Goldin gives birth to a rare puppy, only three known to have ever existed. It had been a long pregnancy for Rio this time around. Her first litter had kept her pretty sedentary throughout, carrying the five pups to term. She’d been an excellent mother to them when they were born.
But this time, the doctor said she was carrying more pups—a lot more pups—and she must be careful not to overdo anything. Her new owner should definitely be assisting her during the birth, which was fast approaching.
Rio belongs to Mrs. Louise Sutherland in Scotland and is the apple of her eye. She dotes on her beautiful golden retriever any chance she gets, so besotted by her companion’s amazing qualities. Louise just knew she had to have little Rio’s puppies so others too could experience the love of a golden retriever. This was her second litter, and her time was coming up quickly. Part of good dog husbandry is making sure that our breeding animals are in tip-top shape and condition and also sparing no expense on any veterinary fees that may arise at any time.
Having a sonar done early on in the pregnancy had given Louise an indication of just how many pups she was expecting. But when labor came around, she could barely believe it—nine little heartbeats on the machine, and nine little heads could be made out on the specialized equipment. Louise thought it was just amazing and a good-sized litter for a golden retriever, which can have anywhere between four pups all the way up to twelve. She didn’t know the toll this would take at the expense of her sole mutt’s health.
The day arrived exactly on time, sixty-three days after conception, and Rio had been looking for a soft and quiet nesting place to bring her adorable golden brood into the world. Mom had provided her with a large crate filled with soft blankets, big enough to hold both of them so that Louise could assist Rio with each pup as it came into the world.
When Rio settled down for the labor, Louise stayed right beside her, armed with the mucus sucker, bottles of water, gloves, a towel, paper tissues, and nine little puppy-sized collars, all in different colors so that she could remember who was born when. She knew that would be important in the days to come. The delivery began, and she recorded each birth—Rio and a total of seven boys and one girl—and they’re all great and growing like mushrooms.
Louise is proud to say she weighed each pup and jotted down its birth weight before adding a brightly colored collar around each of the fat pup snacks, then put them back with mom Rio to clean up and let them drink some milk. Puppies are born blind and deaf for the first few weeks. They don’t do much of anything other than sleep, eat, and poop. They rely completely on their mother for food, warmth, and love, just like Rio relied entirely on Louise to look after her during this arduous time in her life. She just, like the time before, was an exceptional mother to all nine of her puppies, even the very strange pup right in the middle.
Rio took her time with the first pup, and Louise began to get worried when the first pup seemed stuck. “He just wasn’t coming at all,” she said. The first pup was stuck, so myself and my daughter Claire managed to free him and pull him out safely. It was all hands on deck. But then the puppies started to arrive.
Then they saw something they didn’t think was possible. Halfway through giving birth to her litter, Rio seemed to take a bit of a rest. But no sooner had she relaxed for 15 minutes or so, another puppy arrived, and then straight afterward, another came, as if he barely could wait to meet the world.
He came really quickly after the fourth; he was keen to make an appearance, Louise remembers. Louise, 43, and Claire, 25, gasped at the sight of him—not because he was ugly or malformed; he wasn’t even particularly different, at the same size, same weight, and with the same looks. He was just the most peculiar color they’d ever seen on a dog—a mossy green, just like a plant.
But what could have caused such a strange-colored dog to be born? Both mom and dad dogs were golden retrievers, pure breeds, and obviously, as the name states, they were indeed both a gold color. Even though you do get variations on the colors, they all revolve around the breed name—dark golden, cream-like golden, and golden. So just what happened to one of those pups, aptly named Forest?
Coloring is believed to be caused by a bile pigment called biliverdin. This is a chemical closely associated with the color green, and it’s what you’d see when our bruises start to change color—it’s basically the color of your body healing itself.
Well, there seemed to be an awful lot of the green tetrapyrrole bile pigment in the amniotic fluid surrounding Forest, and it ended up staining his fur. An otherwise normal puppy from a normal litter, the only difference was the level of biliverdin in Forest’s birth sac—the placenta that surrounds each individual puppy was a higher concentration.
The amniotic fluid made sure that every inch of the puppy was covered, and because the baby’s a light color, the green simply stained over it. This oscillates Forest’s nearly normal-colored head. If you look closely, you can see that Forest’s muzzle, paws, and ears are either a darker color or the green stain didn’t take well to those parts. This is due to the hair being much shorter on his body in these spots. So, if you thought it was a Photoshop job, you’d be quite mistaken.
There have been other pups born with the same condition. This was an extremely rare occurrence, with only three documented cases known before this fourth one. Thanks to the internet, dog owners all over the world have been showing off their green newborns with awesome names to boot. In February last year, a chocolate Labrador gave birth to a green puppy in Lancashire. They named her Fiona. Two spaniels were born green in the same litter a few years ago in Spain, and a Great Dane had a litter of two—one with white and black spots and one green and black spots.
Because it’s so rare, not many vets have had the opportunity to look into the matter. When we checked it out later, we found out it’s very unusual and to do with the placenta. The colors faded quite a bit already and will be gone soon, I’m told. Louise admits, “What a fright I got! I phoned the vet because I thought there was something wrong. Even the vet didn’t know much about it.”
The surprising new arrival was one of a litter of nine puppies born to the three-year-old family pet. This is her second litter, but the first was much more normal—five-hour labor and five pups, two girls and three boys. But this will be our last, Louise knowing what’s normal for a dog, knew that she couldn’t attempt another litter, no matter how sweet the pups were.
Rio’s litter of nine puppies came after a marathon 32-hour labor, and number five was the one that was different from the rest after such a lengthy ordeal. Just how was Rio doing? Well, new mom Rio is doing great after a rest and a good wash down, and Louise was happy to say, “We were all shattered, but all that mattered was that Rio was okay.” It seems that the long nights caught up with everyone. The whole family should be commended on looking after their dog for the entire event. All the puppies are spoken for, but Louise has decided to keep a little boy for herself.
Which one do you think it will be? Even Louise herself doesn’t know, saying, “We’re keeping one of the boys but haven’t decided yet. We’re waiting until their personalities come out.” I think we all know Forest has a great chance at being the one that she keeps.
