I search for peace and hope within.
While on my knees I pray to you,
"Dear Lord, please help us ~ see us through."
Poem & Photos by Nola
I feel your love as you wipe my tear;
I hear your sweet whisper, "I am here."
Poem & Photos by Nola
In Your Presence
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
A day with the Golden Miracles is like a day at the Circus...
LADIES & GENTLEMEN. BOYS & GIRLS -
WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN MIRACLES CIRCUS!
See the "Who's the Strongest?" Act
 |
| (a/k/a who can hold Papa's knee down the longest!) |
Could this be the Dog |
| With the Longest Tongue?!? |
And now
(drumb roll please)
See if Romeo can Juggle not one, not two but
Three Balls in his mouth?!?
TO TICKLE YOUR TICKLE BONE
The Circus Clown
What's happening when you hear
"woof...splat...meow
...splat?"
~~~~~~~~~~
It's raining cats and dogs, Silly!
"hee, hee, hee..."
Behind the scenes - after the crowd leaves...
It's so nice to have a 'Cool Down'
Behind the scenes - after the crowd leaves...
It's so nice to have a 'Cool Down'
 |
| After all this hard work! |
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
"Oh Romeo, Romeo...Where you be's at???"
Next step...to find the perfect little boy to become not only a permanent member of our family but also to hopefully be the papa of bunches of little puppies. First off...what will we name him? Just like adding any new addition to a family, we needed to find a name that would be perfect. So...we decided to name him Golden "Romeo" because we felt that it would fit him perfectly.
How do we want Romeo to look? Do we want one with the long narrow face or do we want one that has more of the block style head? Do we want one that is more golden and/or red in color or do we want one that is more light to white. I found that finding what I wanted was easy but finding one became difficult.
I began searching the internet came across the English Creams and the White Goldens. They were all so beautiful and my heart skipped beats when I would look at their pictures...so I could tell from my own reaction that they were the ones that I tended to be drawn to. I began pulling up websites and calling breeders that had these types but found out right quickly that they were extremely expensive. And even if the money wasn't an issue, they would not sell the breeding rights therefore I would not be able to register any puppies with AKC. It was important to me that I could trace the pedigree of my puppies and I knew that for future owners, that would be important to them as well.
Oh Romeo, Romeo...where you be's at? I continued with more of my search by concentrating on the light color and block head and eventually I came upon a website. What I found was a litter of puppies which were almost white. They were descendants of a Golden who came from the UK which was a completely white Golden. So, his offsprings continued to be the light color. They had puppies available and I was in luck. I pulled up the pictures and there he was.
How do we want Romeo to look? Do we want one with the long narrow face or do we want one that has more of the block style head? Do we want one that is more golden and/or red in color or do we want one that is more light to white. I found that finding what I wanted was easy but finding one became difficult.
I began searching the internet came across the English Creams and the White Goldens. They were all so beautiful and my heart skipped beats when I would look at their pictures...so I could tell from my own reaction that they were the ones that I tended to be drawn to. I began pulling up websites and calling breeders that had these types but found out right quickly that they were extremely expensive. And even if the money wasn't an issue, they would not sell the breeding rights therefore I would not be able to register any puppies with AKC. It was important to me that I could trace the pedigree of my puppies and I knew that for future owners, that would be important to them as well.
Oh Romeo, Romeo...where you be's at? I continued with more of my search by concentrating on the light color and block head and eventually I came upon a website. What I found was a litter of puppies which were almost white. They were descendants of a Golden who came from the UK which was a completely white Golden. So, his offsprings continued to be the light color. They had puppies available and I was in luck. I pulled up the pictures and there he was.
I knew that I had found our new puppy...so I made contact with the breeders and drove to Mobile, AL to purchase my little (big) boy. He and his brother were basically twins. I could not tell them apart. They were about the same size and so I felt like since they were both the same that I would spend time with them and let them spend time with me. There was one puppy that I watched an awful lot and he was very playful but he just didn't seem to notice me. I sat down on the ground and the other one came to me instantly. He climbed up in my lap and stayed there. It didn't matter how much I tried to convince the other one to come and sit with me and play with me - he was more interested in just being out from the kennel and running freely through the grass. I looked down into my lap and said to him, "well...I think you have found your new momma's lap." He was one happy pup and so was I. The long drive home was pretty good as long as I kept my hand on him or touched him in some way.
As we got home, his new papa was sitting out on the front porch waiting to meet him. Miracle was waiting to meet him to. Instantly Romeo ran up to Miracle and they began checking each other out. Now, remember that he was just a puppy about 10 weeks old...but he looked at Miracle and smiled and proceeded to "dance" the Tango around her. Yep...even as a baby - we had truly found our Golden"Romeo."
