Puppy heaven

It starts as usual with fertility issues yet again...

Our street bitch has laid her latest litter a couple of weeks ago. Amazing how she manages to have so many litters at such regular frequency. Had me do some research on canine gestation. Should she be neutered? Or should nature be allowed to express life through her regardless of whether or not the poor mother can take it? This latest one is a full litter of six and given that it was not laid in our yard, I thought we could remain involved.

Blackie, as she is fondly called, put the puppies in the street gutter after being turned out of the house where she laid them, by the construction workers who were not so enamoured of the cutesy pups and their night long wails. But with the rain washing down on us and streaming into the gutters, she was forced to put them back on slightly drier grounds. Of course all the kids on the street would converge around the pups and try and encourage Blackie to care for and suckle them. She, so weary and depleted from so many litters, had little to offer to them and would usually try and abandon them so that Nature could do her bit and ensure and enforce rules such as the survival of the fittest etc. Her visits to them were getting shorter and more infrequent with the other street dogs begining to take a more active interest in the pups.

Over this weekend, one afternoon there was a major commotion. A pasing car had run over the pups! All the dogs of the street gave a vigorous chase to the offending vehicle and the chorus was joined in by the kids too! An examination revealed that not much damage had taken place. All the pups had had their first major fright and one little white one had a nasty bloody nose- but thats it. No fatalities, no broken bones. All I did was to hold the poor thing and pass on as much warmth and comfort to the terrified heaving wet bundle as possible. Eventually the bleeding stopped. The pups lay as close to each other as they could to derive some reassurance that the world wasn't such a bad place. Blackie, was not around! By the time things subsided, dh and the kids were keen to bring the pup into our yard. I didn't want to separate the poor terrified dear from its siblings. And so we got home six puppies!

The place is a smelly mess! There are tiny puddles and little heaps all over the place. We daren't park any car in the driveway for the fear of getting them underway. We can't step out of the house without tiny creatures getting underfoot. As many as 4 pairs of soft-sharp paws can be seen playing footsie with us each time we step out. The tickling of our toes by moist noses and wetter tongues has us in squeals. My nighty and sarees are special treats for the tiny teeth, it seems. So many frisky kids are constantly in and out of the gate that suddenly our house is the favourite haunt of the street.

But then this is unsustainable- all six cannot be here, I protested, weakly. Sure enough, the biggest pup in the litter, which was different from all its siblings (maybe a different sire?), was the first to go. Its been adopted by a family a few houses away- so glad to say, it'll remain on this street. Then the next to go was the runt of the lot- who made up for lack of size by having enormous wanderlust. Where it has gone, we know not. Hope it comes back soon! And so we are now left with four of those babies. A friend suggested ARF over the Blue Cross, where we had left similar litters in the past. But, hey, I am so busy- can't ever seem to find the time to make a call and go and leave the puppies there!!! :))