Warwickshire guide dog charity welcomes largest litter in years

A charity that breeds and trains guide dogs has welcomed its biggest litter for three years: 13 puppies known as the “Baker’s Dozen”.

The 13 new additions to Guide Dogs HQ in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, have been given bakery-themed names inspired by sweet and savory treats.

The boys are Biscuit, Crumble, Bagel, Crumpet, Rye, Tiger and Pretzel, and the girls are Apple, Eccles, Cocoa, Chelsea, Custard and Ginger.

Guide Dogs’ breeding and welfare operations leader Janine Dixon said it was difficult to count puppies during pregnancy, so staff didn’t know mum Yori “had that many buns in the oven”.

According to the charity, the cost of breeding, training and training each service dog can cost up to £77,000; This means Baker’s Dozen could cost just over £1 million.

Leamington Spa has been the national base for the Guide Dogs charity since the 1940s and is now The world’s largest breeding program for assistance dogs.

Guide Dogs breeding consultant Katy Wild-O’Neil said: “We are breeding 1,300 dogs [dogs] “It’s a year round so obviously we need a lot of volunteers and we have some great volunteers who will continue to raise puppies for us.”

The 13 puppies will now be allocated to dog breeders across the UK to help them develop into life-changing guide dogs by 2027.

Dog breeder Morna Farquhar helped raise a total of 11 puppies for the charity.

He admitted it was “difficult” to return the dogs after a year with them, but said: “You do it because you know someone else might have a service dog.

“So if you give one year of your time, someone can have an eight-year dog to guide them.”

It’s the biggest litter in Guide Dogs since 2022, when German shepherd Unity surprised the charity with a record-breaking 16 puppies.