Undoubtedly Duba

Dibley's pups

Duba, the sole survivor

Last day with Mom and Dad

Duba Now

We had this great idea: Breed Dibley, sell the pups and use the money to pay off Havyn's birth bills. If it sounds too easy it probably is. Dibley's pups came a week early and we weren't ready. She had them throughout the house. Blood splattered our carpet, couches and the christmas decorations in the closet. It was the one saturday that Ty and I couldn't be home, but by our estimations we didn't need to be. We found Duba, the largest of the four pups, through his this-can't-be-right cries. He was tucked inbetween the micro-fiber love-seat cushions. The other three were scattered throughout the closet. We placed them in Dibley's Welping box and let Mom go to work. Unfortanately Mom didn't want to go to work.

Less then a week later I sat peering at the remaining two through the incubator glass at the animal hospital. Both on inabators. Their two siblings died in my hands a few days earlier. Life is fleeting. When you watch something, no matter how small, take its last breath you feel its death. Its muscles stiffen and skin grows cold. The transition from life to death is soft and slow. I remember giving some make-shift form of CPR to try to revive the first one. The second one's neck looked broken, it went much quicker. Dibley had been moving her pups back and forth in her welping box since their births. Each one had puncture holes. Duba was the biggest. Being nearly twice the size of the other three and much more lively, Duba surivived when the others couldn't. It was almost as if he was fighting to live. After his sister died we brought him home and hand fed him every two hours for four weeks. He continued to get stronger, livelier and more playful.

Havyn was born when Duba was five weeks old. We were swamped with responsiblities and made the decision to sell him, even after committing to keep him a few days earlier. We hated to see him go but were happy with who he went with.

Even though the whole dibley breeding/birthing experience was sad and difficult it acted as a parental precurser for Havyn. By the time she came around we were used to crawling out of bed every two hours and fixing up a bottle. We knew about the art of sucking and proper bottle nipples. We were used to having patience with sucking too fast and spit-up clean-up on asile floor.

Now looking back I can't imagine not having the experience of taking care of little, run-in-to-anything-and-everything Duba. He helped us more than we helped him.