Ombra Does It Again: Seven Puppies

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By Brother Gregory


Ombra was beginning to get really big, and time was getting very close to birthing her puppies. This would be Ombra’s second litter. She was bred to Kahn, and the two were a good match; Ombra took a liking to Kahn, and they got ties during the breeding. Her x-ray showed a possible seven puppies, but we were not quite sure about that seventh puppy. Going to bed that Saturday, I knew this was probably going to be a sleepless night, but off the lights went in my cell with Ombra and Lena, my other dog. Sure enough, Ombra would go in and out of her crate during the night, periodically scratching the crate, doing her nesting. Auntie Lena, as I called her, would come over to my bed to let me know what was going on, looking with her wet nose for my face or a foot or hand sticking out from the blankets. OK, Lena, I got the message! On the bedroom light would go, then off again, and this went on for most of the night. But at 2:30 Sunday morning I’d had enough. I got dressed and brought Ombra over to her whelping room in the puppy kennel. If I had to lose sleep, so was someone else, so I knocked on Br Luke’s door, and he went off to the kennel office, where there is a fluffy couch to sleep on. For me, it was a truly monastic experience, with a spiritual book and with Ombra doing nothing but just walking around the room and jumping into the whelping pen. At 10 Sunday morning, we examined Ombra and decided that she was not going to have the puppies any time soon, so it was suggested that I get some sleep and just leave her alone. At 12 noon, Br Marc knocked on my cell door and told me to get up and go help Br Luke—he had discovered that while no one was there, Ombra had had three puppies and was nursing. Dazed and amazed, I jumped out of bed, dressed, and hurried over to the kennel, hoping that Ombra and the puppies were OK. All was fine: Br Luke and Sr Pat Cassidy, a nurse, were tending to Ombra’s needs, and she was licking the three puppies she had birthed all alone: amazing! During the afternoon, Ombra had three more puppies, all big ones. So now we had six puppies—but what about the seventh? Nothing was happening. The x-rays had not been clear about a seventh puppy, so at 5 that afternoon we decided to leave Ombra and check on her later. She was getting tired, and she needed to rest. Well…Br Luke went over to the kennel around 9 that evening, and sure enough, Ombra had had the seventh puppy. There she was, appearing to be very happy with her litter, cleaning and licking her seven babies. Before going to bed that Sunday night, I wrote on the community board, “Ombra, six puppies.” When I awoke that Monday morning and passed by the community board, the word “six” had been changed to “seven.” Later that morning, I visited the new mother, and there was Ombra looking very much in control and very happy with her new babies, just enjoying motherhood. What a trouper!

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