The puppies have now gone on to spread their love and affection to new families, but the warmth of their memories remains.

Wednesday, February 17, 1999
Mother and babies doing fine.  Two boys, four girls.  All strong, squirmy and squeaky, and getting fatter by the day. 

 

The Wonder of New Life

From my boyhood on the farm to litters of puppies (and other creatures) throughout my life, I have never ceased to be awed by the magic of new life. Today, as I watched Brandy present the world with six beautiful puppies, I was again struck by the beauty and wonder of the event.

Brandy is not yet three years old and this is only her second litter of pups, but she settled into the process with a deliberate calm. The first puppy came easily (so says a man), and she set about opening the sac, chewing off the umbilical, then licking the puppy about the face and mouth both to clean her and to stimulate her to action and life.  Then she nuzzled the baby toward her full breasts for that first sweet taste of Mother’s milk.

She was barely done when number two came along, and number three arrived before she was finished with his new sister.  Brandy quickened her pace so she could get to him in due time.  Somehow she knew that she had more time when his turn came. When she chewed off the umbilical, she looked at it critically, then decided it wasn’t close enough, so she bit it a little shorter before completing the cycle of cleaning and guiding him toward a waiting nipple.

She rested a time, then later added three more beautiful babies to her collection. In between each one, she dutifully cleaned up and made a place ready for the next. When they were all delivered, cleaned and feeding, she curled slightly around them as though to guard them from a hostile world. 

New Life in the process of becoming; ancient Motherhood in its finest moment; the eternal process of Renewal.

It is a beautiful thing and I am always somehow better for the good fortune of having been there to see.