September 21, 2007

After talking to Dear Labby last week, I was curious about CCI's breeding program. I decided to ask a current CCI breeder named Velvet some questions about the program. Check out the attached slide show of Velvet and her puppies!

PARKER: How did you get chosen to be a CCI breeder dog? I don't mean to sound rude, but what made you so special?

VELVET: Jeez, that does sound rude, but I know what you're getting at. When I started at CCI college, the trainers really liked the way I had responded to all the learning I did with my puppy raisers. I was also doing a good job in my classes at college, so they started giving me a few extra tests to see if I had the right stuff to be a breeder. You have to really know your commands, have a very reliable personality and be very healthy to be chosen as a breeder. CCI has extremely high standards because it’s a very, very important job. They want to pass on the very best traits to the puppies in the program.

PARKER: So you're the "best of the best?"

VELVET (modestly): Yes, I guess I am.

PARKER: Where do you live now? Are you with your puppy raisers?

VELVET: I live with my breeder caretakers, Carol and Dave, in Oregon. My puppy raisers were Jennifer and Chris from Parker, (yes, I know, that's your name!) Colo. I didn’t go back to Colorado to live with my puppy raisers because all the breeder dogs have to live within a certain distance from the CCI headquarters in Santa Rosa, Calif. so that it’s easy for the breeder caretakers to get them to CCI when they are needed. But Jennifer and Chris are are very good friends with Carol and Dave, so they're still very much a part of my life.

PARKER: How did Carol and Dave get to be your breeder caretakers? Did they have to pass a test?

VELVET: Carol raised two CCI pups, and she really wanted to be a Breeder Caretaker. She had to fill out an application and go through a couple of interviews with CCI staff and volunteers before they selected her to be a breeder caretaker. There was no test, she says, but she did help other CCI breeder caretakers with whelping several litters so that she would be familiar with the routine.

PARKER: How many litter of puppies have you had? Where are they now?

VELVET: I have whelped two litters of puppies. I had seven puppies (the "P" litter) the first time, and 11 the second time (the "T" litter)! That was a lot of work, keeping 18 babies happy and healthy. My pups are now all over the country, in Maryland, Colorado, California, Georgia, Ohio, Oregon, and Florida.

PARKER: Have any of them graduated?

VELVET: I am so proud! Parson, from the North Central region, graduated as a service dog, and we're hoping for November graduations for Phlox, who was raised in Denver, and Pinello, who is in Advanced Training in the North East region in Long Island. The T's are not quite a year old yet, so they have a ways to go.

PARKER: What do you mean by "P" litter and "T" litter?

VELVET: CCI names all the pups in a litter with the same letter. So, all your siblings also have names beginning with the letter P. The Breeder Caretaker can suggest names, but CCI assigns the names. Some names are given to honor someone, like a donor or volunteer. Not to be a name dropper, but I heard that Hudson was named for CCI's Chief Executive Officer, Corey Hudson.

PARKER: Wow. That's pretty cool! I wonder if I was named for a person or the town of Parker? Huh. Anyhow, what happens after the puppies are born? How long do they stay with you at home?

VELVET: Whew! There is a lot of work involved during the 8 weeks they are with us until they go to their puppy raisers. I often hear Carol tell people that it’s just like caring for a human infant….one of us has to do everything for the puppies for about the first two to three weeks.

PARKER: Like what?

VELVET: I have to clean them, feed them and keep them warm because they are unable to regulate their own body temperatures. Carol and Dave's jobs include weighing the puppies twice a day for the first week to make sure they are gaining weight (then four times a week after that); making sure our whelping room is kept at a comfortable temperature and is quiet; maintaining a clean area for the puppies to live (you have no idea how hard this is!), which grows as they grow; providing lots of human contact and appropriate stimulation to help the babies develop; trimming their nails; and taking lots and lots of photographs!

PARKER: Wow, I didn't know it was that complicated. I just remember playing a lot with my brothers and sisters. I guess we were a lot of work!

VELVET: You have no idea!

PARKER: I heard that puppies are blind and deaf at birth, but that can't be right, can it?

VELVET: Yup, it sure is. That’s why I said earlier that the mama dog has to do everything for the puppies for about the first three weeks. Puppies' eyes start opening into little slits about day 10, and then fully open a couple of days after that. They still can't see very well -- everything is really fuzzy until the muscles in their eyes learn how to work. We keep the lights in the whelping room low so that it doesn't hurt their eyes.

PARKER: When do the pups begin to hear things?

VELVET: That happens around day 20. Their ears are totally closed until that time and then gradually began to open. We have to be very careful with noises during this time so that the puppies are not startled by unfamiliar noises. We don’t run the vacuum or let the doorbell ring or speak loudly or slam doors because we don’t want any of the puppies to associate loud noises and fear.

PARKER: I guess my breeder caretaker did the same thing, because I'm not bothered by any noises. Hey, I looked at the slide show you sent. How come the puppies are wearing tiny collars?

