Continued from the previous page.
PUPDATE ON SKYE'S OPERATION OVERLORD LITTER
These seven black Lab pups were born the first night I was on campus in
June but I wasn't able to assist with their care at that time because I
hadn't done the whelping training yet.
On my second visit they were between four and five weeks old, so I could
help with their care as soon as I arrived.
GDF Skye's Miss Orange and Light Blue
(7-29-19)
Normally puppies this age would be living in the nursery, but since two
litters were born just four days apart in late July they were occupying
both the whelping room and nursery-turned-second-whelping-room.
Danielle set up another cozy pen in the larger open area of the puppy
trailer for Skye's puppies, across from Dawn's puppies. I showed one
photo of the space near the beginning of this page.
Above and below:
7-26-19
The downside of this was not being able to watch Skye's puppies on
the Explore live cam because the playroom camera couldn't pan in that direction.
They were only visible online for a few minutes each day when their
pen was being cleaned and they were placed in the larger pen while
Dawn's puppies were outside. Since I couldn't watch them very much
on the live cam between my visits, I wasn't as familiar
with this litter as the other ones before I got there in July.
While I was there they were also able to play in the larger playroom
area when the big pups were outside and we were cleaning their small
pen. They had a lot of fun on the slide:
The space in the playroom is very
versatile. Pens can be made smaller or larger, depending
on the number and age of puppies
and the time of day (smaller at night). (7-29-19)
Red fell asleep at the top of the little slide.
(7-29-19)
Despite not being able to watch this litter online in the week before I got
back up there in July, I fell in love with the little black Labs as soon as I saw them.
This is a very cute stage in a puppy's life because they are mobile
and curious, but their teeth aren't as sharp and the pups aren't as
"mouthy" as they are a little later. I could have easily sat on the
floor with all seven pups at this age but the pen was very small. It was
more practical to hold them individually while sitting in a chair nearby.
Above and below: puppy pile
(7-27-19)
Some enrichment activities I enjoyed with these pups were walking them
around outside in the Outward Hound carriers like we did in June with
Dawn's puppies and letting them individually explore the kitchen area
of the puppy trailer while noting their reactions to new things like a mirror.
A couple days later we were allowed to let them run around the large
middle area of the puppy trailer for a few minutes to explore and
interact with Leo, Kiefer, and Skye:
Leo is young enough to still
think he's a little puppy, too! He had fun with these pups.
(7-28-19)
Skye was still nursing her puppies but they were just learning to eat
mush, too. That's always fun to watch:
By four weeks the pups were
strong enough to stand up at the milk bar
(there was more room for them to
all nurse at once that way, too). (7-26-19)
Like all four-week-old litters,
Skye's puppies put their paws in the bowls! (7-26-19)
Skye licks two of the puppies'
faces after they eat mush (her tongue is a blur). (7-26-19)
Laura M. and I were working a
shift together on 7-28-19 when she took this shot
of me holding Miss Orange AKA
Minda while Skye licked the mush off her face.
The temporary pen was really easy to clean because it was so small. I was
amazed how well Skye's young puppies used their potty boxes with
absorbent wood pellets. As long as they were placed there right after nursing or eating
their mush, they'd usually "hurry-hurry" in the boxes instead of on the
pads on the floor.
Dawn's litter was really good about this, too. They were about the
same age when I was there in June.
Danielle has learned that the key to training the puppies to use the
potty boxes at a young age is to keep their pen small and put them in
the litter boxes right after they nurse or eat their kibble. It's the
same drill with puppies in a home
-- keep them in a crate or small area and take them outside at
the times they are most likely to need to go.
ADDENDUM ON SKYE'S LITTER
Both Skye and the sire of this litter were from Guide Dog Foundation
but the puppies were whelped at Warrior Canine Connection because GDF
had too many pups to house at once. For their time and effort,
WCC was able to keep four of the puppies when they were old enough to go
to their puppy parents' homes in late August at about nine weeks of age.
Here is Danielle's traditional "bench shot" of all seven pups. How
she manages to get puppies this young to pose so well is beyond my
comprehension. She admits there are usually a lot of treats and
"out-takes" involved!
WCC's puppies were named for three male and one female Army and Navy veterans
-- all still living -- who were involved in the Operation
Overlord campaign during the D-Day invasion in World War II.
