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"THE ABANDONED ROTTWEILER"
A True Life Story
As told by Debbie
This all happened in 1994
"THE ABANDONED ROTTWEILER"
This is a true story of an abandoned female Rottweiler that had 16 puppies. It is the
most memorial four months of my life. This is how it all happened from beginning to end.
My husband Roger and I have two dogs. The first one is a male, part Schnauzer and Scottie, who weighs 16 pounds and is 4 years old . His name is "Squacha". The second one
is a male Rottweiler, who weighs 92 pounds and is two years old . His name is "Hoot".
We have a camp 12 miles from our home. It is a very small village. We go there very weekend for rest and relaxation. The dogs love it there because they can run and get plenty of exercise. Every chance our Rottie (Hoot) gets, he will sneak away from our camp to go visit people in the other neighboring camps. Most everyone in this small village knows Hoot and they are always glad to see him. Hoot is very friendly, and gentle dog who loves people and especially kids. Some people believe that Rotties are mean. I believe the manner in which an animal is raised determines their personality and disposition. Hoot has always been socialized with people from the time he was a puppy. He is the most lovable and gentle dog you could ever ask for. He is a just a big baby.
Last February , we began receiving phone calls from some of our friends who observed a Rottie on the loose and thought it may be our "Hoot". Now remember, "Hoot" loves to visit people every chance he gets. We informed our friends who called that the stray Rottweiler did not belong to us.
After two weeks of phone calls, we learned that a good samaritan had finally taken in the stray Rottweiler. Ads were placed in the local newspaper that stated a female Rottweiler was found in the Glen Hazel area. It was on the local radio station and local TV stations. Other interested parties which included veterinarians, the police and the local dog control officer all attempted to find the stray Rottweiler a home. It was amazing that so many people were truly concerned about finding the dog a good home. Finally, after three weeks, we received another call asking us to consider adopting the stray Rottweiler. Since we already had a Rottweiler everyone thought we might consider adopting the stray Rottweiler. Roger and I reluctantly made the decision to take her. If we had only known
what the future would hold, we would not have made that decision. The dog had been nicknamed "Babe" so we began calling our newly adopted dog "Babe". We found some porcupine quills in her mouth so we knew she needed immediate medical attention. We took her to the local veterinarian who extracted the quills and vaccinated her just as though she was a puppy. The vet said she was approximately four years old. We purchased a dog license, collar and name tag. Bathed her just as though she was one of our own.
We still weren't sure if we were going to keep her. We were concerned that she may not get along with our other two dogs, or if she could be house broken. She was fully grown(110 pounds). Well it turned out that she was house broke, did tricks, listened very well, and was very, very gentle. So needless to say we kept her and our two dogs accepted her. By now, we had invested over $200 caring for her. We still couldn't believe someone didn't claim her because she was such a nice, well behaved dog. It was obvious someone had invested a considerable amount of time in training her.
We got her February 24, 1994 and she went into heat February 28- - just our luck. We always had male dogs, so this was new to us. I went to the local library and obtained
various books on female dogs. I read everything I could about female dogs and puppies. I wrote everything down so when the big day came I would know what to do.
During the time Babe was in heat, our two male dogs drove us crazy (they are not neutered). We were very careful to keep Squacha (our little dog) away from her. The second day she was in heat we went out for dinner. When we returned, we noticed that Squacha had an accident in the camp. This was very strange since Squacha is house broken and never goes in the house. We found him hiding under the bed in one of the bedrooms. We thought he was embarrassed. When he finally did come out, he had blood on his face and we noticed a deep wound in his neck. I panicked, I was hysterical. Roger took charge and calmed me down. He put Squacha up on the table and examined him. I was crying so hard,I couldn't see or think. Squacha was having a hard time breathing and kept wheezing. After Roger cleaned the blood off, it appeared Squacha had a hole in his neck. I immediately called the Animal Hospital and got the answering machine. I then called Dr.
