Preperations for Whelping Puppies

Whelping puppies doesn't need to be hard or scary.  There a few things though that are needed to prepare for a smooth birthing process.  Most important would be a comfortable quiet place for your girl to make her nest. We built a 4/4 box with a door for our whelping box.  Some kind of bedding is also essential.  We use newspapers, as they are easier clean up than say, blankets or wood shavings.  In addition to this we keep a digital scale for weighing pups as soon as they are born.  

Here is our list of items for whelping...

• Whelping box
• Embroidery thread or tasteless dental floss (for umbilical cord)
• Digital scale
• Laundry basket with heat lamp and thermometer (for delivered puppies while mom is birthing)
• Newspapers
• Anti-styptic powder (in case of excessive bleeding from umbilical cord)
• Bulb syringe (for clearing a puppies nose and throat of birthing mucus)
• Pre-cut ribbons for puppy identification collars
• Plastic gloves 
• Paper towels (for cleaning and drying pups)
• Note book and pen (for recording contractions, weights, and birth order/times) 

 

Ribbons make it possible to identify puppies

Whelping box has PVC "rails" to keep Mama from smothering her puppies

Puppies are on The Way

We are excited to announce Duty Dogs puppies are on the way once again!  These bloodlines are consistently creating dogs with the right temperament and work ethic to provide great service dogs.  

Last year's litter of 9 created a crop of 7 dogs who are solidly on their way to being service dogs and one hunting dog.  Three are training and solidly alerting as Diabetes Alert Dogs, two are serving in families with Autistic boys, two are in the middle of training to serve ladies with debilitating diseases in different parts of the country.  Pretty solid results I'd say!


These puppies will be available to trainers or individuals who have an eye toward training them as service dogs of various capacities.  Lord willing we expect them to be born the second week of July, ready for placement as new pups in September or as started pups in November.

Contact us right away to get one reserved because we expect them to go quickly!

Duty Dogs in TV Newcast

Penny Preston, a tv reporter here in Cody heard about us and contacted us to do a story.

The story ran Thursday April 23rd on KCWY Channel 13 out of Casper, Wyoming.  It also ran on the KULR Channel 8 in Billings, Montana.  Click here to view the story on KURL8.com.

Duty Dogs in the Cody Enterprise Paper

A couple of weeks ago the local paper in Cody, Wyoming did a story on our family enterprise.  You can read the story by clicking here.  We are very thankful to the Cody Enterprise for choosing to give the Becker Family such a large place in their paper. 

However, sometimes a Mom must set things straight.  Wyatt did not say "Duh" when he was asked about why he raised money for diabetes!

Another correction in the story is that the father of the autistic boy mentioned at the end of the story had just come to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Upon doing so, he started praying directly at the situation of his son's autism condition.  Within a couple of days of fighting with the spiritual weapon of prayer, his son spoke his first complete sentence!  This is amazing and is a better reflection of what was shared with the reporter.  It is Jesus who deserves the glory for the autistic boy having a speech breakthrough, not our dog, as wonderful as he may be.

When Puppy Comes Home-- Training

TRAINING: Dogs love to work.  And don't we all love to show off the neat tricks our dogs can do?  All dogs should be trained in basic obedience (sit, stay, come, down).  A good goal for you and your dog is the Canine Good Citizen test (CGC).

Cocoa during his CGC test at Wal-Mart

Your puppy may have come to you with basic obedience skills, but it's up to you to KEEP him trained.  Spend a few minutes every day practicing the basic skills.  Put some food in your pocket and go through "sit, stay, come, down" a few times with him.  This keeps your dog sharp and helps him to know that YOU are the boss.

Dogs love to learn new things.  There are plenty of resources available to teach YOU what and how to train HIM-- websites, YouTubes, and don't forget the library!  

Three key things to remember when training:

• keep it short (10-15 minutes)-- think "kindergarten" attention span
• keep it simple-  use the same command for the task your training, and don't over-complicate it; some tasks need to be taught in multiple stages and then pieced together.  For instance, training Bailey to get a juice from the fridge comprised teaching him three separate tasks that we then bridged together after he had mastered each of them.
• consistency-- a little bit every day (or several times a day) will pay great dividends

  

  Getting a juice

  

  Bailey opening the fridge

Never too young to train!

In an effort to keep your dog at a healthy weight, use part of their breakfast or dinner for training purposes.  For instance, if they get a cup of kibble at a meal, give them 1/2 a cup in their bowl and then put the other half in a training bag (or your pocket) and use it to train them.
Or use all of their meal for a training session.  You decide.  The point is to not give them food and treats in addition to their normal diet, or you'll end of with a pudgy pooch.

So, get your food bag and go spend a few rewarding minutes with your buddy!

When Puppy Comes Home-- Sleeping and Place

Bailey, Lucky, and Cocoa getting ready to head to town for some training.

This is the fourth post in a series with the new dog owner in mind.

 SLEEPING:  Eventually, you might want your new BFF to sleep with you, but we highly encourage you to start them off in a crate appropriate to their size.  All of our labs have their own large crate for night-time purposes.  Please don't think you're being mean to your dog to put him into a crate.  Dogs

are den-creatures and the crate becomes their safe place.  Of course, your dog shouldn't spend extended periods of time in the crate outside of sleeping, but crate-training makes for a very well-adjusted dog.   A crate also provides a safe place for a dog to travel, as seen in the picture.

Good boy Lucky!!!!

PLACE:  We all like to know where our "place" is and dogs are no exception.  Make sure your dog has a bed of some sort in the house.  We don't allow our puppies to just wander when they're in the house.  Putting them in their "place" for an hour at a time allows them to be a part of the family, but not get into mischief.

We love Kuranda beds for our dogs.  These beds are elevated from the floor, making them easier on the joints.  The simplicity of the design keeps them from capturing dust, dander, hair, and who knows what else!  When we're not using one, we just lean it up against the wall, and it's out of the way.

When Puppy Comes Home-- Exercise

Energy...

EXERCISE:   Just as children behave better when they've had opportunity to burn some energy, same goes for your dog.  Establish a couple of times each day when your dog gets to spend some fun time with someone. 


       Fifteen minutes (longer if possible) of throwing the ball or taking a walk will help him to be a calmer dog that is less apt to get into mischief. 
     Not only is this a great way to get your dog's energy out, but it is therapeutic for the human involved.  If it were not for the dogs, there are days where I may not even make it outside!  This is a NOT good for me, so thankfully, our exercise regime gets me out of my house.
     The time spent together also helps to create that bond between dog and owner.  So, get on out there and DO SOMETHING!

     It is not advised to jog with larger breeds of dogs until the two year mark, as running can have detrimental effects to their hips and joints.