Life as a pup
I’ve had to listen to Shadow remembering life as a pup. You know that thing where some elderly folk try convincing you of how much harder life was in their day – that! I made the mistake of telling her that Babeli’s pups have all just gone to their new homes. They have been so well looked after and have a wonderful start in life. Now, I know for a fact that Shadow also had a wonderful start in life. She was very much loved and spoiled. She grew up with her three brothers until she was eight weeks old and then moved to live with Alfie.
How you see things
That didn’t stop her. “I spend the first weeks of life in the cupboard under the stairs,’ Shadow said. I guess that makes her a bit like Harry Potter. The truth is that she did start life in a basket with her mum and brothers in a cupboard under the stairs – it was warm and clean and cosy and quiet. At that point Shadow could neither see nor hear, so it was an ideal place for her mum to have a nest, safe and comfortable away from the hubbub of the house. Mum went to visit her there on day one and again a few weeks later.
Not to be left out
Of course, Aristotle didn’t want to be left out. Unfortunately for him when he was saying how undersized he was at birth his mother (Shadow) just glared at him. She asked how he thought it had been for her, having to carry eight of them and go through giving birth. When we were on our own he just shrugged and said to me, “Is it any wonder that I’m closer to my human Mum than my canine one?” Shadow just isn’t the maternal type, which is funny given she’s had so many children.
Love
Wilma