New Haven Independent

Sgt. Gregory Watrous, Officer Phil Ramey and Officer Joseph Peterson were conducting a surveillance of businesses and motels in the early morning hours, part of the police department’s effort to curb burglaries and thefts from vehicles, Lt. Geoffrey Morgan said.

It was about 2 a.m. when they saw a man carrying a cooler and walking aimlessly in circles on the side of the roadway, apparently looking for a place to hide the ice chest. Officer Ramey became suspicious of the man’s actions. “When [Ramsey] stopped the man for identification he learned that there were seven newborn puppies in the airtight cooler,” Morgan said.

Then the police inquired further. A story the man told them that the dogs’ mom had died and he was searching for a surrogate turned out to be untrue.

The police later found the mom, a 45 pound mixed-breed named Jazz, with another newborn beside her. Both were inside the man’s room at the Branford Motel.

When police asked the man’s roommate where the mom was. “Right there,” he said. And there she was in a corner, having just given birth to the tiny puppies.

Police are continuing their investigation. No arrests have been made. Police have not publicly identified the men involved.

The police scooped up Jazz and her puppies and took them to the New Haven Central Hospital for Veterinary Medicine, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week facility.

Once there Jazz delivered another puppy.

Ken Aldrich, the hospital’s director, told the Eagle that one puppy in the litter died at the hospital overnight. “The police came in with eight puppies. One died and one was born here. So we still have eight.”

The puppies, like their mom, are mixed-breed, also known as mutts. They have some Shepherd and Chow in them, Aldrich said. “There are two blacks puppies, three tan and the rest are all white. When they came into the hospital they had just been born.”

Aldrich said that Jazz “is doing very well. She has been nursing the puppies all night long. She is a very good mom. She is protective of her puppies. She is watching out for them.”

Aldrich said it was perfect that the Branford police came to the hospital in the early morning hours. “We were able to take them in and make sure medically they were okay.”

He said he has spoken with the Branford Animal Shelter’s director, Laura Burban, who picked up Jazz and her puppies later in the day. “She is best set up to care for the puppies as they get older,” Aldrich said.

How long would they have lasted in the freezing night? Not very long, Aldrich said. “Newborn puppies need to have access to their mother or they need to be fed very regularly. And depending upon the size of the cooler, it is not clear how much air they had. They may have suffocated.”

But today they were alive and well, latching onto their mom and feeding, he said. “This is a great story to be able to talk about because they are doing so well and what could have happened if the police had not stopped this gentleman. …”

“We are very happy to be a position where we have eight healthy happy puppies. They are all over each other.”

“I think we gave these guys an early Christmas present,” Officer Peterson said. “They wouldn’t have survived in this cold weather.”

He would like to name them after Santa’s reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolf.

We here at the Eagle prefer they be named after the Jazz greats. Take your pick: Louie, Bird, Duke, Bix, King Oliver, Jelly Roll, Count Basie, Benny, Miles, Dizzy, Monk, Trane or Mingus, to name a few.

If the Eagle’s readers have suggestions, please list them in your comments and we will forward them to the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter.
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