Breed All About It

Greetings Breeder Hosts and Fellow Southeastern Guidedogs, Inc. Supporters,

Many of you are aware that, in the interest of improving our service to you as hosts of our breeding dogs and to improve the overall performance of the school, the breeding department and medical department have now merged. The responsibilities of the breeding department were so closely intertwined with medical procedures and equipment used by the medical department, that it only made sense to combine our forces. Medical care of mother dogs approaching and immediately following whelping also encouraged the involvement of the medical team not to mention the medical care of the new born puppies.

The good news for you as a breeder host is that you will have the opportunity to talk to more than one person. The Medical/Breeding Department is made up of four qualified individuals who are here to make your life and the life of your canine companion as stress free as possible.

Southeastern Guidedogs, Inc. now has a full time campus veterinarian, Dr. Jerry Edington, who is the director of the Breeding and Medical Department. Dr. Edington is a native of Indiana who graduated from Purdue University in 1984 and then had the good sense to transplant to Florida. Dr. Edington has been in private practice in Southwest Florida for twenty plus years and owned a successful veterinary practice in Englewood for 12 of those years. In the recent past, Dr. Edington has become more involved in animal related not for profit organizations and had the good sense to come on to the campus of Southeastern Guidedogs and become fully involved in the medical care of our dogs. Dr. Edington can be reached at extension 141 at the guide dog school.

Kate Bowman is also someone you will likely talk to or meet as you interact with our school. Kate has been with our school for the past three years working as the Medical Services Manager and has recently encompassed the roll of Breeding Manager. She relocated to Florida from Virginia six years ago where she obtained an Associates Degree in Veterinary Technology. With over eleven years of working experience in animal care, Kate makes a great addition to this team.

Another voice that you may hear on the other end of the phone line is that of Kelly Housley. Kelly has been working here at Southeastern for a year as the Medical Services Coordinator. Prior to her position here, she worked in a veterinary clinic in Georgia as a veterinary technician and as a groomer’s assistant. Not only does she have experience with animals, Kelly also enjoyed working with human patients as a certified emergency medical technician. One of our breeder male Black Labrador Retrievers named Jake is lucky enough to call Kelly his “host”.

Last, but definitely not least, is Whitney Kerns. Whitney is currently enrolled in the Veterinary Technology program at Saint Petersburg College. Whitney has worked in a small animal veterinary hospital for 3 years before coming to Southeastern Guide Dogs. She thoroughly enjoys caring for all the puppies and dogs we have on campus. Some of you may be familiar already with Whitney’s last name since her mother also serves as one of our campus dog trainers.

All four of the members of the Medical/Breeding Department at Southeastern Guidedogs, Inc. look forward to meeting and working with you. You can contact Kate at extension 115 and Kelly and Whitney at extension 130. With your help and the help of our canine companions, we will continue to move forward-together.

A big congratulations to Sadie and Rex who recently gave birth to this beautiful litter of lab puppies in September. These little tykes will be leaving our campus with their Puppy Raisers very soon!

Morghan and Norm are the proud parents of this beautiful little litter of four. Also scheduled to depart our campus shortly, we are thrilled to have these little ones on their way to Guide Dog-hood!