Nancy Stein, the local vet at home. She told us to wrapSquacha's neck and get him to the hospital right away. Roger wrapped up Squacha's neck with a towel and duct tape. We then went to the hospital. The vet arrived at the hospital the same time we did. The veterinarian shaved Squacha's neck and closed the hole in his neck. He carefully examined Squacha. Squacha had more than 50 bits all over his tiny body. The veterinarian said it
appeared Hoot, our male Rottweiler, attacked Squacha and literally shook the shit out of him. He gave Squacha a shot to calm him down (Squacha has epileptic seizures) and started him on antibiotics. He was sore for a few days, but he healed nicely in a short time. After that incident, anytime we left the house, we took Squacha with us. We even took him to bed with us. I remembered reading in one of the dog books I borrowed from the Library, that two males will fight over a female in heat. (duh Debbie). My Dad said, "That's not the first time two males fought over a female". *s* Nothing truer was ever said, for humans as well as animals.
During the time Babe was in heat, it was almost impossible to keep Hoot away from Babe. We eventually gave in and decided to let nature take it's course. During this time,Hoot lost 25 pounds.
The next few months were fairly routine as we prepared for the "BIG" day. Roger obtained a few large cardboard boxes that we planned on using for the birthing box and whelping box. We lined the big birthing box with plastic and taped everything down. We put the box in our living room so Babe and the puppies could be near us all the time. I gathered our old blankets and towels and washed them so they would be clean for Babe and her puppies. We put the blankets in the birthing box. We made Babe sleep in the birthing box so she could get used to her new temporary bed. We converted the whelping box into smaller boxes and lined them with plastic. We placed heating pads in the bottom and big towels on top of the heating pads. I placed scissors, alcohol, string and rags by the birthing box. We did our homework and preparation and now we were ready for the "BIG" day.
Well, the "BIG" day came on May 11, just as I had planned. Babe's water broke, and about five minutes later (5:00 P.M.) she had her first contraction. I was home alone and
Roger was at camp. I immediately called him to come home and help me. I wasn't sure if I could handle this event by myself. This was the first time Roger and I ever witnessed puppies being born. After the fist puppy was born, Babe made a funny noise and jumped out of the box and hid behind a chair. The experience scared her and she didn't know what to do. I took the puppy out of the sack and cut and tied the cord. I cleared the puppy's
throat and cleaned him off and dried him. Babe wouldn't come out from behind the chair so I lured her out with a piece of lunch meat and bribed her back into the box. Just as Roger arrived home. the second puppy was born. Roger helped me keep her in the box. She still didn't know what to do with the puppies. I cleaned the second puppy and got ready for more. I really believe most of the puppies would have died if we hadn't taken care of them. Our friend, Debbie S., told us we could call her if we needed any help. Debbie S raises dogs and is very good with all kinds of animals. Thank God, she was available to help us. We called her at least a dozen times during the births. Our neighbor, Louis E, also came over to help us. Believe me, we needed all the help we could get. By 7:00 P.M., Babe had delivered six puppies. We thought she was finished since it was about 30 minutes between each birth. At 8:00 P.M., another puppy was born. At 9:00 P.M., Babe went outside and delivered another puppy in the yard. This made a total of eight pups. When Babe didn't have any more pus by 10:00 P.M., we thought for sure she was finished. Boy, were we
WRONG!! At 10:30 P.M., she had another one and another one at 11:00 P.M. The total now was 10 puppies. From midnight to 1:00 A.M. she delivered four more puppies. We couldn't believe what we were experiencing. The count was now up to 14 puppies. At 2:00 A.M., I went to bed. I was totally exhausted (I had to take each puppy out of the sack and tie off the cord clean out their throats ect..). Roger stayed up and kept alternating the puppies on Babe, so they all could eat. At 6:00 A.M., Roger woke me up to tell me Babe had just delivered another puppy. This puppy was in pretty bad shape. Roger's hands were too big to clear out its throat, so it was a few seconds that the puppy couldn't breath. I took a nose cleaner and cleaned out the puppy's nose. I then took a straw, put it by his and mouth and helped him breathe. I kept him warm and kept rubbing him. Finally, the puppy was breathing on his own. Roger put him in the box with Babe and he immediately started eating. At 8:00 A.M. Roger went to work. By the time he came home from work, Babe had delivered the 16th and final puppy. Over a period of 18 hours, Babe had delivered 16 puppies.
