Two weeks ago, the rescue organization we work with (Homeward...
Two weeks ago, the rescue organization we work with (Homeward Trails) alerted their volunteers to a pregnant girl who was abandoned in the cold with a snowstorm on the way. The puppy room that the organization has was full, and she needed a home with a nice, safe room where she could have her puppies. My wife and I decided to take her in. I named her Lupa, after the wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus.
Lupa took to me instantly. My wife was out of town and maybe it was the fact that I offered some level of stability and protection for this scared, pregnant girl but, whatever it was, she wouldn’t leave my side. I slept in the guest bedroom with her for two weeks because she didn’t want to be alone, worked from home as often as I could and cancelled most of my plans just to hang with her while she got bigger and bigger.
At first I was able to leave her alone for a few hours at a time, but eventually she would put herself into physical danger just to get near me. Her first amazing bit of escapism involved digging a hole through the carpet/door to get out of her birthing room.
We had to crate her, but then she managed to push open the front of her crate and squeeze through the bars…
We eventually learned that if we kept her in the living room she would actually see me leave and just sit by the window, waiting for me to come back. This wasn’t ideal, since we didn’t want her giving birth near our other dogs, so anytime I left the house it filled me with anxiety that was moderately subsided by way of Skype.
On Saturday night, my wife and I had a bit of cabin fever so we went out for a quick bite to eat. When we got home, Lupa was obviously in labor and trying to get into her safe room. We let her down there and she began to tear apart EVERYTHING. Sheets, towels, an actual mattress, her fury knew no bounds. After an hour of thrashing she gave birth to a boy. We named him Romulus.
We watched in amazement as she ate the placenta and licked Romulus until he started breathing. When he first moved his little paws we both gasped and teared up a little bit. And then came Remus. We didn’t even see him come out - he was just there.
And then a third puppy and a fourth and a fifth. We finally decided to go to bed and, when we woke up, there was a sixth puppy there. We checked the sexes, four boys and two girls, and named the remaining four puppies Gaius, Augustus, Pompeia, and Livia.
She turned into a mother overnight. Protective of her babies and only trusting me and my wife around them. No dogs are allowed near her and she actually bit my friend Ben and tried to chase him out of the house for having the audacity of showing interest. She doesn’t try to escape her room anymore, and when she does come out she takes care of her business and wants to get right back with her puppies. My wife and I spent all day with her on Sunday, laughing as the dogs squeaked and whined and slept and tried to find a nipple to nurse from.
She did good. She has six healthy puppies which Homeward Trails will put up for adoption in eight weeks. If you have an interest, please message me or email me at jrodinator@gmail.com. We’ll try and get some individual pictures of them and put an oficial name to each pup as Lupa lets us hold them longer but, until then, you can get pictures of them in their pig piles.
And, one last thing before I sign off. Owning a dog is a responsibility, one that you promise to carry through with when you take one in. Love them and they will love you back, unconditionally. Don’t take in a dog if you can’t keep him or her for the long run, but if you find yourself in an impossible situation please never, ever take the easy way out and just abandon them. It is the most heartless thing you could do. There are many people out there, my wife and I included, who would rather these dogs have a warm place to live and be comfortable until they can find their forever home. So please, please, please - have a heart. And get your pet spayed and neutered. I know people like adopting puppies but it’s the older dogs who find themselves wasting away in shelters, becoming anti-social and unloved in their twilight years once the puppies are gone.
Anyway - here’s to Lupa for doing good, and here’s to a good life for Romulus, Remus, Gaius, Augustus, Pompeia, and Livia - may they never know the hardships their mom had to deal with.
