Newborn puppies make their way into our home and hearts

A few weeks ago, our lives went to the dogs.  My husband and I have fostered dogs for the past few years for different rescue groups, for some reason all female, and mostly pitbulls.  It started with a simple text message from my friend Christina Chavis of a NJ rescue group called Animal Rescues R Us. 

"Would you and Rob foster a pregnant dog?  She's about to give birth in a few days and needs a quiet home."  I looked at the message for awhile.  My husband, the voice of reason in our marriage would surely never agree to this. 

The message was followed by a photo of a bloated hound who had just come up on a transport from Georgia.  About a half dozen dogs were in cages on their way to rescue.  Holly was out of a crate and riding shotgun.  She was a year old, pregnant with 9 puppies that were due any day, and the overcrowded shelter told Christina that she had one hour to pull her before they put her to sleep. 

Christina arrived at our house a few days later, an enormously pregnant dog on a leash in one hand, and her small toddler in the other.  My husband and I have no kids of our own.  We have two senior German Shephards, and a small house.  We usually fall asleep by 10:00 pm every night and for all intents and purposes, our house is pretty quiet. 

We spent the next 10 days following Holly around like nervous new parents with oven mitts.  We cleaned out our small side porch and started calling it the "birthing room".  Holly yawned at us and when we turned away for a few minutes, she'd disappear into one of our bedroom closets or behind the couch.  Our two dogs sniffed her and looked up at us as if to say, "Do you have any idea what's about to happen here?  Oh, hold on while we get the popcorn!  We can't wait to see this!"

We bought baby wipes and training pads along with a plastic kiddie pool. We hovered.  Holly yawned at us and would trot outside to the backyard to waddle around with our dogs.  We waited.

Then one night, Rob was watching TV while I was in the kitchen.  He said, "Hey...there's a puppy here!"  In the span of five minutes, she quietly had a new puppy, licked it clean, and had it curled up next to her in the middle of the living room as Rob flipped through the channels, all without any of our help.  Our other two dogs snoozed through the next two hours a few feet away from Holly, barely glancing up as she quickly gave birth to the next 8 puppies.

Here are some photos.  They will be ready by October to be adopted.  Their adoption donation of $275 to Animal Rescue R Us will include their starter puppy shots and spay/neuter. 

If interested, please contact Animal Rescues R Us at Animalrescuerus@aol.com for an adoption application, and visit their website at http://www.chavisrescue.petfinder.org.