May 2025 brought a litter of MD Dogs puppies!
​All puppies are reserved.
Birdi x Double Litter Puppy Reservation List
1. MD Dogs (Female)
2. MD Dogs (Female)
​3. Kai R. (Group Class; No preference; OR; delivered)
4. Andrea L. (Group Class; Male; FL; TBD)
5. Jeanine B. (No Group Class; Female preference; IL; pickup)
6. Kerrie S. (Group Class; No Preference; TX; TBD)
​7. Adrienne and London R. (Group Class; No preference; CA; delivered)
MD Dogs very occasionally produces a purpose bred litter of English Cocker Spaniels with the goal of providing puppies that are particularly suitable to becoming Diabetic Alert Dogs. The puppies are always out of a female who is a fully trained Diabetic Alert Dog and the puppies receive Neonatal Scent Imprinting from 24 hours old until they go to their new homes, which leads to most puppies showing clear behavior changes in response to low blood sugar, even at just 8 weeks old. However we only produce a litter every 1-2 years so there is very limited availability. If you'd like to be notified if we have an upcoming litter, you can sign up here. ​forms.gle/ms5j8ZiSTLvPCyUH9 (This is not an application - just an interest form so we will email you if we have an upcoming litter)
For breeders to learn more about Neonatal Scent Imprinting, feel free to take our class to create Diabetic Alert Dog candidates

Diabetic Alert Dog Breeding Program

Our purpose in breeding is to produce medical alert dogs who have the drive to alert among any distraction, the confidence to thrive in any environment, and the biddability to be trained by inexperienced handlers. All puppies receive neonatal scent imprinting on low glucose samples to maximize chances of success as future Diabetic Alert Dogs.
MD Dogs 2nd litter of Neonatal Scent Imprinted puppies arrived March 22, 2024!
Welcome to the world!
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About this litter:
On March 22, 2024, MD Dogs Birdi had 7 beautiful puppies, sired by the Grand Champion, Viriato from Itoba English Cockers. Both parents have exceptional temperaments and accomplishments, and have been fully health tested to maximize the health of their offspring. This is MD Dogs' second litter of puppies, who are receiving Neonatal Scent Imprinting to give them a jumpstart on alerting to low blood sugars. This litter was bred specifically to produce future Medical Alert Dogs for those wanting to self-train, because the pups are being classically conditioned to the odor of low blood sugar just like our previous litter, but will have temperaments that are a little easier for self-trainers due to slightly lower drive.

 ​Previous NSI (neonatal scent imprinted) puppies from Birdi were showing clear behavior changes to their T1Ds during low blood sugar events within days of going home. It is expected by using this same protocol this 2024 litter will also have these traits and will be primed to be fantastic Diabetic Alert Dogs with a much lower likelihood of washing out due to scent training skills.  

This litter is particularly unique because they are purebred AKC English Cocker Spaniels, but are half field-bred and half show bred, in order to develop a more moderate dog who has the biddability and work ethic of the field bred Cockers, with the show line’s ability to settle and slightly lower energy. Instead of “tiny tornadoes” we are looking at them being “small squalls” - plenty of drive for medical alerts but a teeny bit less chaos than those pure hunting lines 😂 Additionally, the pups have a 0% COI (coefficient of inbreeding) because there are very few field x show bred English Cocker Spaniels in the US, which helps ensure genetic diversity and prevent health problems related to breeding generations too closely together. 

Our priority is for these puppies to go to individuals who are looking to self-train a Medical Alert Dog. However we will also consider detection and sport homes. We are tentatively planning to keep the majority of these puppies until 14-16 weeks of age, and providing them as "Started Service Puppies". We have found the first 8 weeks after bringing a puppy home is the most difficult for self-trainers, and we'd like to help with that by giving our pups a head start and starting their training before going home. The pups will know:
  • Crate training
  • Sit
  • Down
  • Come
  • Stay
  • Watch Me
  • Leave it
  • No jumping
  • No furniture

