Six weeks old

My goodness, the waiting is getting difficult. I keep feeling irrationally nervous that we aren't *actually* going to get a puppy even though we paid the deposit. My heart is just so full of love for these little creatures even though one isn't even in our home yet. I drive home from work with a smile on my face knowing that in two weeks, I'm going to have an excited little furry face there to greet me. This picture got posted on the Sunfire page today and I have just been staring at it for ages. They are just so cute... I can't even handle it!!!

Photo by Frank Schectman

Five weeks old

They are getting bigger as each week goes by, and it looks like they are really developing little personalities! I wish we could go visit them again!!

Photos by Corinne Dumais

Puppy Visit

Oh my goodness, what an amazing day!! J and I drove out to Connecticut to meet the puppies! We were a bit worried about getting to Barb's house, since she had told us during the winter that we would need snow chains to make it up her driveway. Fortunately, the weather has finally improved, and despite being rainy in the past few days, we were able to make it up the driveway no problem. She wasn't kidding about a long driveway though! I was glad we took the Subaru instead of the Scion. Offroading in the Scion would not have been a fun time.

We got to the house and we were immediately greeted by a cow! Barb told us that his name was Porterhouse and he is her lawnmower. We also got to meet Rainey, the puppies' mother! What a sweet dog she was. She reminded me of Maxine so much! I was so excited I could barely contain myself.

There were other families there to meet the puppies as well. We all gathered around as Barb brought the puppies out to the pen on the deck. It was their first time ever being outside! They could see, but not terribly well. It was so funny watching them trundle around and squabble with one another.

They were just the sweetest little loves. J and I each cuddled a boy puppy and a girl puppy. I was quite enamored by the girl puppy in my arms, but I realized holding both that I would be so happy with either, as long as we got to go home with a pup in another four weeks!!

And the best part!! We officially ARE going to be going home with a pup in four weeks! We happily gave Barb a deposit. She will be doing a puppy temperament test and helping us pick the best puppy for us. Now the really hard part... the waiting!!!

Three weeks old!

We are back! J called Barb today and arranged for us to go visit the puppies next Saturday! We can barely contain ourselves. It is looking like we will be getting a puppy from this litter, but it probably will be a boy. I'm still keeping my hopes up for a girl. I've never had a boy dog before, and the idea makes me nervous for some reason. It mainly just concerns me because boy dogs are a lot bigger than girl dogs in general.

From the research I've done, the personality differences in Golden Retrievers are subtle and it completely depends on the puppy. For every person who says "girls are better, they mature faster so they get potty trained faster" there is a person who says "boys are better, they have better bladder control so they get potty trained faster." For every person who says "boys are better, girls are aloof and independent" there is a person who says "not my girl dog, she is a velcro dog."

I guess the fact is, we will be happy with whatever we get, but I still just want a little red girl! The boys are so blond. Very cute though, take a look!!

Photos by Corinne Dumais