Saturday, April 23, 2011
As the Miracle Continues to Grow...so does the Family.
After Miracle's conception and miraculous birth, we chose to keep her. There was no way that we could ever give her away or sell her to someone else. Someone who was considered as a "False Pregnancy" had to have some pretty amazing things planned for her.
I read up a lot about Singletons and I was surprised to read that singletons need to be handled differently. They needed to be exercised and played with differently because there were no other puppies for her to play with. It would instruct things like take a Q-tip and run it through its toes and exercise its legs and rub its muscles. Create games of tug of war and other games that will help them with their muscle development. I also was surprised to discover that singletons had more psychological issues that will need to be dealt with. Taking them to a doggy psychiatrist could be something that we may need to find for our singleton. Are you kidding me? Really? A doggy psychiatrist? Special exercises?
You see, being with other puppies - not only do they help the puppies to not feel alone (the psychological part) but they also help each other to grow up and mature into adults. They wrestle. They play. They chase each other. They jump off high roofs (really just a stepping stone) and jump on the backs of each other. They are non-stop helping each other to grow up. With a singleton - that is not available. Mommy tries - in fact she babies a singleton to death. With Miracle, she cried all the time. She was so vocal...basically, she was spoiled rotten. She felt that all of us were placed on this earth to cater to her every need. So that is what we tried to do because - afterall, she was a singleton and that meant she would have "special needs."
So yes, Miracle became afraid of her own shadow and she began having anxiety issues. She was quite crazy at times with her behavior. If you took her out of her comfort zone - she would go into panic mode and that was indeed challenging. Through it all though - there was a beauty and peace in her eyes that showed me more than her just being a little psycho. She loved us in such a way that we knew she would overcome this and grow into a beautiful woman...which is exactly what she did.
We arranged for Susie to meet with Tico one more time. Once again they went on a two week extended date and they had their dance routine down pat this time. We gave them a different scenery by letting them stay over at Tico's place for their extended slumber party and this greatly helped. Susie was more relaxed being away from her psycho daughter child and Tico was more relaxed being in his own bachelor pad. They were more successful this time and they had their first "real" litter.
Susie and I had such a great connection in the delivery of her puppies. We communicated through our eyes and I knew what she was going through by watching her breathing and seeing things in her eyes. I would help her as she would deliver each one and she and I both would frantically break the sac and clean each one. I would keep them safe and warm as she would deliver another one. She delivered five puppies and we thought we were done. Occasionally Susie would "push" as she would do before each puppy. She had that look in her eyes and then she would just start breathing normally and it was like nothing was going to happen. A little while later - the same thing would happen. This continued on on for 18 hours.
Susie then had a look in her eyes that I had not seen. She had an anxious look and I knew something was wrong. Again, her body would try to "push" out something from within but nothing was happening. By this time - she was no longer dialated nor did she have any fluid or lubrication that would help her. So she and I had a long talk and I explained to her that I would have to do something to her that would not be very comfortable and it may hurt but we could do this thing together...we just had to be a team!
Very carefully I was able to insert just the tip of my finger into her. Then as I worked around until I was able to work my way up to two fingers and I was able to get in deeper. I felt upon something that felt like a foot...yes, little toes and toenails; it is a foot. As I worked ever so slowly I was able to get a grip around the foot and I began coaching Susie as I had just a day before. Okay, Susie...I need you to push. So she watched my face and as I chanted out "ppppppuuuuuuuuuuussssssssshhhhhhhhhh" she pushed with all that she could. We continued with her pushing with my coaching at just the right moment until we were able to pull/push the puppy out.
The puppy was large. It had come out feet first which indicated it was not turned properly. Either in our pulling/pushing then or possibly it happened the day before - the puppy's neck was broken. I instantly wrapped it in a towel and took it into the kitchen. We were so upset and Susie wanted to see it so badly but I just couldn't let her see what I was seeing. I tried to take her mind off things by giving her the other babies to nurse but she wanted her new baby. I began crying and so did Susie. She laid her forehead against my forehead and we both literally cried. She was so sad and it took her a couple of days before she would wag her tail or smile at me. I was so concerned for her but she checked out at the vet and he said that we both did a remarkable job delievering the dead pup without causing any damage to Susie since it had been so long since she had delivered her other puppies.
So now - here we had five beautiful healthy puppies. We were very blessed indeed. It was amazing to watch them grow and to change from looking little mice with cow heads and alien ears to beautiful puppies. Yep...I had it bad. I was hooked on something that I had never planned to get hooked on. Having Golden puppies was awesome!
