence from the breed standard. These behaviors have mellowed over the past many months, but not to the point that we would have intentionally been breeding him yet.
Both Maya and Gloria went into heat, only one day apart, back in September. Our males were separated from the females, and rotated on the property so that everyone was experiencing access to all parts of the home and property on a regular basis, yet separately. The males and females were not in any of the same space unless under direct supervision. Crates and gates were implemented to keep them apart. I can only say that keeping dogs of physiological breeding capabilities apart is somewhat comical and more than challenging. We've done it for multiple heat cycles, but this time was exponentially harder, maybe because the girls were only a day apart and the pheromones were doubled, I don't know. I heard Rex relentlessly howling for the first time in his life. One night, early in her cycle (not even fertile period yet), I heard a commotion late at night and went to check on it. Rex and Gloria were tied in our backyard. I never heard her leave. She and Maya had been enjoying free reign in the back of the house with us, and then she was in the backyard tied to Rex. We can only guess she jumped and cleared the 36" baby gate, something I did not know she was capable of. She's agile, the puppy who loved to climb out of her ex-pen, but the highest I had seen her jump and thinly clear was a 30" gate a year before. Anyways, anytime she was anywhere near Rex she kept trying to break out and flirt with him. She was the instigator. I had her progesterone checked and though she wasn't fertile when they tied, when we rechecked her progesterone near the time sperm would die off, she was in peak fertility.
A little over two months later, a day after Maya gave birth, Gloria gave birth to a litter. She whelped the litter in a few hours, and then got on the steep learning curve to being a Mom. One of her puppies died within the first 48 hours: the one and only puppy that had a very unusual cry at birth, a cry that indicated a likely neurological insult. It was no surprise that the puppy didn't make it, but it was so strange to me too, because out of 49 puppies we've whelped, this was my first puppy loss. Maya sensed the death and quickly checked on all of the puppies. Somehow dogs know so much. Maya had placed a favorite ball in her whelping box for her puppies to enjoy, but after she checked on all of the dogs, she picked up the ball and took it to Gloria's whelping box and dropped it in. It honestly appeared to be a sympathy gift. Maya has always been unusually sensitive and intuitive, but this display of empathy blew me away. I'm amazed what dogs can sense and do.
Their whelping boxes are next to each other in one of our bedrooms, where I have been sleeping the past several weeks. Gloria kind of followed Maya's lead and mimicked her quite a bit, emulating her timing and care for her puppies. Some things are intuitive for her as a Mom; other things she's had to learn and acclimate to. She's growing quickly as a Mom, and is very attentive and loving to her puppies. She cuddles and cleans them well. She's a milk champion and the puppies are growing fat and sleek. They are beautiful. I started wondering if I'd have to hold her back from nursing as much as she does, because the puppies were getting so fat so quickly that they appeared they may have trouble crawling. But they are now crawling well and thriving.
Since the litter wasn't planned and happened outside of my desire or intention at this point, I wasn't really sure how to handle it logistically by Bennett Goldens. I've been pondering and wrestling with that for weeks. I've spoken with some expert counsel, and was consistently told to simply put it out there transparently, and list them the same as our intentional litters. So, we have an unexpected, unplanned bonus litter by two young dogs. Though they are both AKC parents with all preliminary OFA's cleared, their puppies are not eligible for AKC registration. Since we also were waiting out Rex's maturation, and we are unsure if the puppies may inherit his higher energy, aggressiveness and work drive, these puppies are offered at a reduced price. All puppies from this litter at this point in time appear to be very calm, balanced and resilient.
Since they are within one day of Maya's litter, I will include them in the weekly update blogs, highlighting any differences. The puppies from this litter are handled and trained the same as Maya's. They've completed ENS and ESI and currently we are working on noise habituation, noise desensitization, and potty training introductions.
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