Acts of Kindness--Setting an Example

Sometimes we parents don't think the kids are paying attention to the lessons we are trying to set by example, but this shows they really do!  I am the director of Bluegrass Basset Rescue, Inc., a dog rescue in Kentucky.  I am also the mother of 4 children aged 5-12.  Last week I was called to  rescue a very pregnant mother basset from a shelter.  I packed the kids in to the van and headed there early the next morning. When we got there, I was told the dog had  given birth to 11 puppies in the middle of the night but one had already died.  We ran to the dollar store and bought blankets, towels and a laundry basket.  After loading the mother and babies into the van, we headed home where we pulled our kiddie pool out of the shed and set up a large bed for the new family in our daughters' bedroom.   We spent all day naming the puppies and tending to the mother.  The puppies were having a hard time getting enough milk as the mother kept shifting her weight and laying on her nipples--and the puppies--, so we had to get a heating pad and box and start rotating puppies (and the mother dog) to make sure everyone got enough to eat.  By 9:30 PM that night, I was spent and told the girls that I was going to bed.  We had to be up early--6:30 AM-- so the puppies and their mother could get to their foster home on time.  I cautioned them that the mother might accidentally squash one or more of the babies during the night, and that there was the possiblilty that the puppies picked up some sort of disease at the shelter and they might not survive the night.   At 4:30 AM, one of our other foster dogs needed to go out, so I went downstairs, dreading the visit to my daughters' bedroom to remove deceased puppies.  When I opened the door, there sat Bridget, our 10 year old, in the middle of the pool, wide awake.  She chirped, "Mommy, all of the puppies are OK!  Juliana [our 9 yr old] and I took shifts and stayed up all night to make sure all of the babies survived!"

This was the first litter of puppies my daughters had even seen, much less gotten to help name and protect.  They did what I--who have been doing rescue for 10 years now--was too tired to consider.  I never suggested they stay up or even set it out as a possibility.  They took it upon themselves to help these littlest of God's creatures.  Just a little act of kindness--a few lost hours of sleep--that meant the whole world to 10 tiny puppies.

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