Welcome back to our blog series on a canine partner mum’s journey, where we are sharing updates on canine partner mum Faith and her litter of puppies!

Last time we shared with you the third and fourth weeks of puppyhood, as the puppies began to interact with each other and develop their own personalities.

This time, we are sharing an update on the fifth, sixth and seventh week as the puppies prepare to fly the nest and move on to the next stage of their journey to become an assistance dog.

The fifth week of puppyhood

This week Faith’s adorable puppies are much more active and will be awake for longer periods of time.

The pen size will increase slightly to give the pups more space and a variety of play objects will be rotated daily in the pen. These objects will be a variety of heights and textures so the pups can get accustomed to different items.

As a litter, group playtime will continue, with visitors of all shapes and sizes having the fun of playing dress up. This will include wearing glasses, a hat or a high viz jacket. This will help the pups get used to the world around them.

The litter will also spend more time playing out in the garden, as it’s a great way for them to get used to the great outdoors. It also means that there will be less puddles for Faith’s holder to clean up inside!

In addition to having lots of group play in various places in the house and garden, Faith’s puppies will also start to have individual play times, helping them to build their self-confidence.

Faith is spending less time with her puppies now and will only feed them a couple of times a day (usually standing up and just for a short period of time). She’s enjoying plenty of 1-2-1 time from her holders!

Faith’s pups will also be learning not to bite too hard, through play with siblings, being taught by Faith and by Faith’s holder and visitors during play.

The sixth week of puppyhood

By week 6 Faith’s pups are full of character and are up to mischief!

Her pups will have been used to plenty of play times (both individually and as a group) in various places around the house and in the garden, which will continue this week.

This week Faith’s Brood Stock Co-ordinator, Sian will do a short behavioural assessment with each puppy, in preparation for when they move on to the next stage of their journey’s to becoming life-changing canine partners. It is also the week that Faith’s Brood Bitch Holder gets to find out the puppies names!

The seventh week of puppyhood

It’s now time for Faith’s litter to fly the nest and move on to the next stage of their journey’s to becoming life-changing canine partners.

The puppies will soon be meeting their Puppy Parents who will be training and caring for them until they are around 12-14 months old when they then head off to Big School at one of our training centres.

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.​

We are also in need of volunteer Puppy Parents to help care for and train the next generation of assistance dogs. Click here to find out more​.

Welcome back to our blog series on a canine partner mum’s journey, where we are sharing updates on canine partner mum Faith and her new litter of puppies! Last time, we shared information about the labour and first week of puppyhood.

In this edition, we wanted to share an insight into the second week of puppyhood for both mum and pups.

Faith is an amazing mum and her puppies are doing really well! The pups are continuing to put on weight, and at this age their eyes and ears are opening. This process is gradual, and will take a few days.

In the second week of puppyhood, it’s time to start the weaning process. This involves spending eight to ten days hand feeding the puppies so that they become people orientated and less reliant on mum Faith.

The puppies are weaned onto puppy food that has been soaked so it is completely soft, and mashed down because their teeth have not come through yet. You can see one of the puppies being weaned in the video below:

Faith’s Brood Bitch Holder will continue with the all-important early socialisation which involves regularly handling the pups, gently stroking them and talking to them. This is all done near to the whelping bed, under mum’s watchful eyes.

As the pups eyes and ears open, they will start to see and hear all of the everyday comings and goings of home life.

Our Brood Stock Coordinator, Sian will weigh and health check the puppies over weekly, along with clipping nails (so mum does not get scratched) and will guide Faith’s Brood Bitch Holder through the socialisation process, as well as making sure Faith is fit and well. Sian is also on hand 24/7 to offer advice and support to Faith’s holder.

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.​

Welcome back to our blog series all about the journey of a canine partner mum. You may remember from our last update that we announced that Faith was pregnant! 

In this update, we are going to share with you information about the birth, as well as how the pups got on in their first week.

We are delighted to announce that Faith has now given birth (known as whelping) to eight gorgeous new arrivals. Faith safely delivered four boys and four girls. Mum and pups are all doing really well 🙂

The labour

Faith seemed to know what she was doing instinctively. Our Brood Stock Coordinator Sian was on hand along with Faith’s Brood Bitch Holder to give a helping hand when required, checking the newborn puppies over and ensuring that they are happy and healthy and mum is as comfortable as possible.

Once each puppy is born, mum will chew through their umbilical cord and clean each puppy. Even though these newborn puppies cannot see or hear (as their eyes and ears haven’t opened yet), these minutes old puppies will pull themselves across the whelping bed and start to suckle from their mum.

Our Brood Stock Coordinator Sian, will check each puppy over and will note the time of birth and sex of each puppy. Each puppy is weighed and given a nail varnish mark to help identify them in the litter.

Once mum is finished whelping, she is given the opportunity to go to the toilet, her hind quarters are bathed, the whelping bed is cleaned and she is left to settle with her puppies. For the first week roll bars are placed around the edges of the bed to act as a safety zone, until the new arrivals get a little bigger.

The new arrivals

Here are a few facts about newborn puppies:

• You may remember from our previous post that newborn puppies cannot regulate their own body temperature and so we use a heat lamp to maintain the temperature of the whelping bed so that the new arrivals do not become too cold.
• Newborn puppies cannot see or hear as their eyes and ears haven’t opened yet.
• Newborn puppies need their mum to lick them to stimulate them to go to the toilet.
• Each puppy is health checked and handled daily.

The first week of puppyhood

Faith is doing a brilliant job of being a mum, and her puppies are steadily putting on weight. At this stage, the puppies are completely reliant on her and she will only leave them to eat, drink and go to the toilet.

Newborn puppies will spend much of their time sleeping, only waking up to suckle off of their mum, or move towards or away from a heat source to stay warm.

During this time, the puppies have limited movement and are only capable of a slow crawl. They are not yet able to stand and support their own body weight.

Faith’s Brood Bitch Holder will weigh each puppy daily and record each weight, to ensure that the puppies are gaining weight and will start the all-important early socialisation.

Watch the video below to see mum and puppies:

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.

Welcome back to our blog series all about the journey of a canine partner mum! 

You may remember from our last update that Faith’s Brood Bitch Holder took her to the veterinary clinic for her blood tests. The great news is that Faith’s second blood test confirmed that she was ready to be mated.

Our Brood Stock Supervisor, Sian has been busy arranging her mating and was on hand to collect Faith and chaperone her. Faith was mated to the very handsome Gus, a yellow Labrador who is a Guide Dogs for the Blind stud dog.

The mating process

Faith’s supervisor took her to meet Gus and the two were given the opportunity to meet and get to know each other. Throughout the mating process Faith and Gus were supervised, to ensure that the mating was successful. The two were mated on two occasions, this is to ensure that we maximise the chances of the mating’s being successful.

Once mum and dad have mated, it’s a waiting game of up to five weeks before finding out if the mating was successful. So we have a little while to wait! In around four weeks time, Faith will have a scan booked at her local vets to find out if she is pregnant.

Tell-tale signs

Just like humans, dogs have a few tell-tale signs that they might be pregnant. This includes morning sickness which can make them nauseous and put them off their food. Another indication is if Faith’s behaviour changes and she becomes clingier and wants extra attention and cuddles.

A few breeding facts

• Canine Partner mums-to-be are supervised throughout the year by our breeding team.
• They must be at least two years of age before being mated.
• They will have one litter per year, and a maximum of four litters before being retired.

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.

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.