Canine Partners

Welcome to our brand new blog series where we will be sharing with you the journey of becoming mum’s to life-changing puppies!

You will get the chance to find out about the process, from initial blood tests through to the whelping and those first seven to eight weeks of the puppies development before they start the next stage of their own journeys with their puppy parents. This is when they begin learning the fundamental skills it takes to become an assistance dog.

This week, we wanted to introduce you to Faith and tell you a bit about how a canine partner mum is selected, and how we determine the best time for mating to take place…

Meet Faith – a very special dog

Faith is a canine partner mum, otherwise known as a Brood Bitch.

Faith was bred by Guide Dogs for the Blind and came to us as a young puppy. During her time with her puppy parent, she was specially selected to go onto our breeding programme.

Canine partner mums are carefully selected to do this very important role, and as part of this selection Faith would have been fully health tested. Just like humans, a dogs genes will pass on to their offspring and we need to ensure our mums are healthy and will not pass on any hereditary conditions to their puppies. Our health tests include hip and elbow tests, DNA tests for hereditary conditions and a yearly eye test.

Faith, like all of our canine partner mums, lives in a loving family home with one of our volunteers (known as a Brood Bitch Holder).

Preparing to become a mum

It’s a very exciting time at the moment for Faith’s family, because Faith is getting ready to be mated this season.

It will take weeks to plan a litter, and our breeding team have been working hard to ensure that mum and dad (known as a stud dog) will be a good match. It’s not quite like a blind date though! There are lots of factors to take into consideration including their pedigrees, temperament and health.

We need to make sure that both mum and dad are a complement to each other, to give us the very best chance of having healthy pups that will go on to become great Canine Partners.

Heading to the vet

At the end of September, Faith went to the vets to have her bloods taken. This is done part way through her mating season in order to check her progesterone level. By measuring the progesterone level, we are able to predict the best time to mate.

The blood sample has been taken to a laboratory for the results, and we will soon find out when the levels are just right for her to be taken for her mating!

Interested in fostering a canine partner mum?

We are on the lookout for more volunteers to care for a canine partner mum in their home. You will be responsible for looking after the new-born puppies until they are approximately 7 weeks old. If this sounds like something you would like to do, or you wish to find out more, click here.