The entire time Babe was giving birth, we kept changing the blankets and towels in her box. We did at least 10-15 wash loads of blankets and towels during the night so everything would be kept clean. We kept alternating the puppies so they could all eat. We had two boxes and we put eight puppies in each box. Our friend, Debbie S., came at 9:30 A.M. to give Babe a shot to help clean her out. The shot also helped make all her milk drop. Debbie told us Babe probably wouldn't produce enough milk to feed all 16 puppies and we would have to help feed the puppies all the puppies would have any chance of surviving. I went to the grocery store and bought baby bottles with preemie-nipples. I also bought powdered milk, and Karo Syrup to make my own formula. By the end of the day, it was evident Babe would not have an ample supply of milk, so we started feeding the
puppies with the bottles. At first, a few puppies wouldn't drink from the bottles. So we fed them with an eye dropper. After a few days, they all were nursing from Babe and the baby bottles. It took us almost two hours each time to feed all 16 pups. Roger made a wooden board that could hold seven bottles. This helped us feed seven puppies at a time, and it reduced our feeding time to about one hour. Roger named his invention a portable wooden MaMa.
The puppies had to be fed every two hours, so Roger and I took turns sleeping. We both lost a lot of sleep the first three weeks. The feedings then went to four hours, six hours and
finally at the end of five weeks, we both could sleep all night. Feeding the puppies wasn't by far the only time consuming tasks. I would change their bedding and wash all the pups off at least six or seven times a day. We did allot of washing blankets and towels the first four weeks. When it got warm outside, Roger put op a fence and constructed a shelter inside the fence.When we let them out of the fence. they followed us every where we'd go.
When the puppies were fours days old our friend, Debbie S., came again and docked their tails and did their dew claws. When the puppies were four weeks old, Debbie returned and gave the puppies worm medicine. At six weeks, she gave them their first shots. We spent allot of money on formula, tails, dew claws, worm medicine and shots.
We ended up loosing two small puppies at 18 and 20 days. They were both in the same sack when they were born, so we figured they were twins. They were very small when they were first born, and it was questionable whether or not they would survive. After they died, Roger wrapped them up real good in an old flannel shirt, put them in a tupperware bowl and then buried them by the camp. He made head stones for them with their names
"Hercules" and "Samson" carved on them. Losing those two puppies was really hard on both of us cause of all the time and love we put into keeping them all alive and healthy..
We had names for all 16 pups. Our friends asked us how we could tell them apart. You know it's funny, but we could actually tell them apart. I think it was due to all the time we
spent with them. There were 9 males and 7 females.
Babe had two brown puppies. The veterinarian told us the AKC is just now starting to recognize brown Rottweilers. Well, it turned out- - because both of our males bred her she
had 2 different kinds of puppies. (if more than 1 male breeds the female she can have more than 1 kind of pups) ( I learned that from reading all the books about female dogs and puppies). So we ended up with 10 Rotts and 6 Mixed ( Rott and my little dog Squacha)..All the puppies went to GOOD homes except 2 of them. The 2 brown ones we ended up keeping. "Cleo" and "Fetta".
All our dogs are house dogs. We don't believe in keeping dogs tied up outside. ..I have to commend theprofessional breeders for taking the time and money to do this. Its a whole lot of work and time. I don't think I would want to do it again. I'll let the professional breeder do that. If any one thinks that professional breeders make money selling puppies, they are WRONG. By the time you get your money back for formula, shots, tails, dew claws, wormed ,and the work and time you put into it, you just break even. The only way to make money is to sell them for "BIG" bucks.
When all the puppies were gone, we had a few calls from people interested in giving Babe a good home. We gave her to a friend of ours, and she couldn't have a better home. He loves her and she loves him. She has the run of his house and Chevy Blazer.
So in the end we all ended up happy (except for loosing the 2 puppies after 3 weeks)..Also we now live in our camp. We loved it so much here we moved here when the puppies were 6 weeks old...We've been here now for 4 years..
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