Tag Archives: british cream golden retrievers

Dec. ’14

Pupdates

Belle

Bess and Belle

Bess

Bonnie

Sleep over in Bess’s crate

I love watching our pups sleep. They manage to look cuddly and silly all at the same time.

Bess is growing like a weed, she almost doesn’t fit on her self proclaimed puppy shelf on our coffee table any more.

I have had to intervene in the play between Bess and Linus, Bess plays a bit too rough for Linus’s tastes at times but then other times Linus still instigates the play so they are still fast buddies. Belle will occasionally remind the pair that she was Linus’s buddy first.

Bess is still teaching us about her likes and dislikes, she loves, loves, loves sticks and always has to find one to carry around when she is outside. Her favorite inside toy is the stuffingless fox, I’m not sure what the draw is but it’s the favorite of all three of our girls.

Bonnie continues to morph back into puppy mode, (if indeed she ever left it) to be the first in line to rough house and play tug of war with Bess. But Belle is relaxing her “I’m the mom” stance and is playing a lot more with Bess too so progress is being made.

Bonnie and Belle went to the vet yesterday for their x-rays to check for hip dysplasia. We will get the results from the OFA in a few weeks. Our vets and their staff are fantastic and I trust them fully but it was still difficult for me to leave Bonnie and Belle as they had to be put under an anesthetic for the x-ray. We were able to bring the pups home at the end of the day and this morning they are back to their old selves which this dog mom is happy about.

Bess had a round of tummy rumbles the past few days with several nights of limited sleep for both of us. I am happy to say that with the help of yogurt and bran flakes and medicine from the vet her tummy rumbles have subsided and we both had an uninterrupted sleep last night!

Looking forward to the coming year, not sure what it’s going to hold although we hope to continue with Bess’s puppy classes and keep working toward the Canine Good Citizen classification for Bonnie and Belle.

Happy New Year to you and your families from Greg, myself and our snuggly silly crew!

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: Cats, Golden Retrievers, Pets. Tags: british cream golden retrievers, Golden Retrievers, Kitties, Pets, Pups. 2 Comments

Dec. ’14

Bess at 11 weeks

My turn!

Curled up with big sister Bonnie

Boy is she growing fast! In the past few weeks Bess has been showing us what she is made of.
She and Linus kitty are becoming good buddies and love to wrestle with each other. They take turns instigating the action.

Lucy kitty is still watchful and making sure the pup is behaving. she still can’t believe we would shake up her world by bringing another dog into it.

Bonnie pup and Bess love to play tug of war with the stuffingless toys.

Belle pup and Bess race each other and I’m not sure who enjoys it the most.

For something so little Bess does a great job keeping up with her big sisters.

Bess and I are attending puppy classes, and she got the hang of sit pretty good, but we are still working on gentle and touch. She’ll get it in time. She seems to enjoy playing with the other puppies that are in the class.

She is already showing us how she is different from her big sisters. She has a longer reach so the garbage can has to go even farther back behind the child gate. She is definitely more vocal than Bonnie and Belle. I am getting a kick out of how she rings the “gotta go” chime. All three pups have a different way of ringing the chime. Bonnie gives the chime a hard nudge with her nose, if that doesn’t bring us she puts her head in the middle of the chime and gives a good shake. Belle gives a dainty nudge with her nose, if we don’t hear her she touches the chimes one at a time that makes for a beautiful sound. Bess jumps up on her back paws and uses her front paws to ring the bell. One paw first but then if we don’t respond or if she really has to go badly both paws at one time kind of like a forceful double high five!

All in all it’s going great, of course we are still transitioning and learning Bess’s ways, like what it means when she sits and stares at us. So far it has meant, I would like a tummy rub please, or I have to go out, or I want a toy that I can’t reach or …

One thing we do know is that our Bess Sprout pup is a wonderful, fun, loving addition to our family and she is loved dearly.

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: Golden Retrievers, Pets. Tags: british cream golden retrievers, Cats, Golden Retrievers, Pups. 1 Comment

Nov. ’14

Bess AKA Sprout Week 2

Hello!

Bessie has had a busy two weeks. She seems more like a Bess than a Bessie and she spends just as much time being called Sprout. The Jolly Green Giant from Green Giant vegetables had a sidekick named Sprout who thought he was big like the Giant. Bess seems to think she can do anything Bonnie and Belle can do hence Sprout.

The pups

Linus and Lucy are getting used to having Bess in their life. Lucy tries to ignore her much like she does Bonnie, Belle and Linus. Linus however is game and he and Bess seem to have fun together.

Let’s play!

Bess is proving to be a quick learner especially where the “gotta go” chime is concerned. She has figured out that ringing the chime means the door opens and she gets to go out in the pup porch and pen. I was washing dishes the other evening and heard the chime. I turned fully expecting to see Bonnie pup imagine my surprise when Bess’s little face looked back at me. I snapped her leash on and out we went. She went right to the bone that the older pups had left on the porch. She wanted the bone and she figured out what she had to do to go out and get it. Not wanting to lose a teachable moment we continued out to the pup yard.

We had our first puppy class last week. Where we learned Find It, Soft Mouth, and Gotcha. Soft Mouth is easily my favorite as Bess has sharp little puppy teeth!

She is going pretty good when it comes to chewing on things. Lucky for her, she joined a family that has an abundance of chewy toys.

So many toys to chose from!

Bonnie and Belle are getting used to having Bess in the mix.

Judging by their looks and behavior they don’t quite know what to think about her but they have figured out that she’s fun to play with!

Bonnie and Bess

Did you see that!

All in all it’s been a good week!

Posted by Margret Abbott. Categories: Cats, Golden Retrievers, Pets. Tags: british cream golden retrievers, Cats, Golden Retrievers, puppies, Pups. 3 Comments

Nov. ’14

Introducing Bessie Puppy

All though our married life Greg and I have had multiple dogs. So our plan when Bonnie and Belle joined our family was that when the time was right we would be getting a third Golden Retriever. This time we want to get a British Cream Golden Retriever so we called Glenda at Cottage Grove Farms, the breeder where Bonnie and Belle came from to see if she had any available puppies. She had one and after hearing about her and seeing her picture we knew she was the perfect fit for our family.

Yesterday we brought Bessie Puppy home. On our Two Pups and a Kitty facebook page last night I wrote the following in a reply to a “how are things working out” question. “Bonnie’s attitude is “it’s fine with me, but you still love me right.?” Belle is slightly anxious, she is keeping Bessie in line and saved Linus from the attack of the puppy. Linus doesn’t know what to think but is curious. Lucy is annoyed that we brought something else home! Bessie loves her house, is friendly with the pups but respectful, wants to play with Linus and keeps coming up to us to say hi. 3 hours in I’d say things are going pretty well!”

So far we have discovered that Bessie is a barker but does settle down on her own. She loves to be in the thick of the action so at our house that means when we go to do something we now have 2 dogs, 1 puppy and 2 cats watching and or walking in our footsteps to make sure they don’t miss anything (or we do it right,I’m not really sure which.) She loves to carry toys and has figured out how to carry a tennis ball. We are practicing “leave it” and “give” and are doing a lot of redirection which she happily does. She gets car sick but has only had a couple of accidents in the house. Last night Bessie only woke up once which I call a huge success and this morning Belle is starting to think that maybe that little pup who keeps following the big pups around might not be so bad after all. On to day two!