Thursday, January 23, 2003
by way of distracting myself from the fact that my period hasn't come yet, I'll tell you a story about a dog named Peg.
Peg was a black Staffordshire bull terrier; stocky, playful, loving and loved a good fight.
when my boyfriend decided Peg needed to breed, he found someone with a male staffy, and they were put out in the backyard together.
they were locked together for ages, and from the pained look on her face, she didn't really enjoy it much.
in due course, the puppies arrived. I was very young - 19 or 20 - and didn't challenge my boyfriend's assessment that the dog didn't need a vet's attention.
but the day after they were born, or the same day, I can't remember, I noticed an unpleasant discharge.
my boyfriend came home and the dog went to the vet. she'd retained a puppy and had to have it, and her uterus, removed. of course this had poisoned her and her milk.
only vague advice came back about feeding the puppies. so one by one, they died. the last was a little blue boy puppy. she licked at it and licked at it until I took it away.
a week or two after that, she went crazy. she nicked off, which she'd never done before, and helped a pack of dogs slaughter a coop full of chickens. we managed to rescue her from being put down, but I wonder sometimes about what it was, the confusion and dog-sorrow that went with losing her babies, and not knowing why. I suspect that after a short time she didn't even "remember" them; but she was still hurting and didn't know why.
Peg was a black Staffordshire bull terrier; stocky, playful, loving and loved a good fight.
when my boyfriend decided Peg needed to breed, he found someone with a male staffy, and they were put out in the backyard together.
they were locked together for ages, and from the pained look on her face, she didn't really enjoy it much.
in due course, the puppies arrived. I was very young - 19 or 20 - and didn't challenge my boyfriend's assessment that the dog didn't need a vet's attention.
but the day after they were born, or the same day, I can't remember, I noticed an unpleasant discharge.
my boyfriend came home and the dog went to the vet. she'd retained a puppy and had to have it, and her uterus, removed. of course this had poisoned her and her milk.
only vague advice came back about feeding the puppies. so one by one, they died. the last was a little blue boy puppy. she licked at it and licked at it until I took it away.
a week or two after that, she went crazy. she nicked off, which she'd never done before, and helped a pack of dogs slaughter a coop full of chickens. we managed to rescue her from being put down, but I wonder sometimes about what it was, the confusion and dog-sorrow that went with losing her babies, and not knowing why. I suspect that after a short time she didn't even "remember" them; but she was still hurting and didn't know why.
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