Ombra Has Puppies

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By Brother Gregory

For several weeks we knew that my dog Ombra was pregnant, and she was getting pretty big, but we were not sure how many puppies she was carrying. She lives with Lena, my other dog, and me in my bedroom. For the last two weeks Ombra was getting uncomfortable, and sleeping at nights was difficult.
Ombra looking for a comfortable spot to nest.
She would pace for about three hours before settling down for some sleep, but she would be awake again around 4 AM. Needless to say, my sleep pattern was off, too. I made sure during the day and night that she often had time to poop and pee and could have some exercise to move around. Ombra is such a sweet and gentle dog; she just wants to please and play all the time. I asked the other monks when the big day would arrive, and some of us started to take a pool as to how many puppies she would have. The final answer for the due date was sometime on Sunday. I waited and waited all day Sunday. Finally I decided to go to bed. Maybe tomorrow would be the day; but was I in for a surprise. At 11 PM I woke to hear Ombra and Lena moving around in the bedroom. I jumped out of bed with my feet hitting the floor and saw Ombra rushing into her crate. Then the moment happened—the first puppy arrived. I reached into the crate really fast, pulled the puppy out, broke open the sack, and massaged the little guy until I heard the high-pitched cry of life. Blood was everywhere. Holding the puppy in my hand, I opened the bedroom door and cried out as loud as I could, “I need help! I need help!” Two other monks came to my cry for help. Thank God for their help; Br Stavros took the puppy and Br Marc cleaned my room while I took Ombra over to the puppy kennel. A room was already waiting for Ombra in the kennel. There she had two more puppies, and all three puppies were big and healthy, but then the waiting began. We had known days before that she would have seven puppies, but seven hours passed with no more deliveries. It was decided that Ombra would need to go to the vet for a cesarean birth. Early Monday morning, word came that Ombra had four more puppies: in all, four males and three females, and all were healthy. Just eight days after the birth all the puppies weighed at least two pounds each. Ombra is a great mommy and gives her first litter all the love, attention, and rich milk that she can. These are going to be great puppies. Both Ombra and I are working on recovering some sleep.


Ombra and her puppies.
Please note that Ombra's puppies are not available for adoption.  

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