As the tale goes, a friend of mine had 3 dogs. One was spayed, but the other two were intact.
My friend lived on a ranch- as it was hunting season, she penned the dogs up for their safety and thought that they all just put on weight due to the lack of activity.
60 days later, a friend of hers remarked "I hear puppies."
My friend, rolled her eyes, shook her head, told her friend she was crazy and denied the possibility.
The dog who would be Momma was 5 years old, had never had puppies, and as they'd never seen her experience a heat cycle, they assumed she was sterile.
It seems she was just waiting for Mr. Right.
Momma was an Australian Shepherd.
Daddy was an Australian Cattle Dog.
8 puppies were the result, one of which was either stillborn or died soon after birth (as no-one was expecting puppies, and, thus, no-one was present to have saved him/her.
The body was discovered along with the rest of the litter at the insistence of Ms. "I hear puppies."
Thus, Momma had no vet care at all.
There were 3 with Kansas' coloring, then Jax; one (my friend called him "Moses", and he may be alive still..) whom was all black, save for his four white-speckled-black feet and the tip of his tail; one white with black patches who appeared to be more guinea pig than puppy; My gone-but-not-forgotten Cassidy, black and tan, with white-speckled-tan stockings. Only a triangular patch on her chest was blue-speckle like her sister. I don't know what the stillborn one looked like.
Of those remaining 7, the "guinea pig" escaped from the car when she arrived at her new home, ran out into traffic and was killed instantly. One of Kansas' look-alikes made it safely to a new home and, it's possible survived,... Another, fleeing from would-be new human parents, ran into a pumphouse on the property, stepped on bare wire and was electrocuted and found days after the fact. Cassidy only lived a short while, last I heard Moses was left to roam the ranch after his owners moved across the country,
and then, there were two:
Happy 4th Birthday!
Every year you live, grow and thrive, you cheat death and your survival honors the loss of your brothers and sisters.
Your daddy was given away not long after you were born.
Your momma had a second litter, most likely by your brother, Moses, and the family members that my friend had left her in care of most-likely drowned or otherwise "did away with" those siblings of yours. Your Mommas' people did eventually send for her and she was able to join them at their new home across the country. Your brother, Moses, may still roam the ranch, if the relatives haven't "done away with" him, as well.
I haven't heard from that friend of mine in years, and while I have never approved of her oversights, they are how you both came to be, and I'm forever grateful for the opportunity to have saved the two of you from a rotten existence with irresponsible people that should have taken better care of their animals.
It was a good thing and I have never regretted it.
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