Sophie's Secret

 

Somewhere my daddy and granddaddy must be just shaking their heads and laughing.  I was raised on a farm and therefore understood the birds and bee and calves and piglets from an early age.  Apparently I didn’t learn as much about puppies as I thought I did, because I was surprised by a litter of puppies last month that I had no idea were expected.

Sophie should be in the intelligence business – she could be an undercover agent.  I had no idea she was having puppies, and I still am mystified at how she and Scout managed to get together, with her in the pen and he outside the pen.  But anyway, I now have six beautiful collie puppies, an unexpected blessing.

I knew Sophie was acting strangely that Friday night – she was whining and restless and got in bed with me and wouldn’t move over.  All afternoon she had been acting like Lassie when Timmy was in the well, so much so that I actually thought something might be wrong with somebody around the house.  She finally settled down, however, and I went to sleep.  About daylight I woke up and the first thing I noticed was that Sophie was not on the bed and I could hear what sounded just like baby puppies coming from somewhere in the house.  I won’t repeat what I said, but it did propel me out of bed and into the living room where Sophie was busy licking off what turned out to be the third in a series of puppies, right there in the living room floor.

My first response was astonishment; my next response was to go in search of the kiddie swimming pool that serves as a delivery room/nursery for puppies.  It was, of course, in the most inconvenient place it could be – the very back of a very crowded woodshed that now serves as a repository for seldom used items that are too big to store anywhere else.  There I was, still in my nightshirt and slippers crawling over an assortment of bulky junk, dragging out the pool and wrestling it into my bedroom, searching the house for some newspapers and persuading Sophie that this was a better place for puppies than the floor.  By the time everyone was settled, number five made his appearance and the first four were lining up for their first breakfast, making the noise that only hungry puppies can make.  I sat back to marvel at the sight and try to convince myself that I was not a total idiot – Sophie was just too good at keeping secrets.

So now I have the joy of watching six fat collie babies grow up and find new families to love.  I always forget how fast that happens.  It seems like no time passed before tiny unfocused eyes peered at me during morning checkups.  Then, in the blink of an eye, six furry faces peeked over the top of the swimming pool at me when I woke in the mornings.  Then there was the day that, first one, then all six found out that they could pull themselves over that rim and explore the wide-open spaces of the house.  They even found the dog door and learned that it led to an even bigger world to explore.   

For obvious reasons, their exploration of the house had to be curtailed, and life outside was introduced.  Out came the big puppy pen, the doghouse and a new bag of cedar shavings.  Thankfully, the weather has been mild for mid-October and the puppies can enjoy the sunshine during the day and sleep under a heat bulb at night.  From the beginning, they have had no fear of the unknown and an insatiable desire for exploration.  One day last week, I looked up from my seat on the porch swing and saw two fat puppy butts descending from the yard steps into the great beyond.  I retrieved puppies, secured the gate and watched as they chased falling leaves and burrowed into the jungle of late blooming four-o-clocks that surround my porch.  Yesterday, three tried to follow mom up the road, making it to the mailbox before I could catch them.  Any day now, I just know they are going to follow Daddy out to the fields for his patrols, if I am not diligent in my supervision.  He loves to baby sit, now that Sophie is willing to let him help.

They have cultivated a way of scattering in all directions when set free from the pen, and there always seems to be one missing when I count noses.  Six surprise puppies from Sophie and Scout naturally called for six “s” names and so I have Sally, Susie, Scotty, Sedric, Sirius, and Sam, named in honor of my long-ago tri-color dog who will always live in my heart.  Sam was the first to figure out the dog door, and he seems determined to be a house dog instead of a farm dog.

It's an adventure that will be over all too soon.  Already a couple have new homes waiting in about three weeks.  I spend way too much time sitting on the porch, snuggling and enjoying puppy kisses, when I should be cleaning my house and pulling weeds from the flower beds.  Those things can wait.  I have puppies to love.