Pricing:  All puppies will receive Neonatal Scent Imprinting, Early Neurological Stimulation, Puppy Culture protocols, been dewormed every 2 weeks, have age appropriate vaccinations, and have AKC registration paid for and completed. Puppies suited to sport, detection, therapy, or pet homes will be 8 weeks old without any additional training and ready mid-May for $3800. Started Service Puppies will receive 2 months of training and be 14-16 weeks old, ready Mid-July for $7200.​
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About the sire: Viriato is a fantastic dog imported directly from Portugal, who has a whole alphabet worth of titles on him - both conformation as well as performance! And he comes from a fabulous kennel, Itoba English Cockers, who we were honored to be able to work with. Additionally, he’s almost 10 years old and in phenomenal health which was largely why we chose him. Viri has had healthy offspring for years to maximize the chance that this litter will have those same traits. "Because telomere length increases with age in sperm, and in both humans and other species, offspring conceived by older fathers have longer telomeres than those conceived by younger fathers, breeding practices in dogs (specifically the age of the stud males used) may be used to affect the breed life span (Fick et al. 20212). Essentially, we can possibly start to increase the lifespan of our dogs by using studs who are older and healthy; this is especially valuable to use because we want to maximize the working life of the dogs we produce since they are life-saving tools with countless hours and dollars put into them and their training.
Viri's pedigree
Viri's OFA page
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About the dam: Birdi is MD Dogs' fully trained Diabetic Alert Dog. She is a firecracker of a dog and everyone who meets her loves her. She is a driven, workaholic who adores nothing more than her people...except maybe fetch. She has received all 6 of her titles on the first attempts and with ease, and is capable of even more. She is a fantastic mother who has produced Diabetic Alert Dogs and an Explosives Detection Dog in her previous litter. One of her Diabetic Alert offspring even works overtime as he alerts to two T1d children in the home and he is incredibly successful due to the drive and biddability he inherited. We are hoping by pairing Birdi with Viriato we will maintain all her phenomenal traits, but tone down her intensity just a little, to make her offspring a little easier for Medical Alert Dog self-trainers who are not professionals. 
Birdi's pedigree
Birdi's OFA page
The puppies' pedigree can be seen to the right. 
 MD Dogs Puppy Process
1. Application - Submit an application (here) to share more about your ideal pup and your living environment.
2. Interview - We will send you a link after your application, to schedule a 30 min call to chat through our dogs and learn more
3. Deposit - If you are a good fit for this litter, we will let you know and you will submit a deposit to reserve your spot on the list
4. Puppy Matches - When the pups are about 7 weeks old we will temperament test them and finalize which puppies are suitable for which homes. Picks are done based on temperaments and careers, rather than gender or color. 
5. Non-Diabetic Alert Pickup - At 8 weeks old pups who are not becoming Diabetic Alert Dogs will be picked up (May 17-19th)
6. Diabetic Alert Puppy Pickup  - The diabetic alert pups will continue their training until 14-16 weeks of age, and learn basic obedience and house manners before going home (June 28-29 or July 5-6). They will then be picked up and their family will receive a go home lesson to demonstrate what they've learned and how to continue their training.  
About our previous litter
The 2023 Birdi x Dublin litter produced 7 puppies who received MD Dogs neonatal imprinting from birth. 5 puppies are currently in training as Diabetic Alert Dogs, 1 as an Explosives Detection Dog, and 1 puppy as a sport/pet home. Both puppies who went to homes with self-trainers began responding to live low blood sugars within days of going home - they are consistently showing a strong positive association with the odor, pausing what they are doing to get as close as possible to the individual who is hypoglycemic and some even learned an indication behavior within 2 weeks. All future litters will receive neonatal imprinting to prepare them for their futures as Diabetic Alert Dogs. 

Below are the puppies from MD Dogs last litter and their current jobs: 
Diabetic Alert Dog in training for two type 1 diabetic kids in Massachusetts.
Diabetic Alert Dog in training at NICST in Concord, California. 
Keeper pup! Diabetic Alert Dog in training at MD Dogs Inc.
Diabetic Alert Dog in training for 14 year old in South Dakota.
Diabetic Alert Dog in training at Topaz Assistance Dogs in Florida. 
Explosives Detection Dog in training in New Jersey.
Sport and pet dog whose job is to be the kids' best friend in Texas.  

Welcome to the world!
About
MD Dogs' first litter of field bred English Cocker Spaniels was born February 26, 2023. These puppies are out of our fully trained Diabetic Alert Dog, Birdi, with the hopes that the litter will be well suited to high energy homes looking to train a medical alert dog. These puppies will be very driven, biddable, workaholics who love to use their nose. Puppies will be AKC registered (limited, with the option for full registration once health tests are complete), tails docked, and dewclaws removed. 

How they will be raised
Starting at 24 hours old, the puppies will be imprinted on the odor of low blood sugar - a concentration of the low blood sugar scent will be sprayed on the dam multiple times a day so as the puppies nurse they are being classically conditioned, to give them a head start into scent training.

