Breeding Centre

Wednesday May 17th – This morning we got to take a tour of the breeding center. Yes, Kathleen, I took tons of photos (60 to be exact). Dave Markham graciously gave us the grand tour and answered all of our many questions. GDV has 23 brood bitches and 10 stud dogs. They whelp about 110 puppies each year. This breaks down into about 1 or 2 whelps each month. Some months there are none and some may have as many as 5 which would be pretty unusual. While we were there we saw one small litter at 13 days old and there was a female due to whelp next week. They have 3 whelping rooms with have a close circuit video system, and a bedroom nearby for staff to stay when necessary. Dave does a variety of jobs as the breeding manager including all the semen collection, artificial inseminations (including Tran cervical inseminations), ultra sounds, and of course all the decision making on which dogs to breed. And that is just the very short list! Talk about a Jack of All Trades!

Inside the breeding center they will often let a mom roam the main building with the staff. While we were there the mom of the two 13 day old puppies, Wanda, was loose. She was actually on a scheduled break from her babies as they are too well fed! It seems Wanda is a particularly attentive mom with only two babies and LOTS of available milk…. It’s a recipe for pudgy puppies. The photo above is a photo of both of them.
This one is being held by Dave, what a squirmy little guy, CUTE!

The breeding center was rebuilt in 1990, and in addition to having the moms and babies there, they also board both active and retired breeders, as well as puppies in the raising program. There were 5 puppies boarding today and it was great to get a “puppy fix”. The dog runs are similar to ours with both indoor and outdoor portions and heated floors inside. Interestingly they will readily house two females together (and not just ones who live together in homes).

We also took some time out this morning to make American chocolate chip cookies again. This time we had all the proper ingredients and they turned out really well! We shared them with all the clients in class and got rave reviews. We also made lime Kool aid which was, surprisingly, quite popular as well. Several folks agreed that it tastes just like Australian cordial. Later in the day we brought a plate down to Leslie (remember, the American who is married to Pete one of the instructors). She seemed pretty excited to have a “taste of home”.

This afternoon I completed my entire blindfold route for the first time. I did it “observed solo” which means my instructor, Simone, watched from a distance just in case I got into any major trouble. It went really well. I zipped through the residential part, found my bus stop, and the bus arrived within a few minutes. I hopped on, asked the driver to tell me when I got to the right stop, and managed to find a seat without sitting on anybody’s lap! Once at my stop I cruised through my business area and only ran into one obstacle, a pull cart someone had left on the sidewalk. However, I did manage to put quite a bend in my cane when the tip caught on a crack and I rammed myself in the stomach. Good thing those canes bend back into shape easily! Tomorrow we will have to do them completely alone with our instructor waiting at the very end, wish me luck!