In everything - there is a beginning and there is an end. For me - there was the beginning of these five little lives that grew up and then they went to their new homes...that felt like an ending to me. It was sad. I would cry as they were driving away. But even through it all - all the hard work of taking care of them, feeding them, cleaning up after them - I wouldn't have traded one moment of it.
After the last puppy from our litter left - I went through puppy withdrawals. We needed to get a puppy of our own. It's time to find just the right little boy to permanently join our family.
I read up a lot about Singletons and I was surprised to read that singletons need to be handled differently. They needed to be exercised and played with differently because there were no other puppies for her to play with. It would instruct things like take a Q-tip and run it through its toes and exercise its legs and rub its muscles. Create games of tug of war and other games that will help them with their muscle development. I also was surprised to discover that singletons had more psychological issues that will need to be dealt with. Taking them to a doggy psychiatrist could be something that we may need to find for our singleton. Are you kidding me? Really? A doggy psychiatrist? Special exercises?
You see, being with other puppies - not only do they help the puppies to not feel alone (the psychological part) but they also help each other to grow up and mature into adults. They wrestle. They play. They chase each other. They jump off high roofs (really just a stepping stone) and jump on the backs of each other. They are non-stop helping each other to grow up. With a singleton - that is not available. Mommy tries - in fact she babies a singleton to death. With Miracle, she cried all the time. She was so vocal...basically, she was spoiled rotten. She felt that all of us were placed on this earth to cater to her every need. So that is what we tried to do because - afterall, she was a singleton and that meant she would have "special needs."
So yes, Miracle became afraid of her own shadow and she began having anxiety issues. She was quite crazy at times with her behavior. If you took her out of her comfort zone - she would go into panic mode and that was indeed challenging. Through it all though - there was a beauty and peace in her eyes that showed me more than her just being a little psycho. She loved us in such a way that we knew she would overcome this and grow into a beautiful woman...which is exactly what she did.
We arranged for Susie to meet with Tico one more time. Once again they went on a two week extended date and they had their dance routine down pat this time. We gave them a different scenery by letting them stay over at Tico's place for their extended slumber party and this greatly helped. Susie was more relaxed being away from her psycho daughter child and Tico was more relaxed being in his own bachelor pad. They were more successful this time and they had their first "real" litter.
Susie and I had such a great connection in the delivery of her puppies. We communicated through our eyes and I knew what she was going through by watching her breathing and seeing things in her eyes. I would help her as she would deliver each one and she and I both would frantically break the sac and clean each one. I would keep them safe and warm as she would deliver another one. She delivered five puppies and we thought we were done. Occasionally Susie would "push" as she would do before each puppy. She had that look in her eyes and then she would just start breathing normally and it was like nothing was going to happen. A little while later - the same thing would happen. This continued on on for 18 hours.
Susie then had a look in her eyes that I had not seen. She had an anxious look and I knew something was wrong. Again, her body would try to "push" out something from within but nothing was happening. By this time - she was no longer dialated nor did she have any fluid or lubrication that would help her. So she and I had a long talk and I explained to her that I would have to do something to her that would not be very comfortable and it may hurt but we could do this thing together...we just had to be a team!
Very carefully I was able to insert just the tip of my finger into her. Then as I worked around until I was able to work my way up to two fingers and I was able to get in deeper. I felt upon something that felt like a foot...yes, little toes and toenails; it is a foot. As I worked ever so slowly I was able to get a grip around the foot and I began coaching Susie as I had just a day before. Okay, Susie...I need you to push. So she watched my face and as I chanted out "ppppppuuuuuuuuuuussssssssshhhhhhhhhh" she pushed with all that she could. We continued with her pushing with my coaching at just the right moment until we were able to pull/push the puppy out.
The puppy was large. It had come out feet first which indicated it was not turned properly. Either in our pulling/pushing then or possibly it happened the day before - the puppy's neck was broken. I instantly wrapped it in a towel and took it into the kitchen. We were so upset and Susie wanted to see it so badly but I just couldn't let her see what I was seeing. I tried to take her mind off things by giving her the other babies to nurse but she wanted her new baby. I began crying and so did Susie. She laid her forehead against my forehead and we both literally cried. She was so sad and it took her a couple of days before she would wag her tail or smile at me. I was so concerned for her but she checked out at the vet and he said that we both did a remarkable job delievering the dead pup without causing any damage to Susie since it had been so long since she had delivered her other puppies.
So now - here we had five beautiful healthy puppies. We were very blessed indeed. It was amazing to watch them grow and to change from looking little mice with cow heads and alien ears to beautiful puppies. Yep...I had it bad. I was hooked on something that I had never planned to get hooked on. Having Golden puppies was awesome!
