The pregnant mother was first spotted wandering the roadside somewhere along the North Olympic Peninsula.

A man picked her up and dropped her off at the Port Ludlow shelter — and just in time.

The mother — a 5-year-old golden retriever — was in poor health and within days of delivering her puppies.

A foster home that had temporarily taken the mother in wasn’t comfortable with whelping a litter, so they contacted the Renton-based Evergreen Golden Retriever Rescue organization.

That’s how Susan and Richard Randall have ended up with a litter of golden retrievers in the backyard of their Bellevue home.

On May 10, the organization transported the dog to the Randalls’ home. Two days later and with the help of many volunteers, the couple helped whelp a litter of nine golden retrievers.

“This is the first time that a litter has been whelped,” Richard said of the Evergreen Golden Retriever Rescue, which in most cases takes in adult dogs. “So this is very unusual to have puppies. I think the closest we came was two years ago when (the organization) had six, 10-week-old puppies.”

Last week, the now eight-week-old puppies wagged their tails and jumped up on a wire fence, a puppy playpen of sorts in the Randalls’ backyard. Each puppy had a different-colored collar around the neck, including pink and red for the only two females, so the couple can keep track of which animal is which.

Susan scooped one up who she referred to as “little red girl,” who in turn licked Susan’s chin.

“We’ve had our own litters in the past, so we were partly prepared for this,” she said, adding that they also currently have three grown golden retrievers of their own. The couple has volunteered for the organization for eight years and Susan is also the golden retriever representative for the Seattle Pure Bred Dog Rescue.

But they weren’t exactly ready for the daunting birth.

When the mother, Carmal, arrived in Bellevue, the Randalls found out she had been micro-chipped. Port Ludlow authorities were able to trace her veterinarian to Nevada, where she had been treated for four years. The veterinarian released Carmal’s name and age.

The owner who had taken her to the veterinarian was a woman who may have given Carmal away to family members, “but we don’t know past that what the history is,” Susan said.

They also don’t know the sire of the litter, though several experienced breeders have determined the puppies are most likely purebred golden retrievers.

Carmal came to the Randalls on a Saturday, and the couple quickly pulled out a whelping box that they disinfected and assembled as the mother seemed ready to deliver.

Organization volunteers came to the Randalls from as far as Maple Valley and Renton. Some brought overnight gear and took turns sleeping on the couch next to Carmal to watch her through the night. Finally on Monday morning, her water broke and volunteers helped deliver the puppies.

Most of the puppies have now been placed with prospective adoptive families. Carmal is back in Port Ludlow recovering from surgery with the family who fostered her and will, most likely, adopt her. For information about Evergreen Golden Retriever Rescue, visit www.egrr.net.