All puppies will be raised in a home environment with frequent handling, in addition to being raised with ENS (early neurological stimulation), ESI (early scent introduction), and Puppy Culture.  The purpose of this breeding is for MD Dogs to develop a line of working Cockers apt to diabetic alert training, including naturally responding to the odor of low blood sugar. However there may be availability in this litter to other homes depending on litter size. Priority will generally go to homes as follows: 
  1. Homes who would like to work with MD Dogs to self train a Diabetic Alert Dog 
  2. Other service dog homes.
  3. Hunting homes
  4. Sport homes
  5. Pet homes

About the Parents
Birdi is a fully trained Diabetic Alert Dog who is loyal, food driven, confident, biddable, and is everything we look for in a Diabetic Alert Dog. Her only fault is that she is more driven and higher energy than most individuals are looking for in a Service Dog. Because of this, she has been paired with Dublin, who is also biddable, gentle, and driven, but is a little lower energy for a field bred English Cocker. The hope of this pairing is to produce pups who are able to settle all day or work all day.

If interested in a puppy from this litter please complete the application. Puppies will be $3,800 and ready at 8-10 weeks of age. 

Health Tests & Pedigrees
  • Dam - Snips Birdi for BG in the Bluegrass - PennHIP, OFA prelim hips Good/elbows normal, OFA patellas normal, DNA clear 
  • Dam Pedigree
  • Dam OFA
  • Email for PennHip and prelim documentation. 
  • Sire Sunsage's Jameson of Stow - OFA hips Fair, OFA elbows normal, DNA clear
  • Sire Pedigree 
  • Sire OFA​

Puppy Updates

February 8, 2023
Birdi is expecting! Baby birds due March 1, 2023!

After years of planning, praying, and hoping, Birdi is expecting a litter of AKC English Cockers! These puppies will be imprinted on the odor of low blood sugar from birth and will be raised with the intent of giving them every head start possible to become Medical Alert Dogs - from odor imprinting, to socializing, to handling, to stress response development.

This is a bit of a miracle litter as we did not anticipate the breeding was successful, but I am absolutely thrilled and cannot wait to see what these two produce! Dublin was specifically chosen to be paired with Birdi as he is a fully health tested working bird dog from a phenomenal kennel, Sunsage Sporting Dogs. In addition, Dublin is the dog they use to teach junior handlers how to work a bird dog due to his biddability, temperament, lower energy, and will to please. The hope of this pairing is to produce pups who are able to settle all day or work all day.

Our vision over the next generations is to produce medical alert dogs with the drive to alert despite distractions, the confidence to thrive in any environment, and the biddability to be trained for kids and by kids.

This is a new venture and I am excited to share the process of imprinting and raising these pups, and more than a little nervous. I have lots of hopes and dreams for these guys - but my number one is just a healthy arrival. Lots to learn but the countdown is on!

Some of these pups will stay with me as the purpose of this litter is to continue producing MD Dogs Diabetic Alert Dogs, but depending on litter size there may be availability to other homes looking for a medical alert service dog prospect, or hunting, or sport homes.
February 24, 2023
How many puppies do you see? Currently taking bets on number of boys and girls you all predict 😉 (swipe for Birdi’s face when I told her she had to take care of these little furry parasites inside her…)

Birdi is on Day 59 of her pregnancy which means this weekend or early next week we should be seeing puppies! I am downright giddy and can’t wait to meet these little birds!

As always she was a gem at the vets office and the whole staff is excited for more dogs in this world with Birdi’s temperament and personality ❤️
February 27, 2023
​On Sunday, February 26, Birdi brought MD Dogs’ first litter of 7 puppies into this world. 6 boys and 1 girl, and as a bonus a fun group of colors - 3 liver colored Birdi clones, 2 deep reds, 1 gold/red, and 1 orange and white/lemon and white (we’ll see how dark his markings get).

Birdi is an exceptional mom - she adores her puppies and is incredibly attentive 24/7. When I need to check or weigh a puppy she never hesitates to let me, but she does watch everything I do until I return it to her and then counts them all to ensure they are there.

Everyone is healthy and happy and learning how to live in this new world. We do have one small little guy that I’m keeping an eye on and hopefully we can get him growing more quickly shortly.

While they just eat and sleep at this age, the puppies have already begun neonatal imprinting on the low blood sugar odor a few times a day!

I will go into more detail later about everything from how whelping went, the purpose of this litter, neonatal imprinting, etc. But for now we are just absolutely thrilled with our newest and littlest MD Dogs, and can’t wait to watch them grow.

(Since we had a larger litter than expected or needed, applications have officially opened up for a few homes! We’d love to place some in DAD self-training homes, but are also open to other service dog homes, sport, or hunting homes. The puppies tab on mddogs.org has more info)
March 2, 2023
Birdi’s puppies may be less than 100 hours old, but these future Diabetic Alert Dogs have already begun MD Dogs neonatal target odor imprinting - this is just our fancy way of saying we are exposing newborn puppies to the odor of low blood sugar and associating good things with that smell.

Summary: 2-3x/day Birdi is sprayed with a low blood sugar solution so when the puppies nurse they are being classically conditioned to the scent - learning that low blood sugar = positive feelings.

