Chapter 3: The Phone Message

Dateline May 14, 2006: I'm at a show in Albuquerque, New Mexico with my friend Mary Jo. She owns Max's dad Riggs. It's been a good day. Max won Winners Dog for another two championship points and his grandmother Reba took Best of Breed. It's Sunday afternoon, Mary Jo is getting ready to take Reba in for Group competition, we have a lot of stuff to pack up and a long drve ahead of us.

My cell phone rings, but I'm in the middle of taking apart a kennel. I figure it's a friend wanting to know how the show went and I decide I'll wait and call her back after Group is over, after we have Mary Jo's motor home packed up and are on the road.

Mary Jo and Reba take a Group 2. Yes, it's been a Very Good day indeed! We pack up our stuff, haul it to the motor home, load it in. Every once in a while I hear a beep from my phone reminding me I have a call to return.

It's now 6 PM. Mary Jo is in the back of the motor home changing, I decide to return the call. There is voice mail and surprisingly enough it's not from the friend I expected, it's from my husband. The message is timestamped at 4:08. It goes something like this...

"There's something weird going on here. I let the dogs out at 2 and when I brought them in a little while ago I couldn't find Aliy. I thought she got out of the yard. I drove around looking for her but I couldn't find her. (At this point I start to become hysterical.) Then I noticed Ilsa digging at a hole and there was growling coming from the hole. Your AlBear is in the hole and there are puppies with her. What should I do?"

Now I'm really hysterical.

Leo and Carolyn, you might think it was at this point that I realized Aliy was pregnant. But no, in my hysteria, all I can think of is that Kelly, who had been bred (on purpose and with great expense and effort) in early May, had been pregnant (even though ultrasound said she was not) and had puppies and Aliy either stole them or found them abandoned and was taking care of them. It never crossed my mind in those first few minutes after 6 PM on Mother's Day that these were really Aliy's puppies.

I managee to dial my home phone number. My husband gets on phone. As I said I'm in hysterics. I don't really remember too much of the conversation. Something about Aliy being in a hole with puppies. My husband dug her out. There are two puppies. Aliy is in her kennel. The puppies are in a cardboard box. My husband is putting the whelping box together right now.

At some point Mary Jo takes the phone away from me and starts asking logical sensible questions....

Is Bill sure they puppies are Aliy's and not Kelly's? Yes, he is sure. Has he checked Kelly to make *absolutely* sure. No, but he will. Do it NOW. Okay the puppies are not Kelly's. IS Aliy okay? Yes she's fine, just very dirty. Are the puppies fine? Yes, they are moving around. They are spotlessly clean. Does Aliy have milk? He doesn't know? Are the puppies nursing? No becuase they are in a box and Aliy is in her kennel. Put Aliy in the whelping box with the puppies. But Aliy is dirty. PUT ALIY IN THE WHELPING BOX WITH THE PUPPIES NOW!!

Coming next: Chapter 4: Yes, These Are Really Aliy's Puppies.