September Is for Puppies

September is going to be a busy month for us. SSD Scotia and SSD Kirby are both going to have puppies!

SSD Scotia was bred to SSD Sweet William. Will was SSD’s founding stud, a handsome yellow lab with a sweet temperament. Scotia is expecting 6 puppies. They should have some very nice pups!

SSD Sweet William

SSD Scotia

SSD Kirby was bred to SSD Meade, our newest stud. This will be both dogs’ first litter. When Kirby had her ultrasound, the vet saw 7-8 puppies. We’re looking forward to meeting them!

SSD Kirby

SSD Meade

SSD Opal and SSD Julia were also bred. Opal traveled to the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind and was bred to Elton, the handsome father of the Shakespearean puppies. Thank you to the Guide Dog Foundation for taking such good care of her during her stay! 

SSD Opal

 

Elton, from Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind

Julia was bred to SSD Fire, a big, dark yellow lab. We won’t know if these two dogs are pregnant until their ultrasounds. 

SSD Julia

SSD Fire

All of these dogs have traits that we are hoping will be passed on to their puppies. We put a lot of thought into our breeding program to make sure that our puppies have the right health and temperament to become successful service dogs. If you would like to learn more about why we breed service dogs rather than train rescue dogs, please read our blog post, “Why Do We Breed Service Dogs?” 

We’re looking forward to an autumn full of puppies!

Midge's Magic Number 5

Five seems to be the magic number for SSD Midge. She went to the Palmyra Animal Clinic for an ultrasound on Thursday, and the vet saw five puppies!

Midge was bred to a handsome black lab named Elton from the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind. We can't wait to meet their puppies and watch them grow!

Thank you to the vets at the Palmyra Animal Clinic for taking such good care of Midge while she was there!

A Visit to the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind

SSD Midge on her way to Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind

Elton, the tall and handsome lab from Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind

We’re hoping there are more puppies in our future! SSD Midge traveled up to Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind to be bred to a tall, dark and handsome lab named Elton. Elton is about two years old and has a wonderful temperament. If Midge is pregnant, we’re hoping for tall, lovely puppies.

In addition to breeding Midge with Elton, we had the opportunity to evaluate several of the Guide Dog Foundation’s studs, and we took photos and videos so we can make breeding decisions about future litters.

One of the Guide Dog Foundation’s studs sired the Eastern Star Litter, and we gave puppy Hope to them for their program. Usually, when we use a stud from another organization and there are five or more puppies in the litter, we send one puppy back to the organization that supplied the stud. When we visited the Guide Dog Foundation, we got to see Hope! Unfortunately, although Hope was doing very well in her training, she developed some health issues and had to be discharged. If Midge’s litter with Elton is big enough, one of the puppies will be heading to its father’s organization. Thank you to the Guide Dog Foundation for giving us the opportunity to see Hope!

Will there be more puppies in our future? We’ll have to wait and see!