Spring Babies

Springtime means new life and babies.  On Sunday, Duty Dogs welcomed a new litter of puppies.

Icy, the dam

We've been eager for this breeding between Chilbrook Dreamlover (Bailey) and Chilbrook Black Ice (Icy).  Dog breeding is a wonderful study of genetics.  In order to get chocolate and yellow pups, both parents have to carry the gene for each color (remember the Punnett Square from high school biology?).

Bailey, the sire

Our other Mama dog, Jackie, does not carry the gene for yellow, so all of her litters have only produced black and chocolate. 








 BUT, Icy carries the gene for all three colors, so we finally have some Bailey Juniors!

Puppies started arriving on Sunday afternoon, catching us by surprise.  We weren't expecting them until the end of the week.  Although it was Icy's first whelping, thankfully it wasn't ours.  We knew how to jump into whelping mode and quickly got the new Mama situated in the whelping room.  Her first pup, a black male made his appearance shortly after 3:00 and the last, a yellow male finished up the pack five hours later.  No complications to report from this whelping.  WHEW!

The final tally was seven little bundles of sweetness-- three blacks (2 male/1female), three yellows (2 male/1 female), and one chocolate female.

As we expected from this sweet tempered dog, Icy took right to being a Mama.  She's so devoted to her pups, it's hard to get her to come out of the whelping box to take a "break" and get a stretch.  Mother and babies are doing fine.


Puppies will be available at the end of May.  Contact us if you're in need of a pup to train for service work.  But you better hurry-- they're going fast!

Puppy pictures!!

The puppies have been doing some serious growing lately.  They are three and a half weeks, and are becoming the cutest things around! Their eyes opened at about two weeks and ears around three.  Tails are starting to wag, and they are beginning to engage with each other in some playtime!!

We also have opened a Instagram account for Duty Dogs. Our name is dutydogs.
Enjoy these adorable pictures!! 

Pups' Day Out

Whew!! It is always an adventure training and socializing puppies. Yesterday we had grocery shopping to do, so we decided to let a couple puppies tag along.  However,  that is not as easy said as done.  Our goal was to leave around two pm, but, by the time we finished all of our studies, chores, and were ready to leave, it was three-thirty! 

Finally, in the van with four boys, two puppies, Bailey, Mom and I, we were on the road.  Stopping at the post office, Mom let Wyatt, the two puppies and I off.  We then walked about a block across a beautiful park to the library. The puppies did fabulous.

Cocoa and Bailey

Then we went to Albertsons, and while the others and Bailey went shopping, I showed the pups around Subway. The outside that is.  They are not quite ready to go in. From there, we made our way to Walmart, were the others, again, went inside, and I socialized the pups in the  parking lot.  They did very well around the barking dogs you always encounter in a Walmart parking lot. You'll notice there are no pictures of the dogs in the parking lot-- that's because everyone else was shopping and I haven't figured out how to be a photographer and dog handler at once!

Lucky

It was a full afternoon for Cocoa and Lucky. However, they learned a lot, and are well on their way to becoming solid companions for their kids.

A tuckered Lucky

Bailey

 Lucky

On place in the van

Cocoa

Cocoa

Puppy Pictures, One Month

The puppies are growing fast, so here are some updates.  They are starting the weening process this week and are LOVING the puppy mush. Jackie is also happy to have more free time away from the pups. 

Puppies!!!!!!

We have puppies!!!!!!!!!  Jackie delivered nine beautiful puppies during the night!!  All went well and we have five blacks and four gorgeous chocolates.  Three of the blacks are females and two are male, one of the chocolates is a female and the other three are males.  The ratio of males and females is very even and everyone is completely healthy.  We are very blessed.  Go to our website to learn more about us and what we do at dutydogs.com

Waiting

Jackie, our pregnant chocolate girl is in labor today.  This is the 61st day of gestation and she is ready to be done with this whole thing.  However, she has been a happy girl through her whole pregnancy.  She has been restless and uncomfortable throughout the whole day and wanting someone with her at all times.  Looking forward to the coming days, and I will post once she has delivered.    

June puppies! April discount.

Jackie and Bailey are proud to announce, Lord willing, we are going to have puppies in late June.  We are projecting their birth to be in the last week of June.

Our 25% off a DAD sale comes to an end as April closes.  Please visit our Duty Dogs website and send in an application for your Diabetes Alert service dog.  In order to receive this significant discount you will need to be under contract by next Wednesday, April 30th.  

Treating a Low Blood Sugar

When a diabetic is experiencing a dangerous low blood sugar there are times when they are unstable on their feet.  At times like this, the diabetic can have their Duty Dogs DAD get something to help bring their blood sugar levels back up.  In this example, we show Bailey, an 18 month DAD from Duty Dogs, retrieving a juice from the fridge for a 10-year old boy. 

Bailey

Baby Bailey

Introducing Bailey!  This lover boy is our eighteen month old yellow lab that we acquired through Chilbrook Kennels in West Virgina. He is an up-and-coming stud dog for our breeding operation.

Our handsome guy

Bailey also functions as a DAD (Diabetes Alert Dog) for our ten-year old Type 1 Diabetic. These two boys go great together! Bailey sleeps with his boy, sits patiently while he is playing football, gets his meter for him, gets a juice for his boy, and best of all, Bailey alerts him when his blood sugar is dropping below a safe level.

One time Bailey alerted his boy with a paw on the knee.  After checking his blood glucose level and finding it to be 140 (the goal being between 80 and 120), he disappointedly told Bailey that he was not low and that it must have been a false alert. About half an hour later, he checked his blood again and was very low, in the 40s! Bailey could smell that his boy was going low and alerted half an hour before the low even occurred! Dogs have an amazing sense of smell.

Waiting

It's hard to imagine life without our mellow fellow Bailey.  We sometimes just sit and stare at this handsome gent, marveling how one dog can be so

I love you

good-looking and easy-going. 

Keeping an eye on you

The boys