DENVER -- June 26, 2008

Kirby, Kirby, Kirby!

Only two more weeks and Marianne's next CCI puppy Kirby arrives in Denver. "But where is he now?" I wondered. "And who is taking care of him?"

"Silly," Marianne said, "He's in northern California with his mom and siblings, and he's being cared for by his breeder caretakers. Like puppy raisers, breeder caretakers (or BCs) volunteer to help CCI by taking care of one or more breeder dogs."

Hmmmm, sounds interesting! I contacted the two BCs who are responsible for Kirby's mom Jennifer and her puppies. Linda and Pauline cheerfully agreed to answer my questions. Here's what I found out:

Breeder Caretakers (BCs) live near Santa Rosa, California where CCI's national headquarters and vet clinic is located. The breeder dogs live with the BC except when it's time to be bred; then they stay at the vet clinic for a few weeks. The male dogs are more or less "on call" to go to the clinic for um.....dates with the females who are in season.

Dr. Ruth Daniels is the CCI National Breeding Program Veterinarian. She's the matchmaker for the breeder girls and boys, she decides who gets bred to whom, and she keeps meticulous records of everything. She also makes sure all the dogs are in tip-top health.

The BCs bring the pregnant females back to the clinic after four weeks or so for an ultrasound and checkup. At around seven weeks they return to the clinic for an x-ray to determine approximately how many pups to expect.

The pups are whelped in the BC's home, and stay there for 8 weeks. Jennifer lives at Linda's house but because she works full time, Pauline helps care for the puppies during the day. Linda and Pauline share expenses and take turns driving Jennifer to the clinic for checkups. Linda also has two retired CCI breeders, Jennifer's mom Suzi, and her grandmother, Calla. Pauline has another active CCI breeder named Angel.

Just getting ready for whelping sounds exhausting! The BCs have to set up the whelping room with all the supplies they will need, wash all the linen (rugs, sheets, towels and blankets), organize the whelping kit, sterilize everything, and make sure everything they need is where they can get to it easily. They even have to be prepared for emergencies like power outages. Of course Dr. Ruth is always on call in case the BC has a problem or needs advice.

Each CCI litter has a designated letter, and all the pups in the litter are named with that letter. Also, birth order is recorded and tracked by color. The following color scheme is followed indicating first to last born: red, blue, purple, neon green, neon pink, brown, light pint, turquoise, orange, dark green, black, yellow, gray, burgundy, and nude (the fifteenth puppy born gets no color). Fortunately for everyone there are very few litters that large! Kirby was the seventh born, so his collar is orange. The BCs use yarn or rick-rack for collars to keep track of each pup by color. When the pups get a little bigger they get actual collars in their assigned color. (Of course, once they go out to puppy raisers they don't need to keep their collar colors.)

Once the pups are born the real work starts! Pauline said, "We spend the next 7-8 weeks taking care of mother and puppies. We watch the mother to make sure she doesn't get mastitis and make sure she gets enough to eat so she can produce enough milk. We take care that each pup gets a chance to nurse from her at each feeding. We weigh the pups twice a day. We clean the whelping pool out several times a day and clean up puppies. We do mountains of laundry. We start the training and testing right away, getting them used to getting their claws clipped from the very first day. When they are about four or five weeks old, we start weaning and litter box training, and try to keep the puppies and pen clean for at least 10 minutes at a time. In the first few weeks it is around the clock feeding every three hours. My husband and I take turns sleeping at this stage. From early morning, to late at night we feed, clean out the pool every three hours, clip claws every other day and do laundry about four times a day." WHEW!

The puppies open their eyes between days 10 and 18 and begin hearing things about a week later. BCs test the pups' hearing and try to protect them from noises that might startle or cause a phobia, like the vacuum cleaner. Pauline said "It has been my experience that the vacuum cleaner gets little attention if I start in the furthest part of the house and gradually get closer to the puppies, so the area of my house closest to the puppies does not get vacuumed for a while. Well, that's my excuse and I am keeping to it!"

CCI gives the BCs a recording with different sounds to gradually get the pups used to a variety of noises. "The sound that most litters don't like is the crying baby," said Pauline. "The more upset the baby gets, the more upset the puppies become. I found I had to fast forward over this one in the beginning, playing a little more of it each time."

"There are growth exercises required by CCI about every week or so," added Linda. "As the puppies grow and develop, handling is important and new experiences should be available for them, such as new toys, noises, grooming, feeding, potty training and crate training." Pauline said, "My favorite exercise is when we test the puppies’ sense of smell. I put the puppy level with my face, and breathe into its face. If the puppy has a sense of smell, it will recognize my breath and will lick my face." AWWWW.

The puppies start on solid food at around four or five weeks, beginning with puppy gruel first and then puppy food. "Around the same time they move out of the indoor whelping pool into an outside garage pen where they will have more room to play and experience life," said Linda. "They are monitored at all times for growth with health checks to make sure they are growing and hydrated."

This litter goes to "Puppy Park" at the Santa Rosa campus on July 7 when they are exactly eight weeks old. All the CCI staff will gather around and ooh and ah. Jennifer will see Dr. Ruth for a checkup. The pups will be weighed, given inoculations, and get their ear tattoos. Volunteer puppy washers will give them baths, and kennel staff will feed and settle them for the night. Within a day or two they will be on their way to the puppy raisers. Linda, Pauline and Jennifer will drive home puppyless and ready to relax.

*sigh*

But it sounds like a lot of work to me. I asked Pauline and Linda how they felt about the whole experience.

"Despite the constant work, the sleepless nights and being confined to the house a good bit of the time, we really love it when we have puppies," said Pauline. "Even though Jennifer has puppies right now, I am already starting to get excited about Angel's next litter."

Linda said, "At eight weeks I'm usually ready to resume my life without puppies. We spend at least two weeks before whelping and eight weeks with the pups worrying about mom and puppies and making sure everything is perfect for both. This entails time, energy, loss of sleep and friends to get you through it. Is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!"

Pauline added "The other thing I would like the readers to know is that we couldn't do it without other breeder caretakers being willing to help with the puppy care. Even for two people this is a lot of work. There is also support from the CCI vet clinic and other BCs who are willing to give advice when there is a problem."

I'm exausted just listening to this. I'd better rest up before Kirby gets here, huh?

Chow for now! Parker

Questions or comments for Parker? Send them to Call7ForHelp@TheDenverChannel.com.

Would you like more information about Canine Companions for Independence or puppy raising? Call 1-800-572-BARK or go to CCI for details.