Well, at long last, the day has arrived - my husband and 3 of my kids are picking up our Golden Retriever puppy right now...without me.
I had to work (I'm the only employee!)

Aspen Gold should be in my arms in about 4 hours.
It's a long ride from her place of birth to her new home. I will post a picture of her and I on my myspace page, soon.

Congratulations, Jackie!! Here's to many years of love, devotion, and lots of play time for both of you!

Read your PM's my dear lady....You already know my thoughts on all this. I m just thrilled for all of you...

My husband called about 15 minutes after they picked her up - the poor baby pooped in her new bed in the SUV!!!
Not much different than a baby, huh??

Bluebird, you will have so much fun, I (I'm sure you all know by now) have a wonderful yellow lab almost 2 yrs now, but he's still my baby. Enjoy, enjoy!

Well Aspen is here at the store with me...she pooped on two different rugs while the boss was here! She is so little and cute. I have to take her to the vet next door in a few minutes.

Bluebird, I see you like to walk, well, in a short while you will have a great walking companion. My lab loves his daily walks. Are you going to crate train? I had really good success with this. With my first dog we didn't do this and he's never really learned, but he's a Shitz Tu (spelling?-appropiate name huh?!) and the little ones seem to be stubborn about this (and that and everything!)

What is crate training? I have never raised a puppy so I have no clue what to do. Our neighbor just loaned us a video on puppy care, my kids are watching it right now.
She is so incredibly cute! i feel bad for her, being away from her parents and siblings, but she does seem to love us already.
I definitely will be taking her on walks!

[ May 05, 2006, 12:13 AM: Message edited by: Bluebird ]

BB, crate training is the best! It's much easier to house train them and keeps them from chewing your shoes, pillows, trees, shrubs, flowers, window ledges, furniture......as you can see, I've been through the puppy stage a few times. Daisy is 3 and I still put her in her crate when I'm not home, usually. Even now she can find mischief to make her day a little more interesting. Dogs are very creative when they get bored.

I give Daisy a Kong filled with frozen peanut butter and dog food when she goes into her crate. When I pull it out of the freezer, I don't even have to say anything, she automatically marches her little buns into the crate and is a happy camper. I think she feels safer there than if I let her have the run of the house and back yard.

I'm not going to describe the entire process here - you can find plenty of information about crate training in books and the net.

The most important thing to remember when raising a puppy is: A tired puppy is a good puppy!

Congratulations on your new family member!

Daisygirl

I'm so happy for you and your family Jackie...I bet your new "baby" is adorable...crate training is truly the way to go...even I could do it...so that has to tell you how easy it is..
Many years of happiness with Aspen Gold...