The other day, I visited my friend Charlotte. Why? Because Charlotte rescues dogs from a kill shelter and one of her recent rescues just had a litter of puppies.
As many of you know, Denis has put a freeze on the acquistion of new dogs in the Leary household. The kids and I are always whining about getting a new dog, but Denis always brings us around to his sensible viewpoint, which is that we have a very amiable pack at present, never a growl or raised hackle between them. They’re all trained and relatively well-behaved and there is almost enough room in the bed for Denis and me to stretch out between them at night.
So I didn’t tell him I was going to look at the puppies.
I just went for a little look.
Well, I needed to see that Charlotte had everything well in hand!
When I got our of my car, I was greeted by Charlotte’s pack of small rescue dogs and in their midst was a wonderful female version of our former Pongo – a scrappy terrier mutt.
“Oh my God, I love her,” I said, pointing to the terrier, and Charlotte said, “She’s the puppies’ mom, Peanut!”
So into the house we went to look at the puppies. Peanut trotted ahead of us and turned her head around every few seconds to bark and yap at me. Her barks weren’t aggressive, nor were they entirely friendly. She was stating, in no uncertain terms, that she had her eye on me; that if I thought she was going to let me anywhere near her puppies, I had another think coming; that I’d better just watch myself; that she knew a puppy stealer when she saw one; that she didn’t want my germs on her puppies, etc. We proceeded through the house listening to Peanut’s list of things I could and could not do, and finally arrived in the bathroom where the puppies’ whelping box is kept. There we saw that one of the puppies’ elderly foster uncles (a portly and grizzled chihuahua mix) had stepped into the box to have a sniff. Peanut leapt into the box and sent him on his way with a long, low admonishing growl, then she frantically sniffed and checked all her pups, looking up at us every few seconds as if to say, “Did you see that? That disgusting ….male …was in the box with my babies. Did you see? Did you see that?”
After she gave her babies a snack and licked them all clean, she was much more relaxed and allowed me to hold them. I want to go back and take some better photos and maybe we can help Charlotte place these gorgeous pups in wonderful homes.
Charlotte is very special. She takes in dogs that are on death row at a Waterbury, CT shelter, and she has had great success placing them. She ends up keeping some of the very old dogs that she can’t place. She had found a home for Peanut soon after she rescued her, but when the prospective adopters learned she was pregnant they changed their minds.
After learning about the pregnancy, Charlotte decided to keep Peanut and the puppies until the puppies are weaned. On October 1st, Peanut climbed into her whelping box and began delivering her puppies, while Charlotte and the other dogs quietly watched. She is a very dedicated and fastidious mother, dear Peanut, and has wonderful manners in the house. I told Charlotte that if she doesn’t become too attached to Peanut, and still wants to place her after the puppies find homes, well…..
I showed Denis the photos last night.
“NO PUPPIES,” he said.
Then he said, “The mom is cute.” He asked me to hand over the computer so he could have a better look.
“She’s a Pongo, alright,” he said, smiling.
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