My name is Nelly. I am eight years old. I am a Labrador Retriever. Despite my breed's title I do not engage in retrieval which frankly, I find to be a waste of time and energy. My career has been spent as a show dog and as a brood bitch. In other words, I've produced litters of puppies. And when you raise puppies, you do not have time to fetch. Trust me on this.
Recently my life was forever changed and I would like to share my story with you.
My new story begins about 56 days ago when my breeder was raided by the county humane society. Sadly my breeder had allowed herself to be overwhelmed with too many animals and was unable to properly care for us. The county forced her to surrender me and eleven other kennel mates. This could have been the end of the line for many of us older Labs as I have heard that most adopters prefer youngsters. My mates and I are blessed in that a couple of dear friends recognized us from the reports and came to the county shelter to re-rescue as many of us as they could. These friends, B and T, then combed their network of friends, co-workers and community members to find us loving forever homes.
B had a few potential candidates in mind for in me, so she sent me to live with her friend K until just the right home was found. I was rather nervous that first night at K's house. This was the second major upheaval in my life within a period of two weeks. K made me feel welcome and within a couple of days I decided I quite like her. I really enjoy the individual attention K lavishes on me. I don't even mind that I share the house with Tinkerbell, K's eleven month old cattle dog-shepherd mix.
The one and only complaint I had was the diet K put me on. My breeder may have been overwhelmed in the cleaning and organizational departments, but she was quite generous with the food. While I admit I had lost my girlish figure, I also have the defense of many litters of puppies delivered, which makes complete recovery impossible. K takes health and fitness pretty seriously, so she cut me back to one cup of food per day and instituted an exercise regimen. She, Tink and I walk about three-quarters of a mile at least once a day. Or we did until a couple of days ago when K finally realized that I am producing another litter.
Boy did those human phone lines light up Friday night! It was a bit of a treat for me to watch the by-play. I have been trying to tell K these past two months but apparently rolling over to show my belly just convey the message. Instead my belly had to "drop" for this latest litter to be noticed. Anyway, the thermometer came out and regular temperature checks began immediately. (The humans need to monitor my temperature and observe it's drop which signals the onset of labor.) K, our mutual friend R, along with B and T rushed me to the vet for x-rays Saturday morning where the vet confirmed for them that I shall be delivering eight in the coming days. While I truly do enjoy the entertainment these humans provide, the best part about this is the food! K immediately increased my intake to four cups per day of a puppy formula for it's increased nutrients and added yogurt for calcium. Yum!
Eating more and exercising less. It's completely worth one more litter of puppies for this old girl.
I will fill you in on my progress and the human-provided entertainment in the days ahead. In the meantime, I must nap.
Nelly
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| My puppies! |
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