Warrior Canine Connection: How Reputable Breeders Give Back

Civic-minded breeders of Labradors and Golden Retrievers are an integral part of the success of Warrior Canine Connection (WCC), a nonprofit organization that helps deserving disabled veterans.

WCC has always bred its own litters thanks to Molly Morelli, director of its dog program. She insists that canines that are bred for excellent conformation, temperament, and health, have a much better chance of turning into phenomenal service dogs than shelter canines that often bring many unforeseen issues with them.

Years ago, Morelli first interned with a Golden Retriever service dog organization before she and her husband, Rick Yount worked for a canine service group in West Virginia. They moved to California where they were employed by Bergin University of Canine Studies in the northern part of the state.

Morelli ran Bergin’s service dog breeding program, comprised exclusively of Labradors and Golden Retrievers. She started learning as much as possible about both breeds and attended American Kennel Club (AKC) sanctioned dog shows to watch Labradors and Goldens in the conformation ring. She also talked to breeders, studied pedigrees, and learned about the health issues of both breeds.

In 2008, Yount founded the first therapeutic service dog training program at the Veterans Hospital in Palo Alto, CA, Morelli recalls.

Long-time dog trainer Glenn Martyn gave a good-looking black Labrador named Rain (Sure Shot Drycreek Rain Cloud), bred by Laura Fletcher and Debbie Leveque, to Morelli as an adult. She was bred to Travis (GCH Sureshot Hyspire Impressive, WC) after his owners, Judy D. Heim, Debbie Leveque, Vonnie Russell, and Lisa Da Ross, donated his services to Bergin.

Travis was a “super calm dog—the easiest that I’ve ever owned— the smartest, most intuitive,” Heim says. But he loved swimming so much that as a nine- or ten-year-old dog, he almost pulled Russell into a lake in Grand Teton National Park!

“We were always thrilled to have our dogs connected to any legitimate service dog organization,” says Heim, an AKC conformation judge. The Hyspire Labrador owners have had puppies and adult dogs go to PAWS, Guide Dogs of America, Guide Dogs for the Blind, and Canine Companions for Independence, she adds.

Morelli, Yount, Rain, and Birdie (Rain x Travis) moved to Maryland in 2010 to be closer to the humans’ families. The next year, Yount founded WCC. Birdie became one of its first service dogs.

As WCC’s director of dog programs, Morelli knew that she only wanted to breed litters of Labradors and Goldens and then train the offspring for deserving veterans.

Why those breeds?

“Labs and Goldens have been used as assistance dogs for decades,” Morelli says. “They have the right temperament and health that make them successful service dogs.”

Rain whelped WCC’s first litter in December 2011.

Morelli recalls that in the beginning WCC only whelped a litter or two a year because she was the litters’ caretaker. WCC staff members now attend to the nine or ten litters whelped each year at the organization’s headquarters, located on eighty acres outside of Boyds, MD, just north of Washington DC.

In less than ten years, WCC has whelped forty-one litters, mostly Labradors and a few Goldens, and shares some of its puppies with other closely vetted service organizations. Morelli says that WCC’s dams whelp three litters at most but some only once before returning to service work.

WCC uses a temporary double-wide trailer for whelping puppies. For the first four weeks of their puppies’ life, staff watches them 24/7.

Currently, WCC has one hundred puppies and young adult canines in training to become service dogs for veterans with mobility issues and/or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Morelli estimates that each successful service canine is trained for about two and a half years before being placed with their veteran. And some just don’t make the grade, she notes.

So far, WCC has placed seventy-six, fully trained service canines, free of charge, with veterans. Forty-eight veterans await a service dog. Morelli hopes that twenty dogs will be paired with veterans in September.

Additional Charitable Breeders

Toni Leitao and his wife Lorraine Yu of Woodinville, WA met Morelli at a dog show. The threesome became friends as Morelli fell in love with the Labrador that the couple was showing— Misty (Misty Mtn Miss Independence).

She learned that Leitao and Yu had searched for top-quality Labradors to start their Misty Mountain line. They insisted on good structure, temperament, and health. Their first conformation champion was a black female named Bica (now CH Nipntuck Jumpstart, JH, RN, CGC).

They bred Bica who whelped their first home bred litter during an incredibly noisy Fourth of July weekend thanks to their hometown’s holiday celebration and kept a yellow female, Misty, the same dog that later captured Morelli’s heart. Misty earned eight points towards her conformation championship and trained as a service dog with Summit Assistance Dogs in Anacortes, WA.

The couple always worked hard to socialize their young pups to bulletproof them from reacting fearfully to noises or different situations, thus helping them to adapt easily to their new homes. Leitao says they start this process by inviting about twenty friends over to handle and play with the puppies once they reach four weeks of age.

He recalls that he and his wife wanted to give back to veterans and thus offered a puppy from Misty’s first litter to WCC. Morelli accepted their offer and flew out to Seattle from the East to pick up eight-week-old Olive in 2010.

The following year, Misty joined WCC as a demonstration dog. Leitao accompanied her on a flight east but not before he asked Misty for the first time to manage an escalator because Sea-Tac International Airport’s elevators were shut down. He felt confident that Misty would be a good match for WCC when she flawlessly rode the very steep escalators.

While back in Maryland, Leitao became even more impressed with the WCC program after observing veterans with PTSD train WCC dogs for other veterans.

A year plus later, Leitao’s and Yu’s Zeus (BISS AM/CAN GCH Gingerbred Celestial Thunder JH RN CGC) sired Olive’s first litter at no cost to WCC.

In 2013, Olive whelped her second litter. This time, a Travis son named Rogue (BISS GCHB Laurglen Ardent Rogue at Hyspire JH CD RA CGC TKN) was the proud father.

