Mother Goose

Very pregnant Goose the night before the puppies were born

My sweet Goosey girl is a Mommy! Many of you already know that we are a "guardian home" for Miss Goose. When we originally got our first pup, Maverick, we fell in LOVE with Doodles - and especially Goldendoodles (Golden Retriever & Poodle Mix). These dogs enable people like me with truly severe allergies to be able to have a dog, and even one that lives in the house and functions as a member of the family. If you've met Maverick, you know he's an extra-special puppy :) You may even know that we jokingly refer to him as my personal therapist (which is not very far from the truth).

As friendly as Maverick is, he had a really hard time only having Bryan & I for his best friends. I take him to the dog park at least twice (many times more) a week, he gets daily walks, and we let him hang out with our neighbor dogs regularly, but there was still a lot of time when it was just him while we were at work, out of the house, or just hanging out at home when he really didn't have anyone to "play with." That's when we decided to get Pup #2. 

However, as soon as we made this decision, we found out we had a wee complication - I was pregnant! As enjoyable as Maverick was as a tiny puppy, there is much that isn't fun about potty training, teething, and all those other little things that come with getting a newborn puppy. Bryan & I decided that getting another tiny puppy was not the answer when we would have a newborn human in the house in the near-ish future. We knew we wanted another Doodle - so what were we doing to do?

I contacted Safari Doodles (where Maverick came from) and explained that we really wanted another Doodle, but would prefer one that was a little older, ideally already potty trained and with adult teeth (priorities!). I thought there may be a family that had one of their dogs for a while but either didn't have enough time or energy to keep up with it, and would be looking for a re-home situation. It turns out we didn't have to look very far because Alicia (one of the co-owners of Safari Doodles) had a almost-2-yr-old dog that she was wanting to use for breeding future puppies, but didn't have the space or time to keep her to do. She said we could have her for free if we would allow her to occasionally have a litter of puppies, and then after a few years we would spay her and she'd live permanently with us. Thus we became "Pink's" - now known as Goose - parents.

We love this little lady and Maverick LOVES his sister/best friend. Recently he's been very sad because we took her to Austin to live with someone else while she has her puppies. I DEFINITELY don't want a new Mommy dog and 6 brand new pups around while I'm a few weeks away from having a baby myself. Goose adjusted very easily, but Maverick really misses her.

Yesterday (Wednesday, May 9) Goose had her puppies!

First puppy out - a little boy!

Still coming; Goose did AWESOME

Almost all of them out now

 

4 hours later, Goose is worn out but almost done

 

"Mother Goose" with all of her puppies! 6 total: 4 boys, 2 girls

Way to go Goose! Everyone is happy and healthy. Apparently she's a "natural" and was a trooper through the whole thing. As much as she loves to lick, I'm sure she's having a ball with those little balls of fluff.

I think the thing that makes me laugh the most is those people that ask "did Goose & I plan to be pregnant at the same time?" .... Seriously? Did my dog and I PLAN to be pregnant and due around the same time? .... no. I can honestly say that our family planning had absolutely nothing to do with a dog's gestational period, but thanks for asking, haha. Thankfully both Maverick & Bryan have been troopers having TWO pregnant females in the house :)