Minda, e.g., is named for 101-year-old retired
Navy Captain Geraldine Araminda Houp:
You can read about their namesakes on the
WCC Facebook page (announcements were
dated early October, 2019).
This is the header for the FB litter page:
What a wonderful tribute to these veterans!
NEW BABIES: WCC ANN x WCC TROY
The main reason I wanted to go back to WCC in late July for whelping
training was knowing two new litters of puppies would be born during the
third week. A two-hour course is usually required to even observe these very young
puppies, let alone take care of them, and they need someone with them
24/7 for several weeks.
Although WCC has a lot of regular volunteers, not all are trained
to work with puppies three weeks of age and younger, or they work during
the day and aren't available then.
Ann and her babies already had their real collars
when I helped with their care on 7-29-19.
Ann's Lab puppies were born on July 21. After I took the whelping
class a few days later I "shadowed" an experienced volunteer one
afternoon with Ann -- a very sweet, calm mama -- and her six
little babies when they were eight days old.
The three photos in this section are ones I took while in the
whelping room with them.
Although this isn't Ann's first
litter, she's only about three years old -- young enough to still enjoy
stuffed
toys. That's so endearing with
the toy in her mouth while her babies are over in the corner!
(7-29-19)
It took me about an hour while I was in their whelping
room to read all the information posted on the walls and in the thick
"sensory enrichment" notebook, describing all the things each shift is
required to do with the puppies for each day of their age. I wasn't able
to access the information until I was allowed in the room.
Danielle is quite specific on all of this so the puppies are exposed
to a variety of textures, objects, and experiences from a very early
age.
Other guide and service dog organizations do this, too. Experience
has proven that proper enrichment from a very early age enhances the
likelihood of success in the dogs' careers.
One activity we did with these very young puppies was a gentle
massage, also done in a specific way for their age. That was fun because
they are so soft and plump.
I also learned what needed to be recorded on the computer for my
shift. Considerable data about the puppies (and their moms) is recorded
not only for the very young puppies, but also the ones between three
weeks of age and when they leave for puppy parents' homes at eight to
ten weeks -- things like their weight, how often they nursed or
ate, enrichment activities that were done, anything unusual, etc.
I enjoyed working with Ann's puppies and wish I'd had more time to do
so. Even though they were quite small at one week of age, they weren't
as fragile as I thought they'd be. I stayed busy enough that I didn't
get very many first-hand photos of the puppies while I was in their room.
Addendum in October: Ann's litter is named the Allegiance
Litter. WCC kept four of her puppies and two went to other
organizations. This is the photo header and
link for the litter's new Facebook page:
Another great tribute to our veterans.
MORE NEW BABIES!! WCC MEGAN x WCC COOPER
It was a very busy and exciting time at WCC because just four days
after Ann gave birth to six healthy puppies, Megan had eight more live
births! Her litter was whelped on July 24, just two days before I got there.
Two photos from one of Danielle's
Instagram "stories" on the day the puppies were born.
Kief = Kiefer, Danielle's 7YO
male goldador who comes to work with her every day.
Megan is a yellow Lab and this was her third litter. Cooper is a
Golden retriever. This is WCC's first "cross" litter of Goldadors. Other
organizations have found that combining the best traits of both breeds
can produce excellent service and guide dogs.
I included a photo of Megan and Cooper on the first page of this
series. Everyone fondly referred to the litter as the "Mega-Coopers"
until an official name was announced. (One of Cooper's previous litters
was called the "Mini-Coopers.")
I was in the room with Megan's puppies for a few minutes to use the
laptop computer to record information about Ann's puppies when I was
"shadowing" another volunteer but I didn't get
any photos of Megan's babies. The photos here are from the Explore live cam and
staff or volunteers who have cared for the litter.
Megan and her puppies on the day
they were born (7-24-19). Photo by Lee S., a volunteer.
Despite all the excitement of having two new litters in-house, it was
also a sad and stressful time for staff and volunteers.
One of Ann's puppies was stillborn and so were two of Megan's. I
don't know how often this occurs but I give WCC a lot of credit for
being transparent about this and another unfortunate issue that came up
about the same time. They didn't have to let the public know. I'd
actually rather not know!
Partly because Megan was carrying so many pups -- ten -- hers were
noticeably smaller than Ann's at birth. The eight who lived were healthy and
gained weight but Megan required a C-section during the delivery and then developed mastitis
about a week later.
