Once near death, a litter of 11 golden retrievers who were nursed back to health in September by surrogates when their mother died giving birth are up for adoption in Victoria, B.C.
During a visit this week with CTV News, the puppies chased each other in a yard, rolled around in leaves and climbed stairs. One tumbled headfirst into a Halloween jack-‘o-lantern.
The Victoria Humane Society said they are “extremely happy and healthy” and ready for adoption. “They’re very healthy, very social. They’ll be really great family dogs,” said Penny Stone. Since the group have been caring for the puppies since such a young age, the puppy siblings have been “very well socialized” and “exposed to everything.”
But the puppies -- collectively called the “Golden Litter” -- didn’t start their lives out so confidently. “We had a little bit of a crisis when they were first born,” said Stone. “We were worried we wouldn’t be able to keep them alive.”
In September, the Humane Society put out a call for dog owners with new mothers to help nurse a group of 20 puppies, including the 11 goldens. The rescue organization had a pregnant and distressed Bernese mountain dog in their care who gave birth to nine puppies of her own before another pregnant dog in distress arrived at the humane society. The Golden Litter’s mother died giving birth and the Bernese litter’s mother was quickly nursing 20 puppies.
Nearly two months later, the puppies are healthy and up for adoption, but the demand has been overwhelming. Before they were even officially ready for adoption, the Human Society had received hundreds of inquiries and they expect hundreds of applications for adoption.
With a report from CTV Vancouver Island