Rogue’s owner, veterinarian, and Labrador breeder Julie Oghigian, formerly of CA and now of Bozeman, MT knew Leitao and Yu from dog shows where they all competed. Leitao had mentioned that he thought breeding Rogue to Olive would produce a litter of excellent service dog prospects for WCC. Oghigian was impressed with WCC and its mission.

By then, she’d already donated Rogue’s stud services to two service organizations: Guide Dogs of America and Canine Hope for Diabetics. She understood his “low key, sweet super quiet” temperament was perfect for service dogs.

When Morelli called to ask about donating Rogue’s stud services, Oghigian immediately agreed. The breeding produced Luke, the 2020 service dog recipient of the AKC’s Award for Canine Excellence (ACE). He is WCC’s first graduate to receive this prestigious award.

Luke lives with his proud veteran U.S. Staff Sergeant E5 Ryan Garrison in Ohio.

Oghigian questions why more reputable breeders don’t donate their stud dog’s services to breeding programs of ethical and well-run service dog organizations. She notes that there is an “infinite amount of sperm” and believes most service organizations would be happy to pay for collection services.

She donates because doing so “helps give veterans freedom that they may not otherwise experience and helps to make lives so much better.”  The WCC is “an incredible organization” and helps “such a worthy group of people.”

Future Service Dogs

What are some characteristics of future service dogs? Morelli says she looks for puppies with confidence that are happy-go-lucky, and food motivated. Staff evaluates puppies at eight weeks, using a host of criteria, she notes.

Four weeks later, staff assesses the puppies’ strengths before they travel to live with their puppy parents who have been interviewed and screened.  Morelli says that most of the fifty-five WCC puppy parents live in Maryland. WCC staff also evaluates the puppies at four, eight, and eleven months, and again at two years of age when they return to WCC from their puppy parents’ home for advanced training. Their strengths are noted and needs documented for any remedial training.

At any time during this process, a puppy or adult that isn’t service dog material is placed with a military family after careful screening of the new forever home. This may happen at three, four, eight, or eleven months or during advanced training, Morelli notes.

WCC gives priority to deserving military families, who live within one hundred miles of its Maryland headquarters, for receiving a “washout.” New owners must agree to several conditions including not leaving their new family member alone for more than five hours a day. A four-foot high (non-invisible) fence is mandatory.

Morelli says she meticulously keeps comprehensive health records of WCC’s canines. She maintains detailed notes about veterinarian visits, and results of all health testing. Each WCC prospective service dog has its hips and elbows x-rayed for dysplasia; heart checked via cardiogram, and eyes examined. Additionally, each placed service dog has an annual eye exam and cardiogram. WCC also pays for pet insurance that covers routine vet bills.

All prospective WCC sires and dams undergo the full panel of the applicable breed genetic disease tests to include those related to heart, eye, skeletal, exercise-induced collapse, and nose diseases as well as x-rays for hip and elbow dysplasia and a cardiogram. Their eyes and hearts also are checked annually.

In addition to keeping records of the above-mentioned tests, Morelli notes any infections of ears or skin to weed out dogs with allergies. She says canines with allergies just can’t be service canines.

Helpful Breeders

Civic-minded breeders help WCC by not only donating puppies and adult dogs and stud services but also by providing advice and general help. Margaret Wilson has contributed in all those ways.

She’s competed with her Labradors for forty-six years, first showing in obedience and then competing in conformation, agility, tracking, and rally as well as hunt tests. She has bred her Shadowglen Labrador line for more than thirty years.

Wilson, an AKC conformation judge, lives just three miles from WCC’s headquarters.

Years ago, another Labrador breeder called her to inquire if she might be willing to donate the services of her stud dog Ace (BIS GCH AM, CAN, BDA CH ShadowGlen Game Point, RN) to WCC.

With her month-old baby in tow, Morelli drove to Wilson’s home to meet Ace. The gentle, robust black Labrador took to Morelli’s daughter. He later sired Olive’s third litter!

Wilson also lent her yellow Lab Callie (ShadowGlen Callipyge) to whelp a litter for the organization after three planned WCC breedings didn’t materialize. Callie also earned points toward her conformation championship and now is now retired to the couch!

Morelli notes says she often calls Wilson for advice and assistance. The latter has helped with training and evaluating WCC’s Labrador prospects for proper structure, gives breeding advice, and takes puppy photos.

Today, WCC employs thirty-four staff members, many of whom work on the property that WCC leases from the state of Maryland.  Its headquarters includes not only the double-wide trailer for the infant puppies but also a building the size of a four-car garage that is used as a training facility.

Morelli lives with her husband and family in a farmhouse on the property and uses the bottom floor for WCC offices.  Rain, now 16 years plus; Misty, 13; and Olive, 11, are among the family’s house dogs.

Last year, WCC’s annual budget was $ 3.25 million with about 85 percent of funds going directly toward the dogs, their training, and health, and providing animal-assisted therapy to wounded veterans, according to Morelli. About 40% of WCC’s funding is donated by individuals, another 40% from corporations and foundations, and 20% from federal sources.

Morelli says she is very grateful for the advice, support, and kindness that she’s received over the years from Heim, Leitao, Oghigian, Wilson, and Yu, all of whom have contributed to the success of WCC and its mission.

 

 

 

For more information about WCC: https://warriorcanineconnection.org/

Related Post: https://www.caryunkelbach.com/ryan-and-luke-a-veteran-and-his-ace-service-companion/

 

FEATURED PHOTO: WCC service dogs pose in front of the nonprofit’s entrance sign. (WCC photo)