In everything - there is a beginning and there is an end. For me - there was the beginning of these five little lives that grew up and then they went to their new homes...that felt like an ending to me. It was sad. I would cry as they were driving away. But even through it all - all the hard work of taking care of them, feeding them, cleaning up after them - I wouldn't have traded one moment of it.
After the last puppy from our litter left - I went through puppy withdrawals. We needed to get a puppy of our own. It's time to find just the right little boy to permanently join our family.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Golden Miracles...A Miracle is Born!
So if I was one of the Golden 3...what would I write to you? I guess I would say...let's go back to the beginning of how we became known as Golden Miracles.
To bring you up to date...back in 2003, we were given our very first Golden, Susie. She was about 8-9 months old and as every Golden about that age...she was bored and always wanted to play. Her present owners were very busy in their lives with their jobs and they also had a little girl about 3 years old. As many people do...they wanted to buy their sweet little girl a cute puppy and they did. Well, the cute puppy didn't stay little and grew. In growing...she like to chew on things and jump up on her owners - including the little girl - when they would come out to visit, etc. Being that they rarely went out to even visit with Susie, it became apparent that they no longer had a desire to have the a now-not-so-cute Golden anymore. We had never owned a golden retriever before and when we were asked if we wanted her...my husband said, "Sure!"
Susie had always been a sweet natured golden...as goldens are. She just wanted someone to sit and be with her...play with her...As long as she can nudge your hand up to her head...she's a happy camper! So that is what we did. When Susie got to be about 2-3...we decided that it was time for her to have a family. So...finding a mate for her was an interesting adventure. I sent out a mass email to the place where I work. How do you ask someone to use their dog for breeding purposes? So, my email went something like this..."If you have a AKC registered Golden Retriever male that would love to go dancing with a beautiful Golden Retriever female, please let me know. She is ready to go out on her first date and we would love for her to be able to learn how to dance. So, if your male would enjoy doing the Tango...please let me know so that we can arrange their most perfect date." I got a lot of humorous emails back from people but then I had one email that simply said. "YES!"
Tico came to visit us for a couple of weeks. He and Susie had a great time trying to learn how to do the Tango, Salsa and other forms of dancing. They didn't always quite have the steps down but they were both very dedicated to practicing their steps. About 50 days or so later...we had noticed how nice and fat Susie had become and we were so excited but since we had never had puppies before...we didn't have a clue what to do. We did as any good pet owner would, we went to the vet to have her checked out to make sure that she was on schedule and ready to give birth to healthy puppies. After the vet thoroughly checked Susie out...he looked up at us with a very sad expression on his face and told us that he was sorry, but Susie was NOT pregnant. She was experiencing False Pregnancy which is what some dogs experience especially after their first breeding. They "think" they are pregnant and their body "thinks" they are pregnant but in reality...they really are not pregnant. He explained that over the next couple of weeks we would see Susie going through different phases of not only nesting but to be prepared when she began her "birthing" of her babies.
Just as the vet had predicted, Susie began nesting and trying to dig the carpet up and everything else...just trying to get the floor and the back yard ready. Finally the day came and I noticed her on her bed and it appeared that she was licking something. She had gathered a toy and was loving on her toy and cleaning it and just mothering it as much as she possibly could. About 30 minutes to an hour I noticed another toy in her bed and she was treating it the same way. After several hours of gathering she ended up with her litter of 5 stuffed animals, 2 socks and 1 slipper. If you tried to take one of her babies, she would get so upset so we learned right quick to let her have her babies at all time. She was the best mommy in the world to her pretend babies until a couple of nights after that she began really acting crazy...I mean bizarre behavior.
Susie acted like she had to go out so I opened the front door and she took off running straight for the street where a car was flying up our street. I screamed for her to stop and thank goodness, she did. She immediately ran back in and water started going everywhere. I had no idea what was happening but I called my husband and told him to get home because Susie's water just broke. He asked. "how could her water just break when she's not pregnant?" I told him, "I don't know...the vet said that she would do everything just like she was having babies...maybe her body will actually cause this too." After a couple of hours of her pacing, crying, teeth chattering, crazy behavior...I decided to go to bed. I didn't know what else to do for her.
The next morning my husband got up and just like any morning he started the coffee. He was hearing a little squeaking noise and he thought Susie was just playing with one of her "babies." He went in the living room to let her go out for her morning routine when he couldn't believe what he saw. On the living room floor, Susie was cuddled up with one precious baby...very small but perfectly formed. He ran back into our room and said..."you need to come see what Susie found!" I ran in and held her sweet baby and Susie didn't mind one bit. She was so happy and I gave Susie a hug and kiss and told her that she was such a good girl and she did such a good job. She looked so very proud and I know that she just wanted to say..."See there, I told you I was pregnant!!!"
