These puppies deserve the best; now they have it

With all the amenities included in Southeastern Guide Dogs’ newest facility, it’s not just a puppy kennel, it’s a puppy paradise.

The $4.7 million Grant & Shirle Herron Puppy Academy replaces Southeastern’s quarter-century-old puppy kennel, and nothing was left out of preparing the puppies for an optimal beginning for their jobs as guide dogs for the vision-impaired, or as service dogs for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The new facility includes six separate air conditioning zones, air sanitizing system, fresh water fixtures and a splash pad. Everything is purpose driven with education in mind.

Southeastern CEO Titus Herman said the splash pad will certainly help cool down the puppies during summer and enhance their play environment.

“But we are also constantly assessing them to make sure they are comfortable in all environments,” Herman said. “As Southeastern Guide Dogs progresses with this latest building, so does the progress of our puppies. We want them well-socialized and confident before they go home with their volunteer puppy raisers.”

The building has a lot more room for the puppies to be housed for their first eight to 10 weeks. It also houses Southeastern’s genetics and reproduction lab, breeder boarding, whelping and neonatal care, puppy preschool and kindergarten training areas, a gift shop and a veterinarian clinic.

Southeastern already boasts of having one of the most state-of-the art veterinary hospitals.

“But this clinic serves two main purposes,” said Southeastern’s head veterinarian Kevin Conrad, who brought Southeastern to the cutting edge of fecal transplant science last year.

“One is this will be the main place for our genetics and reproduction lab, but we also won’t have to move pregnant moms and puppies across the street,” Conrad said. “It may sound easy to move a puppy across the street, but when you have 26 of them, it’s not so easy. And the main clinic is a classic multi-germ environment, so by not having to move moms and puppies can only be beneficial in the long run.”

More than 1,200 donors made the new facility a reality, and it’s expected to be fully operational by the first of next week, according to Southeastern’s Leslie Rowe, who toured members of the media on Wednesday. Rowe showed off a spacious outdoor play area, one of seven in the facility, and all of the amenities, including a puppy bath area complete with drying kennels that provide a gentle, warm blow dryer to keep the puppies warm.

Inside the whelping room where mother dogs give birth, speakers send out gentle sounds of relaxing music. Every puppy activity area has access to fresh water fixtures and to an outside play area.

“Everything in this building is for education and training,” Herman said. “Our wonderful community sponsors have made this possible. We are so excited to move in here and take our education and training opportunities to a whole new level.”

The puppy academy is the latest improvement to Southeastern’s overall campus. The new veterinary clinic opened a few years ago; last September, the organization opened the doors to a new $8.5 million student center.

Southeastern will now focus on replacing its adult dog training center where the guide and service dogs receive their most important training of all when they return home to Southeastern from their puppy raisers.

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 4:01 PM with the headline "These puppies deserve the best; now they have it."