On Easter Sunday 2005 we were blessed with eight new additions to the South Branch family! Sophie and the puppies are doing well. Below are some pictures of proud Mamma Sophie and her babies. These puppies are bred first and foremost to be wonderful, well tempered, healthy pets with characteristics specific to the Golden Retriever breed. The parents of this litter, Sophie and Otto, have genetics from our Scottish White, American/Canadian Champion/Golden Retriever Club of America Show Dog Hall of Fame and NAFC, FC, AFC Field Champion bloodlines. Easter Sunday. At 7:38 am the first arrived and by 11:05 there were six! Sophie and I thought we could relax... But by 12:44 we had eight beautiful puppies! Five gorgeous ladies and three handsome gentlemen. Mamma Sophie did a great job! Taken Easter Sunday, 3-27-05. Taken 3-28-05. 3-28-05 3-30-05 3-30-05 3-30-05 Strettccchhhh! It helps to be flexible during feeding time. 3-31-05 Being a puppy is hard work! 3-31-05 But it's worth the reward!! 3-31-05 When mamma needs a break we snuggle in the basket. 3-31-05 4-1-05 Puppies are the best! 4-1-05 Three is quite an armful already... Getting bigger. 4-2-05 4-4-05. They weigh about 2 lbs each! They've gained about 1 pound since they were born. Puppies grow fast! 4-4-05 4-4-05 4-4-05 4-4-05 4-6-05 The puppies are 2 weeks old in this picture. They now weigh over 3 pounds! Two weeks. 4-10-05 4-10-05 4-10-05 4-10-05 Their eyes are open now, but they sleep so much it's hard to tell! Taken 4-12-05. No more pictures, please!! 4-12-05 4-12-05 4-13-05. Auntie Charity and Brandon came over for a visit. All this attention makes me sleepy! 4-13-05 Mamma Sophie is good about sharing the spotlight. 4-13-05 Brandon wanted to take this one home. 4-13-05 4-15-05 4-15-05 4-17-05. It's off to Grandma's. The real world is kind of bright and a little scary... But it's getting pretty crowded in the pool so it's time to relocate! That stuff in the pink bag is starting to smell pretty good, too... 4-17-05. Over the river and through the woods... It took a little while for everyone to get settled in; 4-17-05 But then we remembered it was time to eat and... 4-17-05 We decided to sit back and enjoy the ride. We got on the highway and it was back to business as usual...LUNCHTIME! Auntie Charity with one of the girls at 4 weeks. Just hangin' out in our new digs at SouthBranch. We've been here now for a week. Lots more space and learning the ropes on how to be a big dog and eat real food and even go potty outside. It's just like being at Summer Camp! We even got to go outside for a while... (4 weeks old) It sure was windy! We were happy to see some familiar faces come to visit. Until next weekend... Here we are at 5 weeks... We got some new toys to play with this week. Much better than Mamma Sophie's old baby toys... they are fun to chew on, but that doesn't keep us from chewing on each other occasionally. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Those little teeth are SHARP! Just ask Mamma Sophie:) All play and no work makes me SLEEPY! Here we are below at 6 weeks. Mamma Sophie got a visit on Mother's Day. Only one week left before we go to our new homes. We're ready!! We'll all really miss these guys. Puppies are the best.