Dolly’s babies were born on Wednesday, August 1, 2007 and the struggle to save them began.

My daughter Krystal took a leave of absence from work and I began working part time trying to do everything possible to see that the Dollykins would make it but over a period of several weeks, we would lose all of them but four; two boys and two girls.

I knew we had an uphill battle ahead of us and to make matters worse, we’d never raised a litter of orphan pups. Krystal and I tried every type nipple and bottle made but yet they weren’t interested in nursing. We even found a surrogate hound dog named Rose that had just weaned a litter, but even then they weren’t anxious to eat. To make a bad situation worse, two days after bringing in Rose, we learned that all of her pups had died but one. It seemed all odds were against us and after many failed attempts at getting them to eat, we decided to tube feed. We tried different formulas but nothing seemed to agree with them. Through trial and error, “goat’s milk” was the life saver.  

We were horrified at having to tube feed but after weighing the odds, we knew that was the only way they were going to survive. Our biggest fear was getting milk into their lungs but angels guided our hands and even though there were a few problems, tube feeding proved to be the answer to our prayers.

We were met with one obstacle after another and couldn’t get a break. Stabilizing their body temperature was one of our biggest challenges as it was almost impossible to get it up and keep it up. Their temperature would drop but then we would get them too hot and once they got too hot, they became dehydrated and then we had to start giving sub-q fluids two and three times a day to build back up the fluids they lost from sweating.

They would make some progress but then something else would go wrong. It was frustrating and heartbreaking to say the least. They were a lot smaller than other puppies their age and they didn’t grow at a fast rate but they did grow, just very slowly. Once they were big enough to start eating “mush” we thought we were out of the woods but come to find out, we were faced with a new set of problems. They were unable to tolerate rice, chicken, or lamb so again through trial and error, to our relief, we found fish. It agreed with them and they were able to tolerate it.

We were at the vet’s office more times than I can remember or on the phone with people trying to get some advice on what to do and there were times when we were sure they weren’t meant to be. Tensions were high and frustrations ran deep but we never gave up and even though we lost all but four; the four we managed to save will always have a special place in our hearts.

After months of a horrendous roller coaster ride, the Dollykins are happy and healthy. The four are known as Dozer Full of Promise, Worthy, Freedom Grace and Karma. All four will live out their days at McLendon Land with Krystal visiting them often.

I can’t describe the joy I feel when I look at them as we came so close to losing them. These four are tough as is evident being they had to fight every inch of the way just to survive. I get teary eyed a lot when I look at them; the tears are mostly tears of gratitude but some are out of sadness, sadness for losing Dolly and for those we couldn’t save.

The four are hardly ever apart and they spend their days and nights together. Dozer and Karma always sleep next to each other with Worthy and Freedom Grace doing the same. They don’t know a stranger and love all the other Clumbers and non-Clumbers alike. Each one has a wonderful spirit and overall kindness about them.