VELVET: The yarn collars help us tell them apart from one another. It is a little difficult to keep all those black ones identified, so we also use a bit of matching color non-toxic paint right above their tails in case the yarn comes off. Each puppy is assigned a color as soon as it is born and the color order is always the same for CCI pups: red, blue, purple, neon green, neon pink, brown, light pink, turquoise, orange, dark green, rainbow, rainbow, rainbow, and no color.

PARKER: Rainbow, rainbow, rainbow? Isn't that confusing?

VELVET: The theory is that there is a predominant color in the rainbow yarn sections they give us to use. We’re supposed to be able to tell them apart. It used to be a different color scheme when you got up that high in the numbers, but somebody decided “rainbow, rainbow, rainbow” was better. Go figure.

PARKER: Hey, my baby collar was brown so I was the 6th puppy in my litter! What happens if the collars come off? I remember we chewed on each other's collars, and sometimes they fell off.

VELVET: If the puppy looses the yarn collar and the paint also comes off, we have other ways to tell who is who, such as their weight, and the personality or physical traits we have observed with each baby. Carol checks yarn collars FREQUENTLY just to be safe!

PARKER: When do the puppies start eating kibble? I remember having lots of fun with my siblings when we first got "real" food! We made a huge mess, as I recall.

VELVET: The puppies finally start to eat on their own at about four weeks. This is the beginning of the time when I don’t have to provide all their nutrition and they nurse from me a lot less. We gradually cut back the time I stay in the whelping pen with the babies. Sadly, this is also the beginning of the time where my meals become a lot smaller, getting back to the normal portion size. When I’m nursing puppies, I eat about 11 cups of food per day, but when we want me to stop making milk for the babies, I have to cut way back on what I eat. Not so fun. Oh, and the puppies don’t start eating dry kibble right away. Carol makes it really mushy for them for about a week and gradually decreases the water she puts in it when the puppies start eating better. At first they wear almost half of what we feed them. It’s fun for me to go back into their pen after their meals and lick the food off them!

PARKER: I've heard people ask Marianne if we're tested when we're tiny puppies. Are there any tests the Breeder Caretaker has to give the pups?

VELVET: I think they are asking about temperament testing, which we don't do, but the Breeder Caretakers do several "exercises" with the babies. These start very early in the puppies’ lives, usually within the first week! We record each puppy’s reaction to each exercise, so in this sense we’re not “testing” them, but seeing how they react to different things.

PARKER: Hmmm....can you give me an example?

VELVET: The very first exercise each breeder caretaker does with each pup is to determine stamina and nursing instinct. Puppies are born with a very strong instinct to nurse. Carol will place a towel on the floor with a distance of 18 inches marked on it. Then she will place a puppy at the starting line and cup her hand around the puppy’s muzzle so there is a good feeling of contact for the pup. If the nursing reflex is triggered, the puppy will push his way against her hand. Carol measures how far he pushes.

Another exercise takes place when the puppies are six weeks old. This exercise observes the puppy’s exploratory tendencies. Carol takes each puppy to a room away from the rest of the litter and puts it down on the floor facing away from her, and then steps back a couple of steps. She records what the puppy does: does she freeze, back up, turn around, come right back to Carol, whine, bark or cry.

PARKER: What if the puppy does the wrong thing? Do they flunk out?

VELVET: Jeez, Parker, it's not a TEST. There aren’t any right or wrong outcomes to the exercises. We just record what each puppy’s response is. CCI uses this data as it tracks the puppy for his/her lifetime, so they can track the types of behaviors a graduate dog started out with. It helps them determine which breeder dogs to put together to potentially make the most graduates.

PARKER: CCI keeps track of EVERYTHING, don't they? I guess I'd better mind my manners! Do you and Carol and Dave miss your puppies when they go to their puppy raisers at 8 weeks?

VELVET: Yes and no. I don't miss their sharp little teeth! Carol and Dave don't miss the nosie and the endless cleaning. But we do miss the puppies because we get so attached to each of them when they live in our home.

PARKER: When do you think you'll have your next litter?

VELVET: I normally have puppies approximately every 13-14 months. I’m getting close to coordinating my calendar for the next litter. The T's were born in November 2006, so my next litter will probably be in late 2007 or early 2008.

PARKER: Will you be a breeder dog forever? How many litters do you think you'll have? 10?

VELVET: Good grief, I’m not going to have to be a breeder for my whole life! I will be retired by the time I am six years old. Or, if I have 5 litters of puppies before I am six, I’ll be retired then. I’m not a puppy factory!

PARKER: Oh. What's your plan for retirement?

VELVET: When I retire I expect to be able to continue my current activities of sleeping, playing, helping on our farm and traveling.

PARKER: Thanks for answering all of my questions! Maybe Marianne will take me to visit you some day. Chow for now!

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

Would you like more information about Canine Companions for Independence, or perhaps be a puppy raiser? Call 1-800-572-BARK or go to www.cci.org for details.