Baby Tails and Tales of Babies

They were born a week later than anticipated. There were supposed to be 5-6 puppies. There were ten. It just goes to show you Mother Nature will do what Mother Nature does . . . no matter what the doctors say.

For two weeks, I was like a relative pacing the lobby of a hospital maternity ward, waiting for the special delivery. I read every whelping article ever uploaded to the internet, crossed off each pre-labor symptom as it was observed and stopped just short of begging Ava to just have them already. Okay, I didn't really stop short of that! Finally, just before Midnight last Saturday, new life entered the Foster House. I'd gone downstairs to check Ava one last time before heading to bed and there it was . . . a wet, wiggling little puppy being lovingly tended to by it's mother.

Ten minutes later, another little life entered the world.

And so it went, until about 4:30 in the morning.

Until there were ten puppies and one tired mama dog.

Since then, we've lost two babies. Shepherds aren't designed for such big litters and, in the breeding world, it is not an uncommon experience. But for me, who is not in the breeding world, it was a heartbreaking experience. One little guy was not well from the beginning and, after two days of bottle feeding, I rushed him to the vet. I hoped tube feeding might save him, but was instead faced with a more difficult decision. Letting him go was the kindest thing to do. And the hardest. The next day, we lost the tiniest of the litter, a little girl I had to resuscitate at birth. There is another little girl I continue to worry about, although she seems to be thriving thus far. She was born with a leg deformity the vet will address as she gets bigger. Her story will likely unfold on these pages as she matures. In the meantime, ask your furry critters to cross their paws for her. She's a fighter!