Extended Litter
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Very Good, Very Bad Dog
By Keysha G. Cass
Fun fact: A pregnant dog will usually lose her appetite about a day before
delivering her puppies.
It was the Fourth of July and my neighbor decided to give the neighborhood
its own personal display of loud but beautiful fireworks. Hershey, my
four-year-old mixed-breed dog decided that fireworks were too loud and
dangerous. As soon as the first blast exploded into the air, leaving
brilliant colors in the clear night sky, she began to pace.
Hershey had given birth to eight puppies only a few short weeks before and
she perceived the fireworks as a possible danger to her babies. She
nervously paced
from room to room in the house. Eventually, she decided she wanted a closer
look at the fireworks, so I brought her outside.
Once outside, Hershey began pacing all over again. There was a break in the
display, and she wasn't sure where to look for the danger. Just as she was
calming down, a bright blue firework whizzed through the air and exploded
with a bang. Hershey ran straight for the house door. When I let her back
inside, I
assumed she would go straight to her puppies, but she didn't. I was curious
about what she would do next, so I followed her as she began another tour
around
the house.
To my surprise, her first stop was to the bed where my younger daughter lay
under the covers fast asleep. My daughter was curled up facing the wall, and
Hershey couldn't see her face very well. Hershey solved the problem by
placing her front paws on the bed and leaning over until she could reach
close enough to
sniff my daughter. I still wasn't sure what she was doing, so I continued to
watch.
Hershey checked my older daughter next. She was still awake and on her cell
phone like a typical teenager. Hershey sniffed her quickly, but not for long
since she could see she was still awake.
Hershey left my daughters' room and headed into the room containing my two
sons and their bunk bed. My older son was sitting on the lower bed, awake,
which meant he only required a quick sniff.
But my younger son was more of a problem, as he was in the top bunk. Hershey
couldn't put her front paws on the bed to give him a quick look and sniff.
She
also couldn't see him very clearly from her position on the floor. There was
no easy way for her to reach him. What she chose to do surprised me.
She sat down on the floor and stared at my son without moving an inch. When
my son moved in his sleep, and she was satisfied that all her human babies
were
okay, she returned to her puppies.
The fireworks continued to entertain the neighborhood outside for another
twenty minutes. Hershey paced the house and checked on her litter to make
sure they
were all right until the last firework. On that Fourth of July night, I
realized that as far as Hershey was concerned, my kids were a part of her
litter that needed to be watched over. It felt good to know my dog was
willing to protect my
children as though they belonged to her.
~Keysha G. Cass
end of story.
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