Some of Megan's three-day-old
puppies (7-27-19);
photo
by volunteer Laura M. That tiny tongue!)
Because of the mastitis, Megan was unable to nurse all of her pups so
a very interesting -- and very successful --
social/medical experiment ensued for a couple weeks. Viewers could
watch it unfold on the live cams and read about it on Facebook.
For about two hours at a time, four of Megan's puppies were placed in
Ann's whelping box for her to nurse those four and her own six puppies =
ten at a time. Then Megan's pups were returned to her and the other four were
placed with Ann for a couple hours. This went on around the clock so Megan's
pups would get adequate nourishment. I don't know if they got any
supplements.
Six of Ann's puppies and four of
Megan's in a milk coma after Ann nursed them.
Look how large Ann's pups look
in comparison to Megan's. (7-31-19)
At first, the size difference between the litters was very noticeable
but the puppies all piled up together like siblings. It was so wonderful
to watch Ann also accept the puppies as hers. She cleaned them and let
them nurse just like hers. Everyone was thrilled to watch it.
Comments were even made about why can't humans be more
accepting of each other like this??
No words needed . . .
(8-18-19)
A few times one or two of Ann's
larger pups were placed in the whelping box with Megan, presumably to
help unclog her affected nipple; they could suck harder than Megan's
own smaller puppies. Megan also accepted Ann's puppies as her own. What a concept!
It was fascinating to watch all this play out on the Explore live cams after
I got home. I really wished I could be there in person. The puppies and
moms continued to co-mingle in the nursery and playroom as they got older.
I even saw both moms nursing at
once in the playroom when the puppies were all about a month old; there
are some of each litter nursing
from each mom in this screen shot from the Explore live cam!
(8-24-19)
Ann was a true heroine and Megan recovered sufficiently to later
nurse all eight of her babies again. They gained weight and were normal
sizes within a few weeks.
After all her problems with this
litter, however, Megan is being retired from the breeding program. She's
had three litters. The moms are retired after a maximum of four litters
at WCC even if there are no problems.
Addendum in late October:
WCC is keeping all eight of
Megan's puppies in the No Fail Mission Litter. I'll post the
Facebook photo header and link after the namesakes are announced (seven
so far and maybe one more soon).
THOUGHTS ABOUT MY SECOND VOLUNTEER STINT @ WCC
As mentioned at the top of this page, I enjoyed this visit to
volunteer at WCC more than the first. It helped to know more about how
things run the second time around and to be able to do more of the jobs I enjoyed.
In addition to the jobs I've already mentioned, I also liked walking
the "big dogs" at least once a day in the adjacent grassy area and
fields -- Danielle's two male dogs, Kiefer and Leo; GDF
Skye; WCC Ann; and WCC Dani, a young Golden retriever
there for a few days for her first breeding.
And I got to observe an interesting "boot camp" training session with two of
Dawn's puppies and their puppy parents. (No photos from that.)
More puppies after I left: WCC Meli gave birth to eight
Labs on 8-22-19 (Unity Litter).
SSD's Gordon, a yellow male Lab, is the
sire. Danielle took this photo on 8-26-19.
Then overnight on Sept. 27-28, the day
before WCC's annual graduation, WCC Dani whelped
her first litter (Commencement Litter) of
TEN puppies -- also with SSD Gordon.
This is WCC's second cross-bred litter.
Photo by Danielle on 9-30-19.
I returned home tired but grateful that I could spend more time
at WCC. As a military family, Jim and I believe whole-heartedly
in the organization's mission of warriors helping warriors.
It's very frustrating, however, to live so far away and not be able to help
out regularly or be puppy parents because we don't live within two hours of campus.
And because of that, we decided to "spread the joy," as one EPW/puppy
parent/regular volunteer at WCC put it, and raise a puppy for Southeastern Guide
Dogs -- the organization that has Dawn's Miss Pink AKA Tuffy now.
Although SEGD is based in Florida it is large enough to have puppy raisers in
seven southeastern states, including several groups in Georgia. We have
attended four training sessions in June and July with the group that meets in
north Atlanta. I'll talk about all that in another entry.
Next entry: A Race for the Ages (ARFTA) --
Jim walks 106 miles again! -- plus another 68 miles at the
48-hour Endless Mile event
Happy trails,
Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil,
Casey-Girl, and Holly-Pup
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© 2019 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil
