The Pretty One
The Pretty One is by an unknown author. Reproduced by http://www.training-dog-breeds.comThis 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 lay on the floor beside her large four-foot square cage, watching her
every movement. 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 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 cleft palate
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 cleft palate puppy.
Two days passed without my 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 the small child had a cleft palate. 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
himself 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.
This is beautiful, just as the Lord's love for us is beautiful. We are all
beautiful to Him in spite of our deformity called sin.
~ Author Unknown ~
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