So that is how our Miracle was born...she was the only one, a singleton, but a very special little one.
To bring you up to date...back in 2003, we were given our very first Golden, Susie. She was about 8-9 months old and as every Golden about that age...she was bored and always wanted to play. Her present owners were very busy in their lives with their jobs and they also had a little girl about 3 years old. As many people do...they wanted to buy their sweet little girl a cute puppy and they did. Well, the cute puppy didn't stay little and grew. In growing...she like to chew on things and jump up on her owners - including the little girl - when they would come out to visit, etc. Being that they rarely went out to even visit with Susie, it became apparent that they no longer had a desire to have the a now-not-so-cute Golden anymore. We had never owned a golden retriever before and when we were asked if we wanted her...my husband said, "Sure!"
Susie had always been a sweet natured golden...as goldens are. She just wanted someone to sit and be with her...play with her...As long as she can nudge your hand up to her head...she's a happy camper! So that is what we did. When Susie got to be about 2-3...we decided that it was time for her to have a family. So...finding a mate for her was an interesting adventure. I sent out a mass email to the place where I work. How do you ask someone to use their dog for breeding purposes? So, my email went something like this..."If you have a AKC registered Golden Retriever male that would love to go dancing with a beautiful Golden Retriever female, please let me know. She is ready to go out on her first date and we would love for her to be able to learn how to dance. So, if your male would enjoy doing the Tango...please let me know so that we can arrange their most perfect date." I got a lot of humorous emails back from people but then I had one email that simply said. "YES!"
Tico came to visit us for a couple of weeks. He and Susie had a great time trying to learn how to do the Tango, Salsa and other forms of dancing. They didn't always quite have the steps down but they were both very dedicated to practicing their steps. About 50 days or so later...we had noticed how nice and fat Susie had become and we were so excited but since we had never had puppies before...we didn't have a clue what to do. We did as any good pet owner would, we went to the vet to have her checked out to make sure that she was on schedule and ready to give birth to healthy puppies. After the vet thoroughly checked Susie out...he looked up at us with a very sad expression on his face and told us that he was sorry, but Susie was NOT pregnant. She was experiencing False Pregnancy which is what some dogs experience especially after their first breeding. They "think" they are pregnant and their body "thinks" they are pregnant but in reality...they really are not pregnant. He explained that over the next couple of weeks we would see Susie going through different phases of not only nesting but to be prepared when she began her "birthing" of her babies.
Just as the vet had predicted, Susie began nesting and trying to dig the carpet up and everything else...just trying to get the floor and the back yard ready. Finally the day came and I noticed her on her bed and it appeared that she was licking something. She had gathered a toy and was loving on her toy and cleaning it and just mothering it as much as she possibly could. About 30 minutes to an hour I noticed another toy in her bed and she was treating it the same way. After several hours of gathering she ended up with her litter of 5 stuffed animals, 2 socks and 1 slipper. If you tried to take one of her babies, she would get so upset so we learned right quick to let her have her babies at all time. She was the best mommy in the world to her pretend babies until a couple of nights after that she began really acting crazy...I mean bizarre behavior.
Susie acted like she had to go out so I opened the front door and she took off running straight for the street where a car was flying up our street. I screamed for her to stop and thank goodness, she did. She immediately ran back in and water started going everywhere. I had no idea what was happening but I called my husband and told him to get home because Susie's water just broke. He asked. "how could her water just break when she's not pregnant?" I told him, "I don't know...the vet said that she would do everything just like she was having babies...maybe her body will actually cause this too." After a couple of hours of her pacing, crying, teeth chattering, crazy behavior...I decided to go to bed. I didn't know what else to do for her.
The next morning my husband got up and just like any morning he started the coffee. He was hearing a little squeaking noise and he thought Susie was just playing with one of her "babies." He went in the living room to let her go out for her morning routine when he couldn't believe what he saw. On the living room floor, Susie was cuddled up with one precious baby...very small but perfectly formed. He ran back into our room and said..."you need to come see what Susie found!" I ran in and held her sweet baby and Susie didn't mind one bit. She was so happy and I gave Susie a hug and kiss and told her that she was such a good girl and she did such a good job. She looked so very proud and I know that she just wanted to say..."See there, I told you I was pregnant!!!"
So that is how our Miracle was born...she was the only one, a singleton, but a very special little one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)