Puppies

In January, a stray dog was laying on our pool deck near death. Austin and Andrew gave her some water and something to eat but she just didn't have the strength anymore. In the morning we gave her a bit more and then Austin and I proceeded to clean her up. The poor thing was so malnourished that we could see every bone. She was covered in ticks, fleas and lice. After picking everything off and spraying her down we showered her and let her rest. Within about 3 days she was much improved and I named her Diamond. After all, a dog is a man's best friend and diamonds are a girls best friend; so it made sense to me!

As her health and weight improved I suppose it was no surprise that we found she was pregnant and so 3 weeks later she delivered 8 puppies. She delivered the night of Frida, February 13th and luckily she chose our pool shower which was just the right size for her and easy to clean. Surprisingly, they were healthy and didn't look at all malnourished and Diamond was holding her own. With such a large litter to feed, we lost the runt a week later but all 7 others are alive and well. Diamond did develop eclampsia and I had to race to Nicoya to get her some calcium which helped her completely. She is now gaining weight and weaning her puppies as they are 7 weeks old now. Two of them will be delivered to their new homes tomorrow and we are keeping one; Austin named her Lucy. She's the black one in the pictures. The others will be off to their new homes soon we hope! We've really gone to the dogs - who would have guessed that we'd have 9 dogs and a cat????