Golden Retriever Pups Week 6: Progress & Selection for Service Dogs

Welcome to week 6 with our litter of Golden Retriever pups!

We’re getting close to the end of our journey with our little, furry, fuzz balls.

Our original plan was to keep half the litter to train as service dog puppies.

At 6 weeks old these little pups start showing enough personality to start thinking about who we would keep to raise as service dogs and who would become loving pets.

This week was also the first time we gave a few mock tests to see which of our pups had the moxie to be a service dog.

So, what are some of the traits we are looking for in a future service dog puppy at this young age?

1. A confident puppy.
2. A puppy that is willing to work for his partner.
3. A puppy with a calm temperament.

*In week 8 we put the puppies through a full scale temperament test.

As you will see some were better suited then others as candidates to become service dog puppies in training.

QUICK RECOMMENDATION: If you’re thinking about bringing home a puppy we recommend picking up a copy of Puppies for Dummies. Not only is it a great book on how to raise and train a puppy, but there’s also a section in the book on how to choose a puppy from a litter.

Golden Retriever Pups – Week 6

PuppyShave MarkColorWeight (Day 36)Liberty (Berlin)Right Back LegGreen6 lb 15 ozTank (Bear)Left Back LegBlack7 lb 5 ozTrooper (Buster)Right ShoulderRed6 lb 9 ozPatriotLeft ShoulderBlue7 lb 12 ozSpiritLower BackPink7 lb 0 ozGunnerUpper BackBrown7 lb 1.5 oz

These little pups are starting to get some girth especially Patriot who was pushing 8 lbs at only 36 days old!

The size gap between our smallest and largest puppy keeps getting bigger as Patriot is well over a pound heavier then Trooper.

Golden Puppies Week #6 Highlights

Day #36 – Archer loves puppies!

Archer was very curious since day 1, but even though he and Raven were best pals she still was protective of her puppies.

Since the beginning we allowed supervised interaction and Archer loved the little guys and just wanted to play…albeit sometimes a little too rough…

Day #37 – Kids and Puppies

We continued to socialize our Golden pups with people young and old.

Some of our favorite puppy raiser friends stopped by and brought over their grandchildren to play with the pups.

At this age the puppies like running around and act like hams.

Long gone are the days of the docile, sleepy puppies.

Welcome to the wonderful world of running wild Golden pups!

Day #40 – Our Little Golden Explorers!

As time moved on these guys became more and more mobile and less easy to contain in small environments.

A few weeks earlier they started climbing out of the short wall in the whelping box.

As the below picture illustrates this little one enjoyed climbing onto this shelf making it his own doggy bed.

*By week 8 a couple of these little guys became quite the escape artists and learned to scale the side of the whelping box!

In case you missed our other posts about our litter of Golden Retriever pups take a look back at past weeks:

• Week 1 – Six Golden Retriever puppies are born!
• Week 2 – Pups eyes are opening starting to waddle.
• Week 3 – First bark! Good or Bad…Adorable 🙂
• Week 4 – Little guys are starting to eat solid foods.
• Week 5 – Puppies love car rides…in the laundry basket 🙂
• Week 6 – This is Week 6!
• Week 7 – The great puppy escape artists!
• Week 8 – Our golden puppies head to their new homes.

Okay guys and gals. If you’ve raised a litter of puppies to week 6 then you know we’re heading into the difficult weeks.

Almost every time I return to the whelping box it looks like a poop war broke out.

It sounds funny now, but the sight and stink are not fun.

Thank god they’re still as adorable as can be.

What about you guys?

Have any of you ever raised a litter of puppies?

If so, tell us your story in the comment section below.

If you’re prepping for a litter of puppies we highly suggest taking a look at Puppy Culture DVD and Workbook. I wish I had the DVD and Workbook before our first litter of pups.

If you’re thinking about bringing home a Golden puppy then check out Puppies for Dummies. This is the first book we bought before bringing home our first puppy, Linus. It’s a great intro to raising and training a puppy.

Top Picks For Our Puppies

1. BEST PUPPY TOY
   We Like: Snuggle Puppy w/ Heart Beat & Heat Pack - Perfect for new puppies. We get all of our Service Dog pups a Snuggle Puppy.
2. BEST DOG CHEW
   We Like: Best Bully Sticks - All of our puppies love to bite, nip, and chew. We love using Bully Sticks to help divert these unwanted behaviors.
3. BEST DOG TREATS
   We Like: Wellness Soft Puppy Bites - One of our favorite treats for training our service dog puppies.
4. BEST FRESH DOG FOOD
   We Like: The Farmer's Dog - A couple months ago we started feeding Raven fresh dog food and she loves it! Get 50% off your first order of The Farmer's Dog.

Check out more of our favorites on our New Puppy Checklist.