If you are a dog nerd and would like to see the details of it, this is a video of this morning’s routine. (Please excuse production quality - we are good at dog training but clearly not cinematography 🙂)

*Applications are open for the next 2-3 weeks for a few of these puppies. We are primarily looking for those who would like to self-train a DAD with MD Dogs assistance, but are open to other working homes depending on availability.
March 3, 2023
Yesterday’s post was all educational-y (official term), so here’s some photos of the puppy burritos to balance that out.

Everyone is still gaining weight, some faster than others. The first two weeks of puppies’ lives are the most risky and they aren’t guaranteed to all make it. So I am keeping a close eye on them and trying to give the little ones a hand when I can.

Applications are open for the next few weeks - primarily looking for diabetic alert homes who would like to work with MD Dogs to self-train as we’d like as much data as possible on these dogs’ diabetic alert skills as they grow up. Mddogs.org under the “puppies” tab for more info!
March 4, 2023
Umm Birdi…you missed the memo about taking maternity leave.

Just 3 days after delivering 7 healthy puppies, Birdi chose to go back to work and alerted me to my low blood sugar. Unbelievable. This dog is exhausted, as she should be, and she has almost zero appetite. Yet while I was doing one of the copious loads of laundry she walked out of the whelping box with her puppies, came over to me, gave *the stare*, and then gently nudged my leg. Went to check and sure enough - 82mg/dL! (She’s rewarded for alerts of 85 and below).

Of course we had a massive puppy party, even though she doesn’t have any motivation for food right now she still eagerly ate her treats, and then received so many cuddles for certainly going above and beyond. The power of training and her desire to alert despite exhaustion, distractions, and even major physical changes is incredible. Good low Birdi - now please clock out and go take a nap and take care of your puppies.

Can’t wait to see how this drive and willingness to alert continues on in these 7 puppies. Applications are open until the puppies are 2-3 weeks old - looking for homes who would like a high drive, high energy English cocker spaniel to train as their diabetic alert dog. Apply at mddogs.org

#SumtimesAMomNeedsABreakFromDaKidsMahm #EvenIfDatMeansWorking #GibsMeMySenseOfSelfTanks #IzNotJustAHumanMilkMachine #OopsIMeanDogMilkMachine #DisSingleParentStuffIsHard #WheresMyHusbandHuh #HeJustWalkedOutOnUs #rude #mddogsinc #mddogspuopies #diabeticalertdog #diabeticalertdograised #purposebred #englishcockerspaniel #workingcocker
March 5, 2023
The baby birds are a week old! So here is their 1 week photos and official name reveals.

They still cannot hear or see, but twice a day they are exposed to the scent of low blood sugar while they nurse, through neonatal odor imprinting. And once a day they receive Early Neurological Stimulation as well as Early Scent Introduction. All this is to do everything possible to prepare them for lives as future Diabetic Alert Dogs. They have a pretty full schedule despite being in the burrito stage.

Applications are open until they are 2-3 weeks old. Looking primarily for homes who plan to train them as Diabetic Alert Dogs. Apply at mddogs.org.
March 6, 2023
You may be wondering why I have bath mats in with the puppies in every photo - doesn’t it seem like a big fluffy blanket for them to curl into would be cozier?

Well I’d love to tell you 😉. They are actually to test out this theory that better traction in the whelping box results in a better formation of the hip socket during this critical developmental period - ultimately decreasing the risk of hip dysplasia as an adult. Isn’t that so cool?!

The idea is that as puppies nurse they are pushing to get to mom, but with blankets and slick surfaces their hind legs can’t push adequately so it results in their back legs being out at all angles frequently. The problem with this is that the puppies are forming the structure for their hip socket, and ligament damage at this early age could result in essentially a loose socket in adulthood - this largely contributes to hip dysplasia because now the socket is formed incorrectly and it causes remodeling of the joint over time.

This is all a theory that others have come up with and nothing is proven yet - but I figured it logically makes sense and is worth a try! I’ll be getting PennHIP testing done on some of these puppies once old enough so I can get more data and see some results. One litter will be far from conclusive, but fascinating to me nonetheless, and I’m willing to do just about anything to create a litter of puppies ready to become healthy working dogs for their future families.

Swipe for a video showing the difference between BlueJay nursing on the mat and how his hind legs are holding him up firmly, whereas Finch is off to the side with back legs that are extended behind her and scrambling.

Applications are open for a few of these puppies - looking for high energy homes who would like to self-train a DAD. Apply at mddogs.org.
A Service Dog is an animal and is not intended to replace any medical care or device(s) provided by medical professionals. A diabetic alert service dog is never 100% accurate and should never replace regular blood glucose level checking.
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