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The Midnight Project - August 2007

These pups are ready for homes now! Apply to adopt.

The Midnight Project is the second installment in a new program at SICSA. The first such project - The Nina Project - was a great success and updates on the animals in that project will be posted as we get them.

Midnight is a black retriever mix who found herself and four young babies at the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center.

As with the Nina Project, and Midnight Project consists of creating as stress free an environment as possible as well as to provide the necessary structured handling, socialization and attention to the behavioral development of the puppies as possible.

During the next several weeks, dedicated SICSA staff and volunteers will provide handling necessary to teach the pups to accept restraint; nail trims; providing a variety of different surfaces, objects, toys; exposure to a cat at weeks 4, 5 and 6; puppy group time away from mom; individual time away from mom; open crates for the pups to learn to den; designated potty areas for them to develop a preference to eliminate in a designated area; beginning of chew toy training with Kongs; hand feeding for the development of good bite inhibition; accepting a collar and learning to drag a flat leash; exposure to grass at week 4; play time with children; unfamiliar women and men; baths periodically; exposure to an unfamilar dog at week 6 and of course, clicker training beginning in week 5 focusing on auto sits when approaching people. Beginning leash training in week 6.

Even with the heavy focus on the behavioral development of the puppies, Midnight is being nurtured. She will receive several walks a day with much needed breaks from motherhood; playing in the yard; two stuffed Kongs a day; roaming the office area and a guarantee that no other dogs were in the office area. She will be primped and groomed complete with belly rubs!

Applications for adoption are now being accepted for mom and the puppies. Keep in mind that puppies are NOT available on a first come, first serve basis. Puppies will be matched with the most appropriate home based on their individual personalities. It is impossible to assess personalities in puppies until 7-8 weeks of age.

These puppies have been given daily socialization, experiencing a variety of situations appropriate to their ages, from the time they arrived at SICSA and will continue to until they leave. We hold ourselves to the standards that we would expect an ethical, responsible breeder to adhere to in determining placement for the puppies.

We have invested a tremendous amount into the puppies to ensure that they will be well rounded individuals. They have received the appropriate health preventatives for their age, will be spayed or neutered before going to their new homes and will be microchipped for identification.

We will determine each individual puppy's placement according to that specific puppy's personality, and by the role it will play within its new family. Because of the nature of our organization, we see an enormous number of animals who were poor matches for the homes they were in which is partly responsible for why they have ended up in a shelter. We feel it is very important to place each puppy in the right home, thus we continue to carefully evaluate each puppy's temperament as it is growing up in order to make this determination.

While potential adopters may choose to limit what sex and color puppy they would like to have, we do not encourage this. Adopters who do so must be aware that this will limit the chances of them getting a puppy, since the puppy of that color and sex may not be the best match for them. (FYI... the differences between a male and a female that are neutered or spayed is minimal. Both make excellent pets.) It is our goal for the dog to have a happy, lifetime home with equally happy adopters.

All adopters must understand that we will be following the development of these puppies through their first two years of life and adopters agree that they will be available for phone interviews or other follow up means as SICSA deems appropriate for the program. In addition, all adopters must commit to seeing that the pups attend a puppy training class prior to 5 months of age.

As with all SICSA adoptions, free behavioral support (outside of standard puppy or obedience classes) is available for the lifetime of the dog and SICSA has a liberal return policy. If for any reason the dog cannot remain in their home, SICSA will accept all animals back provided they pass our behavioral evaluation and are considered adoptable.

Introducing.......