The
Pretty One
This 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 laid 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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