Puppies

The puppies have arrived! Dakota went into labor yesterday (11/4) but didn't start popping out pups until 10:00 this morning (11/5). We were told, by our vet, to expect eight pups but I kept looking at that x-ray picture and was sure there were nine in there. When we got to eight, I started to doubt my counting because she certainly wasn't acting like any more were coming but low and behold, a half hour after the eighth, a ninth arrived. Certain she was finished, I got her whelping box cleaned out, changed her blankets and settled all the pups in for a feeding. I was shocked when she started pushing again and out came number TEN!

So we have ten, adorable, healthy pups and one tired but content momma. Even though I will have to be up every two hours for the next week, to supervise feedings, I am overjoyed. I love caring for all the pups and keeping a record of every milestone for their family's to have. It makes me happy to know that we are going to be able to give other's the same joy and happiness we have experienced due to having our own fur babies in our lives.

This time around I am particularly excited to be passing on this joy to one of our soon to be fur parents. We ask any perspective fur parents to fill out an application and then I end up corresponding with them via email for a while before they come to meet their pup. I like to be sure that every puppy placement is truly a forever placement so I like to get to know the new owners. Obviously, people are also interested in knowing about DH and I, so I'm never surprised when they find my FB page or find out some detail about us by googling us. This time, one of our perspective parents came across my public IF blog. She emailed me to tell me she had found it and shared her story with me: she wants a puppy because after many failed attempts to have her own child, including surrogacy, she is now living child free, not by choice. While we always encourage people without children to adopt a dog from a shelter, we sometimes make exceptions to our rule. This is one of those times. I get to spend the next eight weeks, raising her fur baby who will be her child. It may sound silly, but I feel pretty honored to be able to give her a little bit of something she has longed for.