The Pretty
One
This was
the last litter of puppies we were going to allow our
Cocker
Spaniel to have. It had been a very long night for me.
Precious,
our only black Cocker was having a very difficult time with the delivery
of her puppies.
I laid on
the floor beside her large four-foot square cage
watching
her every movement. I was watching and waiting just in case we had
to rush her to the veterinarian.
After six
hours the puppies started to appear. The first born
was a black
and white party dog. The second and third puppies were tan and brown
in color.
The fourth
and fifth were also spotted black and white. "One,
two, three,
four, five," I counted to myself as I walked down
the hallway
to wake up Judy and tell her that everything was
fine.
As we walked back down the hallway and into the spare
bedroom,
I noticed a sixth puppy had been born and was now lying all by itself over
to the side of the cage.
I picked
up the small puppy and laid it on top of the large pile
of puppies,
which were whining and trying to nurse on the
mother.
Instantly Precious pushed the small puppy away from rest of the group and
refused to recognize it as a member of her family.
"Something's
wrong," said Judy. I reached over and picked up the puppy.
My heart sank inside my chest when I saw the little puppy was hare-lipped
and could not close its little mouth.
We had gone
through this once before last year with another one of our cockers.
That experience like to have killed me when the puppy died and I had to
bury it. If there was any way to save this animal I was going to
give it my best shot.
All the
puppies born that night, with the exception of the small hare-lipped pup,
were very valuable because of their unusual coloring. Most would
bring between five to seven hundred dollars each.
The next
day I took the puppy to the vet. I was told nothing
could be
done unless we were willing to spend about a thousand dollars to try and
correct the defect. He told us that the puppy would die mainly because
it could not suckle.
After returning
home Judy and I decided that we could not afford to spend that kind of
money without getting some type of assurances from the vet that the puppy
had a chance to live.
However,
that did not stop me from purchasing a syringe and
feeding
the puppy by hand, which I did every day and night,
every two
hours, for more than ten days.
The fifth
week I placed an ad in the newspaper, and within a
week we
had taken deposits on all of the pups, except the one with the deformity.
The little
guy had learned to eat on his own as long as it was
soft canned
food.
Late that
afternoon I had gone to the store to pick up a few
groceries.
Upon returning I happened to see the old retired
school
teacher, who lived across the street from us, waving at me. She had
read in the paper that we had puppies for sale and was wondering if she
might buy one from us for her grandson.
I told her
all the puppies had been sold, but I would keep my
eyes open
for anyone else who might have a cocker spaniel for sale. I also
mentioned we never kept a deposit should someone change their mind, and
if so I would let her know.
Within days
all but one of the puppies had been picked up by
their new
owners. This left me with one brown and tan cocker, as well as the
smaller hare-lipped puppy.
Two days
passed without me hearing anything from the gentleman who had placed a
deposit on the tan and brown pup. So I telephoned the school teacher
and told her I had one puppy left and that she was welcome to come and
look at it.
She advised
me that she was going to pick up her grandson and would come over about
eight o'clock that evening. Judy and I were eating supper when we
heard a knock on the front door.
When I opened
the door, the man who had placed a $100 deposit on the dog was standing
there. We walked inside where I filled out the paperwork, he paid
me the balance of the money, and I handed him the puppy.
Judy and
I did not know what to do or say if the teacher showed up with her grandson.
Sure enough at exactly eight o'clock the doorbell rang. I opened
the door and there was the school teacher with her grandson standing behind
her. I explained to her the man had come for the puppy just an hour
before and there were no puppies left.
"I'm sorry,
Jeffery. They sold all the puppies," she told her
grandson.
Just at
that moment, the small puppy left in the bedroom began to yelp.
"My puppy!
My puppy!" yelled the little boy as he ran out from behind his grandmother.
I just about
fell over when I saw that the small child was hare-lipped. The boy
ran past me as fast as he could down the hallway to where the puppy was
still yelping. When the three of us made it to the bedroom, the small
boy was holding the puppy in his arms. He looked up at his grandmother
and said, "Look Grandma. They sold all the puppies except the pretty
one, and he looks just like me."
Well, old
Grandma wasn't the only one with tears in her eyes
that day.
Judy and I stood there, not knowing what to do.
"Is this
puppy for sale?" asked the school teacher.
"My grandma
told me these kind of puppies are real expensive and that I have to take
real good care of it," said the little boy who was now hugging the puppy.
"Yes, ma'am.
This puppy is for sale."
The lady
opened her purse, and I could see several
one-hundred
dollar bills sticking out of her wallet. I reached over and pushed
her hand back down into her purse so that she would not pull her wallet
out.
"How much
do you think this puppy is worth?" I asked the boy.
"About
a dollar?" He replied.
"No.
This puppy is very, very expensive; more than a dollar."
I told
him.
"I'm afraid
so." said his grandmother.
The boy
stood there pressing the small puppy against his cheek.
"We could
not possibly take less than two dollars for this
puppy,"
Judy said squeezing my hand. "Like you said, 'It's the
pretty
one'". She continued.
The school
teacher took out two dollars and handed it to the
young boy.
"It's your
dog now, Jeffery. You pay the man."
I think
it must be a wonderful feeling for any young person to
look at
themselves in the mirror and see nothing, except "The
pretty
one."
There is
a light that shines beyond all things on earth, beyond
the highest,
the very highest heavens. This is the light that
shines
in your heart.
Author
Unknown