And Then She Graced Her Littermates

… Continued from “Grace’s Delicate Dance”

It took some serious detective work (and maybe a few things that were border line legal – but I am not saying anything for sure), but eventually another volunteer and I were able to locate the home where Grace was born.  For purposes of this blog, I will call my friend E (I am so creative with these names!). 

Late one afternoon, E and I set out on a mission to find Grace’s littermates.  With address in hand, we traveled deep into the country, deep enough that no one would ever find our bodies… because we were certain that these strangers were NOT going to appreciate our good intentions and chop us into pieces.  We nervously teased each other as we passed by a gun shop that was way too close to our destination for comfort… and then we traveled some more.  Finally, when it seemed like we were nearing the end of human civilization, we pulled into a driveway.  The home, for lack of a better word, was really just two trailers put together.  A mesh fence surrounded part of the trash covered yard, a truck bed cover served as their only shleter.  It contained three dogs and too many puppies to count. 

As we pulled in, two teenage girls and what appeared to be their parents emerged from the tin cans home.  My ears were pounding with the blood rushing to my head and my toes tingled until they felt numb from fear and adrenaline.  Knowing that I would lose my nerve if I didn’t act fast, I jumped out of the car… no plan… no idea what I was going to say… out of pure impulse, I blurted out “I heard you have puppies” with a little question mark at the end.  E, the poor girl, was left in the car, stuttering in mid sentence as she tried to talk through a plan – a good story about why two young girls would want nine puppies!  We didn’t want to mention rescue because people don’t always take well to that.

The family looked at me like I was from Mars (I am sure meeting another human that far in the woods was quite the encounter as well).  Fortunately, E is far more responsible that I am and super fast on her toes because she helped cover my over-zealous approach… she explained that we had been told they had some puppies and we were very interested in taking one… or two… or as many as they would let us have. 

Much to our relief, the family members were not man-eating monsters and instead, they were very pleasant.  They really wanted the puppies to be safe and had obviously tried to do the best thing for Grace.  It was also clear they were in over their heads and could definitely use our help.  They were happy to give us the puppies, but we would have to come back in another week because they were only five weeks old and a phone call to their vet said that they should not leave their mama until they were six weeks.  Impressed with their dedication to do what was best for the pups, E left our phone numbers and asked that they call us the minute they were ready for new homes. 

We got back in the car for our long ride home and chuckled the entire way about our paranoia.  We also worried about what the next week would bring and whether they would give them up when the time came.   

To be continued…