News | Texas TLC Goldens

#CarsLitter2021 – A Labor of Love

All’s well that ends well

That said, I’ll start this story off with the ending. Please do spend 60 seconds and watch the video. The story that follows it is not all rosy so it will be helpful to have the video of the ending firmly in your mind before you start.

Our Harley has delivered 7 healthy puppies sired by our Ryder. They are gorgeous, active, talkative and huge with 4 boys and 3 girls. Their birth weights ranged from 14oz to 1lb, 4oz with 5 at 1lb or more. To give reference, Harley‘s first litter was as small as 11 oz with only one being over 15 oz.

The story

This is a long and emotional read. Please be assured it has a reasonably happy ending and explanation if you read on.

I should start by saying Terri stayed with Harley continuously inside the pen throughout the entire process. Terri has extensive medical nursing training, some limited vet training (she is a certified Vet Assistant”) and years of experience with dogs and a kind heart.

To prepare, we have extensive supplies but the newest is our Oxygen concentrator to deliver continuous medical grade O2, a home made NICU box which is a plastic tub, with O2 hose connections, holes for ventilation and a purpose built puppy heating pad.

Terri also secured O2 masks purpose built for dogs from tiny puppies to large breed adults. A key new tool for this litter was DeLee Mucus trap. As you will see if you read on, it was this $10 tool and Terri’s quick action that saved the lives of 4 puppies.
I have always been proud of Terri but she was driven to the extreme and was tireless during this event and I could not be prouder of her.

Labor

Harley‘s X-ray from a week before labor indicated 8 to 10 puppies. She was HUGE so we expected 10. Harley began laboring at 1:30am Friday 3/12/2021. Harley insisted on standing through most of the labor. We didn’t like it and knew it would be exhausting but she did the same on her first litter and it was not a surprise.

at 7:40pm Friday evening, Enzo was born. He was a big boy at 1lb, 4oz and had a normal amniotic sack and placenta at delivery.

At 8:30pm we had our first horror. Harley delivered a fully normal looking and developed baby boy that was not breathing and no amniotic sack. He was really big . We never got his weight but he was big; so big that Harley screamed and bit Terri on the hand – hard. I had to restrain Harley until the pain passed. With the hurt hand, Terri went straight to work on the puppy. She pulled a LOT of fluids out of him using the mucus pump, rubbed him, chest compressions, flexed his body to try to jump start the lungs, worked though a gravity swing procedure to try and force more fluids out of his lungs and even tried occasional mouth-to-mouth to try and get things going. This went on for 45 minutes, but he never took a breath – he was gone. We tossed a little antibiotic ointment on Terri’s hand wound and a fresh set of gloves and waited for the next puppy; scared to death.

Harley continued to labor hard. She REALLY did not want stay in the whelping box. She pushed against Terri with all her might trying to get out but our only other choice was the bed since space was limited otherwise and we didn’t think the bed a safe place. After 90 minutes of labor, we called the emergency oncall vet but were told to let her go for another hour and if no puppy, call again and bring her in. After 120 minutes, we agreed that I should go prepare our new SUV to carry her the 25 miles to the emergency vet. At 10:20pm, while I was outside, she whelped Ranger (1lb boy). It freaked Harley out so bad, she panicked and jumped over the whelping box wall and banged herself up a little. Ranger had no amniotic sack and was covered with dark colored meconium (feces mixed with amniotic fluid) and not breathing. Terri made sure Harley was OK then immediately went to work on Ranger. She was able to save him using the mucus pump, nasal aspirator and physical manipulation.

By this time we we sure that Harley wanted nothing to do with the puppies and was so unsettled in the whelping box we were forced to let her do the rest of her labor on the bed. She was not helping clean the puppies and had no interest in them. We were horrified and beginning to think we’d be raising these puppies hand fed on our own without her help. We were also increasingly concerned we’d have to retire her after this litter if she would not be a good mother. We were really worried we’d have to tell all the remaining people on the wait list that had been waiting so very long that we’d never be able to deliver puppies for them. We had no idea why she was acting this way at this point; there was a good reason for it discovered later but that was later; for now we were tired and terrified.

