Meet the Game Litter!

We have more puppies in our SSD family! On February 2, SSD Pearl gave birth to the Game litter!

Because of the snow and ice storm that was predicted for her due date, our whelping team camped out with Pearl at her breeder caretaker's house, and it's a good thing they did! Not only did the snow and ice show up as predicted, but the puppies showed up, too! Pearl delivered three heathy black puppies - SSD Rummy (female, red collar), SSD Atari (female, purple collar) and SSD Yahtzee (male, yellow collar).

Sadly, this delivery didn't go smoothly. Pearl also gave birth to two yellow females - SSD Jenga and SSD Taboo. Both of them were stillborn. Our whelping team reacted immediately to try to revive these two puppies, but they were unable to resuscitate them. We stayed in contact with Dr. Clemens, one of our veterinarians at Palmyra Animal Clinic, throughout the delivery.

We have been very fortunate that so many of our puppies have been born healthy. Sometimes, though, some puppies do not make it, despite our best efforts, and this is always a sad time. Jenga and Taboo were given their collars (tan and green), and they have been buried in a special area at the home of one of our volunteers.

Despite our sadness about Jenga and Taboo, we are very thankful to have three beautiful, healthy puppies. Pearl and her puppies went to the Palmyra Animal Clinic the next morning, and after examining all four of them, Dr. Hahn told us the new family was healthy.

Rummy, Atari, and Yahtzee are doing great! Pearl is an excellent mother, and the whole family is happy and healthy.

Thank you to our whelping team and our breeder caretakers for all of their efforts. We're looking forward to watching Rummy, Atari and Yahtzee grow!

Help Us Name Midge's and Pearl's Puppies!

We have a challenging task for you. We have not one, but two litters of puppies, and we need you to help us name them!

SSD Midge and SSD Pearl are both pregnant. Midge was bred to our founding stud, SSD Sweet William, and she's due to give birth around January 27. Pearl was bred to Lobuff Hollyridge Wizard of Oz ("Wizard") and will give birth around February 2.

For her second litter, Midge's breeder caretakers have chosen the theme "The Civil War." Pearl's puppy raisers have chosen "Games" as Pearl's theme.

Are you up to the challenge of naming two litters of puppies?

All of the the names must have something to do with the themes "The Civil War" or "Games." You can suggest more than one name. In fact, please do! Don't forget to suggest both male and female names.

We'll announce the puppies' names when they're born.

So dust off your history books, open your game closet, and let the naming begin! Just leave your puppy names in the comments.

More Puppies on the Way!

SSD Pearl is going to have puppies!

She went to the vet yesterday for an ultrasound, and the vet saw about 6 puppies. She's due to give birth around February 2, 2011.

About a week ago, we announced that SSD Midge is also pregnant, and her puppies are due around January 29. Our whelping team is going to be very busy in less than a month!

We will be announcing the litter themes soon, so you can help us name the puppies.

More Puppies on the Way?

Are there more puppies on the way? Keep your fingers crossed! SSD Midge and SSD Pearl were bred, and we're hoping that both of them will have puppies soon.

Midge was bred to SSD Sweet William, SSD's founding stud. Will was a handsome yellow lab who was very healthy and produced healthy offspring. He loved people and was very intuitive - excellent traits for a service dog. If Midge is pregnant, this will be her second litter, and we're hoping to bring some of Will's traits back into the line.

SSD Sweet William

SSD Sweet William

Pearl was bred to Lobuff Hollyridge Wizard of Oz ("Wizard"). Wizard, a handsome black lab, comes from Hollyridge Labradors, a kennel in Rhode Island that breeds and shows labs. Although we have not actually met Wizard, we have heard a lot about him, and he has several traits that we value in service dogs. He is very confident in his environment and is comfortable in new situations. When he went to the Westminster Dog Show, he was calm and had no problem walking around outside on a loose leash and pottying on many different surfaces. If Pearl is pregnant, we're hoping Wizard passes these traits on to his offspring.

Wizard

Wizard

We'll find out on December 28 is Midge is pregnant when she goes to the vet for an ultrasound. Pearl's ultrasound is scheduled for January 3. We hope we'll have sonograms of puppies to share with you!

(Photo credit for Wizard photos: Hollyridge Labradors)

Puppies + food = one big happy mess!

If the size of the mess they made is any indication, the Gemstones puppies really enjoyed their first real meal!

When the puppies are about three weeks old, we start them on softened puppy food. Diamond was the first to dive in. As soon as Crystal, the puppies' breeder caretaker, set Diamond in front of the puppy food, she dug right into it. She was doing such a great job eating the new food that we joked that we better get the other puppies around the plate before she ate it all!

The other puppies soon smelled the food and came over to investigate. Without any prompting, they started chowing down, too. Soon there was just as much puppy food on the floor as there was on the plates!

