Meet Owen’s Litter!

Good news! SSD Opal gave birth to her puppies on October 29. She has six healthy yellow lab pups.

These puppies are known as Owen’s Litter, named after a young boy, Owen Brezitski, who passed away in 2011 after he was struck by a distracted driver. His family started a foundation in his name, and they chose the names of Opal’s puppies.

The Brezitski family says, “We want to share with you our goals, our aspirations, our pain, and our inspirations. We want you to know why Owen was so dear and precious to us and the many others who knew him. He touched so many lives in his short time here on earth and his legacy, his spirit, and his story continue to touch thousands more. Our goal and our passion is to bring awareness to distracted driving so that no one has to endure the pain and loss that we are experiencing.”

All of the puppies have names that start with the letter O.

SSD Odette, female, orange collar with sunflowers

SSD Obie, male, black collar with orange stripes

SSD Oboe, male, black collar with orange “Trick or Treat”

SSD Orlando, male, black collar with orange dots

SSD Olympia, female, beige collar with orange pumpkins

SSD Odella, female, orange collars with black trim

Opal gave birth to one puppy who was stillborn. His name was Ozzy, and he will be buried in a special spot at the home of one of our volunteers.

We will have more photos of each of the puppies soon.

It's Time to Meet the Water Puppies

On September 22, we got a huge surprise. SSD Opal gave birth to seven puppies!

You can watch Opal and her Water puppies on the puppy cam. That means that you now have three litters of puppies that you can follow online! 

We're expecting one more litter this fall, and we really need your help getting ready for them. These three litters of puppies have used up a lot of supplies! We're going to need storage containers, baby nail clippers, storage containers, puppy crates, tiny service dog vests, and more. Please check out our puppy wish list for a complete list of the items we need. Thank you so much!

Meet the Water Puppies

SSD Bay, yellow female, purple collar

SSD Cove, black female, blue collar

SSD Lagoon, yellow female, red collar

SSD Ocean, yellow female, pink collar

SSD Rain, black female, orange collar

SSD Stream, black female, yellow collar

SSD Ripple, yellow male, green collar

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!