4-H’ers raise special seeing eye puppies

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MIFFLINTOWN - Puppies, puppies, puppies.

Two Juniata County 4-H Seeing Eye Puppy Club members got new puppies last week.

These are very special puppies for a number of reasons, most notably because they are the first two that were sired by a puppy raised by a Juniata County club member, to come to county members.

Serena Spancake, of McAlisterville, will raise a chocolate Labrador retriever, Dove, for The Seeing Eye. Her brother, Eton, likes to help with the puppy, too.

Dunkin, a littermate of Dove, will be raised by Patti Gessner, of Northumberland, who raised the puppies' sire, a black lab named Oakridge.

Spancake, who relinquished her previous puppy, a black lab named Wilma, late last August, said the new puppy is "Good, pretty cool.''

"After a while (of) not having Wilma around, I sort of got used to it,'' she said. "But after a while, I started wanting a puppy.''

She said she really wanted that puppy to be a chocolate lab.

Jean Swartz, leader of the 4-H puppy club, said only the best puppies that are returned to The Seeing Eye are used for breeding, adding that Oakridge originally had been purchased by the organization to bring new bloodlines into its dogs.

"They have to pass all kinds of physicals, tests, plus training, to see that they can be trained'' before selection for a sire, she said.

She added that chocolate labs are at a premium and The Seeing Eye has a waiting list for those who want to raise chocolates.

Gessner, who last had raised and returned a yellow lab named Fabian to the organization, the 14th male lab her family had raised, waited for a chocolate this time.

The litter that contained the chocolates also included yellows and goldens.

"The raisers of the sire and dam get first choice,'' Swartz said.

Gessner and her children started raising puppies when the children were 4-H age and joined the Juniata County club.

"They wanted puppies,'' she said. "I always liked dogs, but they always liked puppies. They liked getting new puppies. It taught the kids responsibility, taking care of the puppies; public speaking, when they had to make presentations. My kids loved it. I still love it.''

Saying goodbye to a puppy she has raised is not traumatic, Gessner said, adding, "It's time to send them on. It's like sending your kids out into the world.''

Gessner noted that raising the Seeing Eye puppies is still a family project.

"My kids are still involved, even my grandchildren will come over and walk the dog, feed him if we're not home.'' she said. "Patti is like us, the Swartz family, in that we began raising with our boys and now the boys are all grown up and we continue as adult puppy raisers. I guess we must love doing it.''

For more information about the Juniata County 4-H Seeing Eye Puppy Club, call Jean Swartz at 527-4782 or e-mail pupraiser@embarqmail.com.