04/25/2026
I know there are people who are going to be rude to me for the following and i know there will be people who agree with me. However, to show everyone how truly tough a chessie is and how strong their hearts are, here's a story.
As many of you know, we had an unexpected litter in December. As I was at the house 45 minutes South of home taking care of a planned litter that was born on November 28, 2025, I get a phone call. "We are having puppies" .... long story short... Angel was having puppies, first litter. She showed NO signs of being in season when I put her out with some of the boys. She was rushed to me and we birthed the rest of the litter. We did DNA testing to determine the dad and did the DM testing on all puppies.
Unfortunately, this little girl was the first out and I think as a first time mom Angel had no clue what was going on and I was not there to comfort her. She started tearing the sac off the puppy and went a little far. The female puppy's two back feet, ear flap, and some fingers on her front right paw were eaten off, along with a gouge on her left front shoulder blade.
We did what we could for the limited medical stuff we have on hand. Thank goodness we have a medical storage area,incubator, etc. Noone thought this little girl would survive 24 hours.
Time went by 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, a week, 2 weeks, etc. This little girl was a fighter and had a will to survive.
We decided to name her Claus for two reasons. The first was a pun on her rear stubs and the second was for Mrs. Claus since it was Christmas time. The name stuck.
Claus was the first puppy to roll over, walk (mostly on her front legs), eyes opened, eat, playing, etc. We kept in close contact with the vets around. We personally did exercises to show her how to walk on her back legs.
I am happy to say Claus is now 19 weeks old, has had all her shots and she loves her booties (with cotton balls inside for protection and softness). She really enjoys following us humans around on the grass while we do the daily chores. She loves water and her stuffed toys, and jumping over things.
In true chessie form she is demanding when she wants something, is a goof ball, loves to get in trouble, and still tries to protect us to the best of her abilities. Claus has a true chessie heart of gold.
Claus will remain with us and has a close eye kept on her by one of our vets.
I can not wait to see what the future God has planned for her and us.