Watch a video of Coral, Opal, Aqua, Topaz, Taz, Amber and Diamond eating their first real meal.

Even though they had just eaten all that puppy food, they still wanted to nurse. After Pearl helped clean up some of the puppy food, the puppies started nursing. Soon, Pearl was stretched out and all seven pups were lined up in a row. As the puppies finally got full, they wandered off and settled down for a nap. Aqua smooshed her face between her mother and the coffee table and promptly fell asleep. Diamond wiggled under the computer chair to nap. The other puppies found comfortable places on the floor. All that eating is hard work!

Adventures with the Gemstones

The Gemstones puppies are two and a half weeks old, and already their collars had to be changed twice because they've grown so much! Their eyes and ears are now open. Crystal, their breeder caretaker, sleeps downstairs with them, and before their ears opened, she had plenty of time to get ready for the day after her alarm went off. After all, the pups slept right through her alarm since they couldn't hear it. Now that their ears are open, though, they're squeaking for attention as soon as the alarm goes off.



The puppies have already started solving problems. They figured out how to almost escape the whelping box. If they had been a little bit bigger, they would have succeeded! They discovered that if they used their brothers and sisters as stepping stools, as well as the PVC pipe that lined the inside wall, they could get their front legs all the way outside the box. Needless to say, Crystal removed the PVC pipe so the pups didn't escape and get lost!

Pearl is taking such good care of her puppies. She certainly has her own way of doing things, though. Most mothers lay down to nurse. But not Pearl. Instead, she sits and the puppies pile on top of each other to nurse. The puppies also have their own spin on nursing. Puppies typically lay on their stomachs to nurse. If it becomes necessary to bottle feed puppies, you would hold them on their stomachs to feed them, which ensures that the formula goes down the right pipe. The Gemstones, however, have been known to nurse on their backs!

We're sure that as these puppies continue to grow, we'll have lots more stories!

Gemstones on the Puppy Cam!

Coral, Opal, Aqua, Topaz, Taz, Amber and Diamond are live on the Puppy Cam! You can now watch these adorable puppies online.

Watch the Puppy Cam.

These puppies aren't just any adorable puppies, though. They're going to be trained as service dogs. They'll learn to open doors, turn lights on and off, retrieve dropped items, become invisible in restaurants and much more.

Give the Gemstones a birthday gift to help them start their lives as service dogs-in-training. Your gift could change a life.

We hope you enjoy the Puppy Cam! We love watching the puppies!

Meet the Gemstones Puppies!

We have another litter of puppies! SSD Pearl delivered the Gemstones - five girls and two boys - on the Fourth of July in one of the calmest whelpings our whelping team has ever seen. She amazed everyone by resting or sleeping through most of it! After each puppy was born, though, Pearl woke up to care for it.

The story of Pearl and the Gemstones puppies began the week of Mother's Day. Pearl was bred to our own SSD Fire, a handsome dark yellow lab. It must have been a good luck charm to have the breeding around Mother's Day because when Pearl went for her ultrasound on June 7, we learned she was pregnant! The vet thought there would be six to seven puppies.

Pearl has a reputation of being a very calm, extremely relaxed dog, and she kept her reputation intact throughout her delivery. In fact, she didn't seem to show any early signs of labor, even when she was actually in labor! On the evening of July 3, Crystal (Pearl's puppy raiser and breeder caretaker) took Pearl's temperature and saw that it had dropped, which is one of the signs that Pearl would go into labor in the next 12-24 hours. However, she showed no other signs of going into labor. Often, the female will start panting and pacing, only sleeping for short periods. Pearl slept almost the entire night! The only difference was that her snoring came out in short snorts rather than long, drawn-out snores.

Crystal's daughter, Alisha, slept on the couch with Pearl, and Crystal woke up several times during the night to check on Pearl. After going out for her normal walk, Pearl settled right back on the couch, only to surprise everyone about an hour later with the arrival of SSD Coral, a yellow female, at 8:34 a.m. on July 4!

Crystal called Cindi, our training and breeding coordinator, and she walked her through caring for the newborn. The whelping team arrived soon afterward, in plenty of time for the delivery of a second yellow girl, SSD Opal, at 10:57 a.m.

The next three puppies followed in quick succession - SSD Aquamarine (Aqua), a yellow female, at 11:45 a.m., SSD Topaz, a yellow male, at 11:57 a.m., and SSD Tanzanite (Taz), a yellow male, at 12:27 p.m. All that time, Pearl lay quietly in the whelping box, seemingly asleep. She was so calm in between puppies that the whelping team joked that they knew another puppy was coming when Pearl fell asleep!

