Pupdates: Cook’s sponsored service dog

In case you missed it, read our first post about Cook’s ICAN sponsorship.

A few weeks ago I received an exciting text message from Dino Sierp, the Director of Development and Outreach at the Indiana Canine Assistant Network (ICAN). Dezzie was in labor! (Dezzie is the mom to the service dog Cook is sponsoring.) On July 26, Dezzie delivered 7 beautiful lab puppies—2 yellow and 5 black. And guess what? They’re all boys!

The litter is currently living with Linda, a volunteer for the ICAN organization. Linda opened her home to Dezzie during the final weeks of her pregnancy and was present during the birth and first precious weeks of the pups’ lives.

During what could easily be described as the best meeting I’ve ever attended, I got to spend an afternoon up close and personal with each fuzzy, snuggly puppy.

Each ICAN litter is given a theme for temporary names to the volunteers keep track of who is who until their personalities begin to emerge. Since the puppies’ father lives in Florida, each one was temporarily named after a Florida city. Their names are Orlando, Destin, Dayton, Ocala, Bradenton, Ft. Meyers, and St. Petersburg. If you asked me to point out which puppy is which, I’d have to tell you by the color of their collar and the chart on the wall because it’s hard to tell!

The puppies are now about four weeks old. At this age, their eyes are open, they’re (kind of) learning how to use a potty pad, and they’re easing into eating dog food. The puppies still follow their mama around in hopes of getting the chance to nurse, but they’re growing more and more independent each day.

It’s important that the puppies start learning about the world around them and begin developing an eagerness to learn. Since it’s still a bit too warm to let them explore outside, Linda put a baby pool full of colorful plastic balls in her living room to let them frolic.

The puppies were mostly escapes artists, climbing out of the pool immediately. But once they figured out that someone would put them right back in, they gave up and fell asleep. After all, being a puppy is exhausting.

At eight weeks, the puppies will be assigned to live with another volunteer and will begin the early stages of socialization and being in various environments and settings. That’s around the time when we will find out which of these darling boys will be Cook’s sponsored service dog.

Until then, we will continue asking for employee suggestions on what to name him. (And we love the suggestions you’ve given us so far!) When making your suggestion, please keep in mind that an ICAN pup should have a name that’s easy to say and has meaning. After all, this little pup is going to grow up and be the companion of someone with special needs—he should have a special name!

Leave your puppy name suggestions below or visit our Facebook page for the Cook Pupdates posts!