OTCH CH Folly's Joke's on You UDX JH HOF
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MACH CH Gondolin's Mirabella Took CD JH WC NF
Jag x Bella
November 2006
Love's Labor Lost
On Bella's final litter we decided to take her to a dog that had more than proven himself highly trainable, confident and willing to please. Jag was all of those things. We traveled to San Diego for live breedings, confirmed pregnancy at 28 days and began preparations for a Thanksgiving arrival. When we went in for x-rays on the Monday before Thanksgiving, we were saddened to find out that the 6-8 puppies seen on ultrasound had been reabsorbed and that the two remaining pups were not yet fully calcified. Dr. Cain told me to hope that they did not come until the weekend and monitor her closely. On Thanksgiving Day I checked heartbeats in the morning and night. On Friday morning I could not find any heartbeats. I rushed Bella to the vet but it was too late, both pups were gone. On a foggy Sunday morning, Bella delivered two stillborn bitches. When we took her in for her checkup we found that some of the the pups were only partially reabsorbed and two weeks later we opted to spay Bella to resolve a life-threatening uterine infection, called pyometria.
This was such a heatbreaking outcome for our family, but the only thing that really mattered was that Bella came through it all fine and was with us for another 3 years. Even when you do everything right, some things aren't meant to be. I often wonder what those pups would have become.