“Do you sleep by the whelping box when a first-time bitch is due to whelp? Have you breathed life into a stillborn puppy? And cried when it died… Have you studied pedigrees, planned the breeding, and watched the litter grow as proudly as the owner of a Kentucky Derby Winner once did? Then you can say with pride… Yes, I am a breeder (article by Cindy Smith).

As someone who is involved with dog and equine rescues, is on multiple dog e-mail lists, reads twitter, facebook, etc. I am aware that there are those who feel breeding any animal is a terrible thing. The “don’t buy while those in shelters die” mentality is that for every puppy born another dies in a shelter. I don’t buy that theory as many of us who are committeed to our breeds also rescue them and make room for “one more” many times at our homes. If I hadn’t gotten so involved with Labradors and Pugs including joining regional and national clubs for each breed, I probably wouldn’t have also gotten involved with rescue and placed who knows how many (100, more?) in new loving homes. I’m sure I never would have co-founded LABMED as I wouldn’t have had the ties with fellow breeders who helped and continue to help LABMED with their contributions.

Yes, there are bad “breeders” but they probably shouldn’t be called breeders but rather “producers” as they only care about making a product and not what happens to the pups the rest of their lives. They are a different type of person from the responsible breeders I know and hang out with. I and my breeder friends will always take back any dog that we placed as a puppy or adult dog. In fact most of us have contracts that insist the dog come back to us but sometimes people either have lost our contact info or sadly don’t want to admit they are having a problem with their dog or can’t keep it due to life changes so dump it in a shelter or on rescue. One friend, when notified a Lab rescue had just gotten in a dog with papers that showed her as a breeder, drove at 10 at night to the foster home that had the dog to reclaim him. So I was really happy to find the above article on line today as it really describes what I go through each time we have a litter of puppies here. This is the essence of a responsible breeder, one who always puts the dogs’ (or other animals) needs before their own need to eat or sleep.

So like Cindy Smith, I am proud to say “Yes, I am a breeder”.

On June 17th one of our yellow Labs, Summer, welcomed her first litter into the world. Summer did me the huge favor of whelping during the day between 10:25 a.m. and 3:58 p.m. Most times it seems like litters are born during the middle of the night making it hard to get ahold of a vet if you need one and also making it hard to find an extra pair of helping hands to sit up with you as you await the births. Fortunately my friend, Lynn M. was able to come and join me for most of the births and was a huge help.

Summer surprised me by having all three colors of Labrador Retrievers in her litter — black, yellow and chocolate. (There are only 3 accepted colors in the Labrador Retriever Breed Standard.) We knew that the dog we bred her to, Calypso, carried the gene for chocolate as well as for yellow (Calypso is black) but we did not know that Summer carried the gene for chocolate. I was really excited when puppy #2 came out and I realized he was a chocolate. This wonderful website explains all the possible genetic color combinations in Labrador Retrievers. This litter has 7 puppies — 2 chocolate boys, 1 chocolate girl, 1 yellow boy and 1 yellow girl, 1 black boy and 1 black girl so we beat the odds on the genetics chart!

The first couple of weeks the pups can’t see or hear. Their eyes and ears are actually sealed shut. Click here for a photo of a still sealed ear. About 2 weeks of age the eye start to open in the corners and the ears begin to unseal. Then the fun begins!

During days 3 to 16 we follow the program for Early Neurological Stimulation for puppies. It is believed that this Early Neurological Stimulation enhances a puppy’s development. Originally called the “Bio Sensor” program, these exercises were developed by the U.S. military for their canine training programs to give the dogs a superior advantage.. Their studies confirmed that there are specific time periods early in life when neurological stimulation has optimum results. Days 3 to 16 are one of those time periods.
The exercises (done for 3 to 5 seconds each) involve handling the puppies one at a time while performing a series of five exercises. Listed in order of preference the handler starts with one pup and stimulates it using each of the five exercises. The handler completes the series from beginning to end before starting with the next pup. (Note we handle our puppies more than once per day but these exercises are only done once per day or they may stress the puppies out.)

• Tactical stimulation (tickled between toes on one foot with a q-tip)
• Head held erect
• Head pointed down
• Supine position (on back)
• Thermal stimulation — puppy is placed on a towel that has been cooled in the
  refrigerator for at least 5 min.
  

Summer’s puppies were all walking around in the whelping box by about 10 days even through they could not yet see or hear so I do think these exercises make a difference right from the beginning.

The first couple of weeks the puppies are weighed every day to make sure everyone is gaining weight appropriately. Their nails are clipped with fingernail clippers every few days as otherwise they scratch their mom while they are nursing.

Deb takes vacation time from work or juggles her schedule so the pups are rarely alone. (The first week Deb sleeps near the whelping box as well so that no accidents, such as the mom laying on a puppy, happen.) Lots of laundry needs to be done as we use reusable cloth pads and fleece in the whelping box to keep the puppies dry and comfortable.

Having puppies is a very rewarding but busy experience and certainly not a money maker but a labor of love.

I will post more updates and photos as the puppies grow.

Never a dull moment out here. Friday evening I was planning to have a quiet, relaxing evening as Kent was gone with the band that night. Before I sat down I wanted to burn off the weeds that had grown in our fire pit so I could dig the ashes out of there. I had a large cardboard box that I set on top of the weeds and lit it on fire. Everything was burning nicely when I heard screams coming from the fire pit and saw a baby bunny’s head coming up through some of the charred area. I had to get him/her out of there so reached in and pulled him to safety but still heard crying. I ended up pulling 3 more baby rabbits out of the ash and fire. I felt terrible that I had destroyed their nest but had no idea they were in there. Fortunately their mother had dug fairly deeply or they certainly would have died. They had a couple of singed patches of fur but seemed okay otherwise but what to do with them. Beauty and Gadget the barn cats were already alerted by the crying and stalking around the area where I had laid the bunnies down. I knew they were too little to just let loose outside and I knew not to handle them too much.

I gathered them up and took them in the house, put them in a box with a heating pad and hit the internet to look for help. I knew they needed someone with experience to take care of them. Fortunately I found a link to an emergency vet clinic that said they helped with wildlife rehab. They in turn gave me the number of the Four Lakes Wildlife Rehab Center which was open until 9 p.m. I rushed the baby bunnies in to town and got them to the center before it closed. They applied ointment to their burns but felt the bunnies would be okay. Their eyes were open and they were jumping around when touched. Hopefully the little guys will do fine and end up released back into the wild. Next time I burn anything I’m going to do a thorough check for nests under the weeds or brush!