At 10:40pm, Porsche was born. She was a 15 oz girl. She had no amniotic sack but was barely breathing. Terri cleared her lungs and she seemed fine.

We decided to try and put all three pups onto Harley and let them get some of her critical colostrum but Harley reacted badly and again, bit Terri’s hand, this time leaving a bleeding wound (not quite big enough for stitches but right between the fingers in a a place hard to bandage). At this point, we stop trying to put pups on the teat and instead put them all in the NICU tub with O2 and heater running.

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur but here’s the summary from our records and what I can recall. Note that every puppy from here on was born not breathing, had no amniotic sack, often no placenta and covered in meconium.

- 11:05 pm – Lexus is born – 15oz girl brought back to life by Terri.
- 11:20 pm – Tesla is born – 1lb, 1oz girl brought back to life by Terri.
- 11:55pm – Cooper is born – 1lb, 3oz boy brought back to life by Terri.
- 12:00am – I call the emergency vet and ask to bring Harley in for a C-Section as we believed there were multiple placentas still in there and possibly more puppies. The vet advised against it since Harley seemed to be progressing and she might just get it all done without invasive surgery.
- Some time after that (details not recorded) another puppy is born that Terri cannot save.

So now we have 6 viable puppies and two that have died. Harley stopped laboring, we are all completely exhausted but we set up a bottle feeding schedule for the pups. We feed them twice at two hour intervals. At 8am we see that Harley is whining and still apparently in pain. We call the vet’s office as they are open now for Saturday business and told them we were on the way for an emergency; we didn’t give them a choice; we were coming. When we arrive at 9am they are already working two other emergencies along with normal scheduled business. Our favorite maternity vet (Dr. Christina Behrends) was in but buried so she called in her retired veterinarian father to assist. By 9:40 Harley had an Ultrasound exam and by 10:00 she was in surgery for an emergency C-section; they had found two more puppies in there!

While all this was happening, we realized that we had brought along all the puppies in the NICU box (with O2) but had not brought food so I drove to the local Tractor supply to get goats milk and some bottles. While I was out, the vet came running in with a puppy – One is alive! Aston was born via that surgery at somewhere around 11:00 am, a 14oz boy. We now have 7 viable puppies and 3 puppies that did not survive..

We got our Harley back!

When we get home, Harley is an entirely reformed dog!

First nursing pic – Harley – #CarsLitter2021

After the surgical drugs wore off, she insisted on getting in the with pups. We nervously allowed it but stood watch for the first three hours straight until we felt comfortable again; even then, we stayed close and Terri slept in the pen with them. Harley has refused to leave the whelping box even to eat or drink. We’ve been bringing food and electrolyte fluids to her to keep her strength up. We convinced her to go outside two or three times in the 14 hours since we got home and I started writing this essay but she did her business and ran straight back to the box.

What happened to the puppies?

Dr Christina explained to us that the other puppy that did not survive the emergency C-Section was HUGE… like over 2lbs huge. Dr. Christina told us that there was little chance that Harley would have even been able to deliver it naturally. That one huge puppy was actually the cause of ALL out delivery problems. There are two Uterine “horns” that contain puppies. Enzo was likely in front of the giant pup and came out fine. The second pup that died in womb likely got hung up against the big baby at the juncture where the two horns come together and could not get out fast enough after the rough passage tore him away from the placenta. Every puppy after that had to fight it’s way past the giant puppy, tearing off amniotic sacks and placentas as they went. Because of all the stress, some of the puppies defecated in the uterus causing all the meconium on the puppies.

What caused Harley’s bad behavior?

Apparently the root cause for her aberrant behavior the night before was caused in no small part by the extreme pain of the big puppy and the fight going on inside her body but also by low calcium and other electrolytes. Removing the last two puppies and placentas as well as pushing therapeutic levels of electrolyte solution and calcium gel turned her around.

What did we learn?

Trust our gut. When we thought she needed to go in for a C-Section, we should have insisted. We don’t blame Dr Christina; at all. She was not seeing what we saw and could only advise based on what we said on the phone. We should have advocated stronger and insisted but that’s on us; hard lesson learned.
Have plenty of electrolyte powder on hand and give that to her in her water when she starts labor.
Never again mess with an X-Ray to get puppy count a week before due date. It is seldom accurate and a waste of money and stress traveling to the vet. Instead we will invest in a good (not vet quality but good) portable ultrasound machine that will allow us to not only get a puppy count when near term but always be able to see what is still inside – no more guessing and risking mama and puppy’s lives.
Never, ever do this without a $10 DeLee Mucus trap.

#CarsLitter2021 – Nursing after C-Section

About the Author

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Novel COVID-19 (“Corona Virus”) and your dog

Disclaimer: I am not a scientist, doctor or Veterinarian. I am simply someone that REALLY cares about dogs and has done quite a lot of research. The following article is what I believe to be true based on my research but please also do your own research, talk to your veterinarian and arrive at your own conclusions.

What is COVID-19?

COVID-19 is a “novel” corona virus sickness in that it has never been seen before 2019. It has recently been incorrectly nicknamed “The” Corona Virus but in fact is is just sickness caused by “A” Corona Virus. “Corona” refers to the shape of the virus under an electron microscope but there are many Corona Virus’s. The COVID-19 sickness is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that happens to be in the Corona Virus family. So, COVID-19 is the sickness, SARS-CoV-2 is the corona virus that causes it and neither one is “The” Corona Virus. Some example of virus strains in the Corona family include SARS, MERS, CCoV (Canine Corona Virus), and the common cold among others.

The survival rate is reported as quite high for all but the very elderly and those with other underlying conditions like Diabetes, Heart Disease and those that are immune compromised. It’s a numbers game though. If even 1% or 2% die but many thousands are infected, the mortality rate builds to large numbers. Strangely enough the very young seldom show few if any symptoms even though they can be infected as carriers and can transmit the virus to others.

COVID-19 appears to have originated in China and is believed to be transferred from animals to humans. While the exact transfer method has not yet been confirmed as of this writing but an interesting article on sciencedaily.com suggests it may have come from bats in China but may have had some intermediary animal meat deliver the patient zero infections via a particular meat market in China. The transfer from animal to human is difficult to achieve but it’s happened before. SARS jumped across to humans from Civets and MERS came from Camels. In my research, a serious corona virus has never been transferred to a human from domesticated pets but my research is not extensive on that particular thing.

OK, but what about dogs?

Lets get the scary stuff out of the way. According to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there is no evidence that COVID-19 can “infect” dogs in that the virus cannot thrive in a dog’s body and does not cause any symptoms. There is also no evidence that the dog can transfer the virus to humans via bodily fluids like humans do to each other. That said, one dog in Hong Kong was tested and found to have “weak positive” COVID-19 virus after being quarantined with an infected couple for some time. The dog had no symptoms; ever.

OK.. so your fur baby should be safe. We can move on now.

Can my dog spread COVID-19?

Well, technically yes but it’s exceedingly unlikely (don’t panic – read on). The chances are so slim that you could be infected from a dog’s bodily fluids that the CDC says there is no evidence it’s even possible.
It is however possible that a highly infected human could rub the virus into the fur of a dog which could then be transferred to the hands of another human. Even this is not incredibly likely since the fur absorbs so much as is not a slick virus friendly surface. Bonus: there is an easy fix (read on).

Note that dogs DO suffer from another corona type virus called Canine Coronavirus (CCoV). It is canine specific and most domestic dogs are vaccinated against it in the normal vaccination process and is usually referred to as canine flu. It is highly infectious between dogs but not humans. I am told it’s technically possible for CCoV to transfer to humans but it’s so very rare, and hard to do, it’s considered statistically irrelevant and most agencies says it’s impossible.

What can I do for my fur baby?

Since as this point no-one thinks dogs can actually get infected you should not have to worry about your dog’s health as it relates to COVID-19 but you should pay attention to your own health. What that means is if your dog is exposed to unknown dogs or more likely – humans that could possibly be infected, your dog may have the virus riding in it’s fur. There is an easy fix: give them a bath with soap any time they return from being in public where they have close contact with other humans until such time as the 2020 pandemic is cleared up.

While there is no evidence that a dog can be infected by the virus and pass it on to humans and it makes sense that they would not, it has not been absolutely proven . Out of “an abundance of caution”, the CDC also recommends that dogs not have close contact with humans that are infected since they do not have actual empirical proof that they cannot be infected. If you do get quarantined for COVID-19, find a close friend or relative to care for your pup. If you have no-one to do this then use a mask and wash your hands before and after handling your dog and do not allow them to lick you.

Should I get rid of my dog?

HELL NO! There has been a measurable and irrational spike in abandoned dogs since that one 17 year old Pomeranian in Hong Kong tested as “weak positive” then later died of completely unrelated causes. There is absolutely no reason to abandon your much loved fur baby out of irrational panic. There are literally millions of dogs in the world and never has there even been a hint that they can transmit COVID-19 to humans via bodily fluids.

Can I still take my dog out in public?

Absolutely! Walking your dog outside you home is still allowed under all the lock down rules I’ve seen anywhere. If you absolutely MUST go somewhere away from home that dogs are allowed, there will be no harm to your fur baby but you should use some common sense. Be warned that many dogs are absolute people magnets; especially children. While your fur baby would almost certainly want the attention of others, you should politely decline. You need to maintain distance both for yourself and your dog. Even if an infected person does not get close enough to infect you, they could possibly rub the virus in the dog’s fur and thereby transfer it to you. Again, this sort of transfer is unlikely but the possibility exists so use good sense and some amount of caution. You should avoid allowing your dog to drink or eat anything you do not directly provide. Food and water have not been shown to transfer the virus but with our fur babies, caution is the word of the day. You may want to also consider wiping your dogs feet with disinfectant wipes before getting back into the car.

Summary

COVID-19 is a really scary thing for humans, not so much for dogs. While it’s possible for COVID-19 to enter a dogs system under extreme circumstances, it cannot thrive there and the CDC states there is no evidence that it can infect them nor transmit to humans.
If you are quarantined for COVID-19, out of an abundance of caution it is suggested that you have someone else take care of your fur baby until the quarantine is finished.
It is possible (however unlikely) for a dogs fur to carry the virus in it’s fur so it is suggested that until the pandemic recedes that you bathe your dog with soap after being around other humans you do not know well.
Don’t go into an irrational panic and dump your fur baby. They are actually dramatically safer than your own baby as it relates to COVID-19 so keep them, love them and care for them as they care for you. You are everything to them.
Do your own research. Talk to your Vet. Make informed and rational decisions. I believe that after you do these things, you will generally agree with my findings.

Corrections:
4/4/2020 – COVID-19 is the sickness, SARS-CoV-2 is the virus

About the Authors

Bryan and Terri Curry love all dogs in general, especially Golden Retrievers. They have had dogs for all but 6 months of their long lives and all have lived happy and much longer than average. Bryan and Terri are co-owners of Texas TLC Goldens; a small responsible breeder producing high quality Golden Retriever puppies.

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Harley has at least 9 pups ready to come out

Terri took Harley to the vet to get an X-Ray in order to have a puppy count. As it turns out, Harley didn’t want to sit still enough so the pictures were blurry. The vet was able to study them and tell us there were at least 9 pups in there but it’s possible there are more!

Harley is due this Friday but the vet tells us it may be earlier. Stay tuned!!

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Harley update 2/23/2019

Yesterday was a good day.

We took Harley to the vet to do an ultrasound in order to confirm pregnancy and it is confirmed! We are VERY excited. We do not know how many puppies there are as it’s just too soon to tell.

We counted at least 6 but there are almost certainly more. We plan to do an X-ray to get a better count somewhere in the 3rd week of March but for now, it’s time to start getting excited!

We are fully aware that many on the list will not get puppies this time around and we are sincerely sorry for that but at least the process has begun and we will be doing this again, and again… 😉

Pure and simple math says she should deliver pups on or about Wednesday March 27th but Mother Nature can vary that by a few days.

Harley is doing fine. She’s more clingy and loving than she’s ever been but we enjoy that. Her appetite is definitely increased but she’s eating for many now and she’s taking prenatal vitamins twice every day. She’s gained 3 lbs since breeding and the vet says that’s good.

Keep an eye on Facebook and your email for updates!!

If you’d like to see the video of the ultrasound, I’ve posted it on Facebook HERE.

Happy Days!!

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Fixed waiting list and other tables for mobile users

Much to my embarrassment I just discovered that viewing the waiting list and other tables on mobile devices was almost unusable (Thanks for the heads up Michelle). This was especially troublesome since around 65% of our website visitors use phones and tablets.

I have corrected this with a new “responsive” tables plugin and your experience should be MUCH better now. There is only so much I can do with the smaller screens when using tables but at least now it’s possible to make sense of it on tablet and smaller screens. The new table plugin also allows searching, sorting and the ability to view more (or less) of or the entire list in a single view so this change is win-win.

As of this writing I have used tables in two places. Please check them out from the links below and let us know your thoughts.

Puppy Waiting List

English Creme Golden Retrievers vs American Golden Retrievers

Thank you for your patience while we do our best to make this site a better place to visit. If any of you find other pages that are just uncomfortable, please let us know!

Bryan

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Harley has been bred!

Today (2019/1/25) at noon, Harley and Tucker had their first tie. This means she’s been bred!

They will do this again two more times over the next two days to help increase the chances of good fertilization and we should have her home by Sunday afternoon.

We are very excited but need to caution that while this is a very positive thing and step two in the process (heat, 3 ties, gestation, delivery, keep pups healthy for 2 months), there are still things that can go wrong so until we actually have puppies to send to their forever homes so there is no guarantee; we are however very giddy and optimistic!

We will confirm pregnancy in a few weeks but cannot get a puppy count estimate until after 55 days gestation.

IF everything goes fine, we should be looking for puppies at the end of March that are ready to go to their forever homes by the end of May. Keep your fingers crossed!!

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Harley Update December 2018

We know many of you are anxious to have puppies from Harley in the spring so here’s an update.

By our best guess based on her past schedule, Harley should have gone into heat 11/20/2018 but she did not. She is showing all the signs of going into heat (clingy, moody, lots if “interest” from River and Dexter and even Emma at times) but she’s not there yet. This is not all that uncommon for winter heats as they are often delayed due to the short days.

We had a rather expensive progesterone blood test done on her a few weeks ago and she was at “level 1”. This could mean many things but in the end, it does mean that heat “should” be coming. Terri is also running “Ferning” tests from her dried saliva under a microscope a few times per week and we see continued evidence of progesterone. As you can see from the graphic, if free progesterone is present, she’s in her cycle somewhere.

Canine heat is at best a difficult thing to forecast and they can vary. Here are the current possibilities for Harley:

She had an early and silent heat and we missed it or she skipped her heat
- Most unlikely
She started heat and then just stopped
- Very unlikely
She started heat and stopped and will start again
- Called a “split heat” – yes, it’s a thing
She is just late going into heat
- Most likely, especially since it’s winter

Canine heat can be late by as much as 2 months so at this point we are at the mercy of Mother Nature and can only wait and watch. We will continue to watch, love, care for, and test her. We do our best to keep you updated with her progress.

Once she is pregnant, the pregnancy lasts roughly 63 days. After the puppies are whelped, they need to be weaned, healthy and at least 8 weeks old before they go to to their forever homes. For now we will let you do the math and will provide better estimates when the action actually starts.

We are very excited to have secured Tucker as sire for the upcoming litter. His loving owner has been kept up-to-date and is standing ready when Harley is.

Sincerest thanks for your patience and understanding.

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Sire Selected for Harley’s First Litter!

We at Texas TLC Goldens are very excited to announce that we’ve selected the sire for Harley‘s first litter of Golden Retriever Puppies! Tucker from Creed Goldens in the Dallas area is an absolutely gorgeous and proven dark Golden Retriever Sire and we can hardly wait to see their pups!

Tucker is cleared for pretty much every potential DNA issue that mankind knows about for Golden Retrievers.

Tucker was tested and is OFA “Good” for hips and “Normal” for elbows.