Pearl rested while the puppies nursed. One hour after Taz entered the world, a dark yellow female joined her brothers and sisters. SSD Amber was born at 1:28 p.m. After Amber's birth, Pearl got a spoonful of NutriStat to keep her energy up. She also received a dose of calcium to help with contractions. Calcium helps build strong bones, but even more than that, it helps the muscles contract. Pearl perked up after getting the NutriStat, raising her head to give the whelping team a big doggie grin. The whelping team took her outside for a short break, following her closely with a towel, just in case a puppy decided to make an appearance. Then she settled right back into the whelping box.

One hour after Amber, the last puppy was born, another yellow girl named Diamond. Pearl gave birth to seven puppies in all.

Each delivery went smoothly, although one puppy needed some oxygen to make sure that it got off to a good start. We had our new oxygen masks on hand (we used to use a duct-taped paper cup), and after a few minutes, the puppy was ready to nurse alongside its brothers and sisters. Thank you to SSD Midge's puppy raisers for donating the oxygen!

We waited another two hours to see if there were any more puppies waiting to enter the world. Pearl enjoyed some cheese while we waited and the seven Gemstones nursed. Around 4:30 p.m., we suspected Pearl was finished giving birth.

The action wasn't quite over yet, though. In its first few hours, one of the puppies had cut the pad on its hind foot. Not wanting to risk anything, we called the vet and then bundled the pup into the portable warming box for a trip to the vet. Four sutures later, the puppy is doing just fine! Crystal is soaking the puppy's foot in Epsom salt water twice a day to prevent infection and help it heal.

This is Pearl's first litter, and even though both Pearl and Fire belong to our program, one of the Gemstones puppies will be going to Pacific Assistance Dog Society in Canada. Pearl originally came from PADS. To expand our breeding lines, we have an agreement with PADS to exchange several female dogs of breeding quality. As part of the agreement, one puppy from each litter from these exchanged dogs goes back to the original organization. Every time Pearl has a litter, one of the puppies will go to PADS.

Pearl and all seven puppies are doing great! The Gemstones are located in Carlisle, PA, and puppy huggers are invited to visit the puppies on a limited basis after the pups are two weeks old. Once the puppies are four to five weeks old, more puppy huggers will be able to visit. (To let mom and puppies get off to a good start, puppy huggers will not be permitted prior to two weeks of age and will be limited until four to five weeks.) We will send more details when Pearl and the puppies are ready for visitors. Please note that regardless of the puppies' age, if you have a dog that is or has been recently ill, or have been around any ill dogs, please help us keep the puppies healthy by postponing your visit.

We're planning on having the puppy cam again. Watch for details in the next two weeks!

Congratulations to Pearl and Fire, and happy birthday to Coral, Opal, Aqua, Topaz, Taz, Amber and Diamond!

If you're interested in raising one of these puppies, call us at 717-599-5920 or visit our website to learn more!

The Gemstones litter

Coral, yellow female, pink collar
Opal, yellow female, lavender collar
Aquamarine (Aqua), yellow female, blue collar
Topaz, yellow male, yellow collar
Tanzanite (Taz), yellow male, orange dots collar
Amber, yellow female, red collar
Diamond, yellow female, mint greet collar

Give the puppies a birthday gift!

The Beginnings of the Gemstones Litter

Take a first look at some of the Gemstones puppies! They're due to be born around the Fourth of July.

Help Us Name Pearl's Puppies!

SSD Pearl is going to have puppies soon! She went for her ultrasound at the Palmyra Animal Clinic in early June, and the vet saw 6 or 7 puppies! We won't know the exact number of puppies until they're actually born. It's possible that some puppies were camera-shy and were hiding behind their brothers and sisters during the ultrasound.

You can definitely tell that Pearl is pregnant. And she keeps getting bigger! She's due to give birth around the Fourth of July.

Pearl's breeder caretakers have chosen a fitting theme for Pearl's puppies. They're going to be "Gemstones!"

Just like we did with Midge's puppies (Dylan, Zappa, Hendrix, Grace and Jagger), we would like your help to name Pearl's Gemstones. Pearl's breeder caretakers will then use your suggestions when they choose the puppies' names.

All of the names must have something to do with gemstones. You may suggest as many names as you would like. Make sure you list both male and female names.

We'll announce the puppies' names when they're born, around July 4.

Just leave your puppy names in the comments!

We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Are there more puppies in our future?

Will it be puppy time again in a few months? We hope so!

SSD Pearl was bred to SSD Fire for the first time yesterday. What a gorgeous day to make puppies! They were able to spend time together out in the sunshine in a small, enclosed portion of the SSD field.

They will be bred again on Friday and Sunday.

Pearl is the beautiful pale yellow lab smiling in the sunshine, and Fire is the big, handsome dark yellow lab.

Send good thoughts Pearl's way!