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| Nova in her donut collar, needed to protect her incision after getting spayed |
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| Luna, our mama-to-be |
It’s been almost a month since we brought Luna and Nova home and what a month it’s been. For the first two and a half weeks the main stress was getting Luna housetrained. It seemed like she was actively waiting until we got back inside so that she could relieve herself indoors like any civilized person.
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| The girls out for their walk in the days before we knew Luna was pregnant |
But then on October 15, Barbara took the dogs in to get spayed and suddenly poop piles and pee puddles were the least of our concerns. Luna was found to be with puppies--seven at least, possibly as many as nine, according to the X-ray. The vets said we should expect the birth within the next ten days--which brings us to yesterday. And still no puppies. The little ones haven’t even arrived yet and we’ve already been in a heightened state of anxiety, getting little sleep, worrying over how we’ll handle all of this. Our family room has been taken over by the dogs, with a big pen set up to keep Luna separate from her sister when the puppies arrive. Our TV doesn’t even work anymore after Nova got a hold of the cord and chewed through it earlier this week. Once they are born, we’ll keep Luna and the kids for up to two weeks and then transfer them out to the farm of a wonderful lady affiliated with the rescue group we got the dogs from. She’ll take care of them until the puppies are weaned and then Luna will come back to us. We just don’t have the space or the schedule to handle a close to a dozen dogs once those puppies become mobile.
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| Luna's "birthing pen" in what was once our family room |
How did this happen, you ask? Well it appears that Luna was knocked up by one of the other dogs in the foster home she was staying in before we adopted her. The foster didn’t realize it happened, and of course neither did we, until that fateful vet visit.
Despite the stress, we love our dogs. They are both especially close with Barbara, and Kai has a special bond with Nova. Ezra also loves the dogs and they love him back, though he seems to spend less time with them. I’m the only one they still fear. If I walk into the room they’ll immediately scoot to the other side of the room. If I crouch down low so I’m not looming over them, they won’t run away and will let me approach. Once I’m there they’ll let me pet them--Nova in particular is greedy for petting and if I stop petting her to put my attention on Luna, she’ll paw at me to bring me back to her. They are still skittish in general and Barbara is the only one who can get them to go outside for their walks. I’m sure these things will change with time and love.
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