I began volunteering for Can Do Canines in 2011 when we were thinking of maybe adding a new resident dog to our family again after the loss of our 10 year old German Shepherd.  I remember way back when my kids were small I ran into someone who was a puppy raiser for this organization (although it was under a different name back then) and I said “Someday, when our kids are grown and our house isn’t full of our own pets, I want to volunteer and be a foster home!”  I think my husband figured that was so far away that saying yes was no big deal…..fast forward to 2011 and I remembered what I had said and told him I was going to check into it!

Now, years later we have experienced puppy raising for black labs, a golden retriever, and a Portuguese Water Dog; we have fostered many different dogs and breeds including poodles and collies, we have been a Great Start home where we keep 8 or 10 week old puppies for up to a couple of months so they reach the appropriate age before they go off to their training in various prisons throughout Minnesota or to another organization, and last but not least we became a breeding and whelping home where we have experienced 3 beautiful litters of pups from an incredible Yellow Lab named Sugar.  This blog post is about her, our experiences, and the puppies of hers that we have raised and loved along the way.