YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community - Help Me! Give me the strength to.......

deal with the sudden loss of my matriarch, my baby Reggie, and help raising her five baby girls. That was my prayer to God. When one least expects it, heavenly intervention provides miracles. God sent me not one, not two, not three, but four miracles. On April 4th, 8 days after giving birth to one boy and five girls, our Reggie was gone. She was only seven, too young for a yorkie to be gone. The little boy died at seven days, the day before his mama. Five baby girls lay there with no mama to care for them. Despite my grief, I had to pull myself together because I had to make sure those precious little girls would grow up big and strong. After giving them three bottle feedings that day, I put Sissy, Reggie's daughter, in the cage with them that night so they were not alone. Sissy had given birth March 12th, a boy and a girl, but both died that day. She was so upset that I called all the vet's in the area the next day trying to find someone who might have young yorkie pups so I could get her a baby to take care of. No such luck. Reggie's litter came March 27th and add another eight days, by now, Sissy's milk had dried up. But the first miracle came when Sissy took over motherly duties as if they were her own. She even growled if the other dogs got near the cage.

The second miracle came the next day when Roxie, Sissy's daughter who is a year and four months old, jumped in to help out. Between the two of them, Reggie's girls were getting the best yorkie care that I simply could not provide. The third miracle was Dante, our 19 week old luvey male. He joined in and would lick each pup until they were clean and then some. And, he would also sleep with Sissy, Roxie, and the babies. I couldn't have been more blessed. I thought my prayers had been answered. But wait, one more miracle was on it's way. One I least expected. Roxie developed milk and is now feeding the baby girls while I supplement them with the bottle.

The girls, Love, Faith, Hope, Charity and Star are thriving. They're growing like bad weeds and are 4 weeks old today. I've started them on real food mush and they are so funny, not eating from the bowl but in the bowl. Messy, messy, messy! When they get their bellies full, I let the other dogs in and they clean up the mess. Sissy has pretty much weaned herself from the pups but Roxie, that's a different story. Those girls are now her babies.

We are keeping Love. She has white on her chest just like her mama did when she was a pup. When they are old enough and I can give them up........one of the girls will be going to live in VA, one to CA and one to NY. That makes four homes but five girls. I already decided I wasn't going to push it trying to find a good home for the last girl. It wouldn't bother me at all to keep that one too. Time will tell.

This past weekend the girls had their first outing. I had to travel to Columbus for a doll show & sale that I was exhibiting at on Sunday. And Saturday, Dante's new family, Tashasmom, was coming to pick him up. We loaded up the Explorer with dolls, the old playpen, Roxie, Dante, the girls and their diaper bag, Grandma and our granddaughter, Emilee, who feeds the pups when I have to be at work. And off we went. I took the playpen as I thought it would give some added protection for the girls as we would be staying with our son's family, four kids - 7 years, almost 5 years, and twins that are going to be 3 the end of May. Well, so much for trying to protect the girls. As soon as we got there, everyone had to hold a baby. Then the neighbor's came to see them, and of course, had to hold the babies. And then the kids had to hold them again, and again. Finally I was able to get the girls settled down in the playpen with Roxie and Dante. They all took a long nap.

That evening, Tashasmom arrived with her husband, two daughters and 3 year old son. It was great meeting them and I know that my little miracle guy, Dante is going to have a wonderful life with his new family. They all fell in love with the girls and everyone had to be held again. Dante has already wormed his way into her husbands heart, you know the type, big dogs-outside. Tashasmom tells me that they went for a walk but her husband had to carry Dante. I think we have another yorkie lover in the works!

When I got back from the show on Sunday afternoon, there they were, all the girls out of the playpen being played with or held. My daughter-in-law said she and Abigail liked Charity the best. I think she's hinting......... I've tried a couple of times to give them one of our pups, but she didn't want to be bothered and/or didn't want a small dog. They have a corgi and now she thinks Lady needs a playmate. We'll see.............

We got home late Sunday night. It was very sad as when ever we had to be gone, even if only for five minutes, the first to greet us was Reggie. She wouldn't be happy until I picked her up and gave her some lovin'. Although the other dogs were happy to see us home, it just wasn't the same. I feed the girls and off to sleep they went. They survived the weekend outing, but more important, I survived too.

I'm in the process of writing a story, from Reggie's point of view, her life as a yorkie. When we first got her, I wrote a letter to Mommy Gail, Reggie's human mommy. She cried when she got the letter and said it should be a book. I'll have it on my website, http://www.garlinyorkies.info, sometime in the near future and see pics of the girls there, click on puppies, then Reggie's Girls. And, you can also read more about Reggie and her girls here on YT. Have your tissues ready, My Reggie is Gone: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37520 and feel good with Reggie's Little Girls: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39198

Sorry to be so long winded, just too much to tell.

The first picture is substitute mama's, Sissy and Roxie. The second is Dante and Roxie with the pups and the last one is messy, messy, messy feeding time.