He is a gorgeous dark Golden Retriever and is healthy, happy and owned by a sweet and responsible breeder (Creed Goldens) in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

We are currently waiting for Harley to go into heat. If nature cooperates we should have amazing puppies available to go to their forever homes in spring of 2019. If you are seriously interested in purchasing gorgeous, healthy and happy Golden Retriever Puppies, please consider joining our Puppy Waiting List to assure your pick order! It’s free to join but we (and the others on the list) appreciate notification if you plans change.

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Introducing Emma – English Creme Golden Retriever Puppy

We just received our first true English Creme Golden retriever girl and we are very excited!! She is a gorgeous girl and has an amazing pedigree that we hope to share very soon.

Emma – English Creme Golden Retriever at 4 months

She was born June 10, 2018 and had an epic journey to Texas that Started last Thursday October 11. She first had a 4.5 hour flight from Budapest, Hungary to Dubai. In Dubai she had a 10 hour layover and we were very pleased that Dubai has very strict rules on transporting pets that required time out of the kennel, cleaning the kennel, feeding and time to relieve herself. She then boarded in Dubai for the very long flight to Houston , Texas. We at Texas TLC Goldens live roughly 190 miles from the Houston Airport so we took the day off Friday 10/12 and drove to pick her up. We of course brought River and Harley with us that that turned out to be a VERY good thing.

After finally clearing US customs, we got Emma in her crate but she was VERY scared and confused, that is until we got her inside the truck and she spotted River and Harley ; all at once everything was alright. It was like flipping a switch. She was totally a puppy again and VERY happy to be here.

We drove back to Bulverde late Friday night after stopping at our son’s home near the airport to give her a quick bath and food, arriving home around 1:15am. We took her to our local vet at 10:30 that morning and they pronounced here completely healthy! We then attended a “Puppy Play Day” hosted by the breeder that we got River and Harley from that afternoon with around 10 or 11 golden Retrievers total and it was a total success!! Emma was the hit of the event and totally had a blast.

Today (Saturday) we took her to K9 Country club and we found out she is a total water dog.. She dove into deep water and swam immediately and seemed to LOVE it!! the only real challenge is getting pictures of a puppy that is not wet!

We’ve had her 48 hours now and are totally thrilled with her. We look forward to the fine puppies she produces in around 2 years! In the mean time we are loving adding her to the family.

We have seen her pedigree but because of international paperwork and the time it will take to get it transferred to AKC it will be a few weeks before we can post her details. In summary here are her stats:

30lbs at 4 months old
Sire: Champion
Dam: Best in show
The rest of the pedigree: stock full of champions on both sides
Clear for all DNA clearances we care about
Both parents are the European equivalent of OFA good on hips and elbows
She’s just freaking cute

Here Emma is in her first 48 hours as an American citizen:

Emma – English Creme Golden Retriever at 4 months with our boy River

Emma loves water- English Creme Golden Retriever at 4 months with our girl Harley

Emma in the water – English Creme Golden Retriever at 4 months with our Girl Harley

Emma loves muddy water – English Creme Golden Retriever at 4 months

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We Are Searching For a Dark Golden

We’ve said several times that we plan to have up to 4 breeding females eventually and that we wanted them at least 2 years apart in age. We originally planned to keep a puppy from Harley‘s first litter but Harley and Gunner will produce VERY light colored puppies. We want those of course but we’d also like to have some dark Golden Retrievers. River is a beautiful dark Golden but his dad (Regency’s golden Scout) has passed over the Rainbow Bridge so making another just like him in female form is just not going to happen. That said, we’ve begun the search for a dark Golden Retriever female that meets our strict rules for breeder, personality, color, conformation, genetics, pedigree and health. She’ll be a puppy of course so we are still well over 2 years out having really dark puppies available but we see the need to get started adding some variety in our mix.
The search has begun but we have time. Harley was born 8/16/2016 so we’ll want a puppy born near or after that date to keep them spaced out the way we want.

Harley and Gunner will make gorgeous, healthy light colored puppies and we are very excited about that but we think it’s wise (and exciting) to find a beautiful dark Golden Retriever female to add to our family.

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