Raven

RAVEN

By Emily Stam

        

    This decision was TOUGH!! Just another reminder…cat person here. J When we found out Ava was pregnant, we started discussions about adopting one of her puppies and how the responsibilities would be divided and how we would manage and the amount of work it would take to feed and clean and train and love her. And we imagined all the exciting activities we could share with our new dog! I know my husband has wanted a dog his whole life. I knew he would be thrilled if we decided to keep one. My boys love dogs and loved Anna and love Ava so they would be happy too. So…I was the deciding factor in the family.  

I had no intention of going over to see the birth of the puppies because I’m squeamish and hate the sight of blood, but at the last minute, I was so excited, I had to go over to get just a small glimpse of a tiny new puppy. It was magical! I’ve never been a part of something like that and to hold something so small and to rub warmth into the tiny body and then deliver it back to its struggling mama was such a precious experience and will always stay with me.

Mama Ava with her brand new pups

New to the world! 

Soon, I started to imagine what it would be like to take one home. Since the very moment the pups were born, they were on my mind from the time I opened my eyes in the morning to the time I closed them at night. I texted Eric for updates all day long. I stopped to see them whenever I could. I didn’t want to admit I was already in love, but it happened so quickly I didn’t even see it coming. But I was still hesitant about if this was the right decision for US as a family. Could we give this dog the life she needs and deserves? After all, my heart was saying it would be wonderful and fun, but my brain was saying it would be SO MUCH WORK! And when it came down to it, the work would be left to me…the mom.

Baby Raven

       

         For the seven weeks the puppers lived with Eric, I loved every moment I was able to spend feeding them and taking care of them and later keeping my legs lifted in the air so they wouldn’t bite my pants and toes…. yeah…not quite the ab workout I was looking for. And to see the pride and love in Mama Ava’s eyes when we went over. To give her a pat on the head like a special kind of human-to-dog high five for keeping those puppies healthy and safe. It was great! And as much as I loved them all, there was something special about that little girl that I couldn’t let go. Back and forth, back and forth. For weeks, we discussed and went over details and never actually made a decision. Until we finally did…

A Member of the Family

        I don’t like dogs. Yes…I said that. On a blog about dogs. I’m actually a cat person. My whole life I’ve loved and identified with cats. Cat posters, cat figurines, funny cat videos, actual living cats. I loved and owned a polydactyl Siamese looking beauty named Kiara for 16 years until she got cancer and I bawled for weeks…but that’s a different story. THIS story is about a black-haired, brown-eyed beauty named Raven. She had a little bit of a rocky start at birth, but you may have already heard a little about that through Eric’s Facebook and Instagram posts. If not, backstory will come later to get you up to date.

We had a family dog while growing up, but I didn’t really have much to do with her. To me, she was kind of an afterthought. The brothers and mom took care of her and she was just always there in the backyard. Like I mentioned before…cat person here! Sadly and honestly, I don’t really remember much about her. L 

But…I had a dog once. Her name was Gizmo. She was a fluffy Bichon Frise.

Gizmo-First day home

That’s right. You’ve seen them. They look like little toy teddy bears and are ridiculously high maintenance if you keep them groomed. But this little rodent was like a ball of sunshine and she captured my heart. You always hear that you don’t pick the dog, the dog picks you. That is absolutely true! I wasn’t planning on getting a dog. Cat person. Loved my cat wholeheartedly. Maybe I was “persuaded” by my now ex-mother in-law. Maybe it was pregnancy hormones since I was six months preggo with Daegon. I really don’t know but Gizmo came home and the puppy-moon lasted exactly one hour before she pooped and peed all over my carpet and chewed up a throw pillow. Oh…and the cat HATED the little barking, bouncing ball of fluff! Gizmo was only part of my life for a short time due to life circumstances, but during our brief time together, I learned SO much about puppyhood and the loads of work required to take care of these darling fur babies. 

Gizmo-6 months old

Raven Mae-Rose Stam

I thought I was prepared for a new puppy when we made the decision to bring Raven into our family. I was so confident I could bring this little girl home and everything would be perfect. Boy was I wrong! 

And the story changes!

Well hello!
      We are way overdue for an update. The most incredible thing happened and this blog will be changing very soon. on August 24th 2018 Ava Mae Dodge gave birth to 10 very healthy puppies that are the full grand babies of Anna. Ava was such a good mama. She got so huge while she was pregnant and suffered some health complications. I made a promise to Ava that I would spend any amount of money and do anything I could to keep her healthy and comfortable. She definitely took me up on that offer for sure. Once she finally started to go into labor my mother and family was able to get here to help. We knew because of X-Rays that we were looking at a lot of babies to deliver and some complications could arise. The first baby born was a big black male Labrador puppy who was named Gunner jr after his dad. Gunner senior is a huge black male Labrador who looks like a giant version of his mama Anna. I will attach several pictures on this blog for you to enjoy. The puppies were all so big we had to assist in delivering some of them. We only ended up having 2 black puppies and 8 yellow puppies. The other black was a female named Raven Rose. All of the puppies had homes picked out for them before they were even born. Thanks to a labrador program in Las Vegas Nevada named Hughes Family Labradors. They work with service dogs and other programs to make sure the puppies go to great homes. 2 of my siblings gave Anna's grandbabies homes. My brother Ashton kept a yellow female named Nova Dodge. My sister Emily kept Raven Rose. This blog started with my sweet Anna. Now her boy Gunner has helped me with Ava to keep the line going. The posts will now be posted about Anna's grand babies. As the 1 year anniversary approaches of the loss of my baby Anna I am still struggling if I am being honest. Struggling with a lot of things that my mind won't let go of. Ava has been so good for me and I am glad to have her as the holidays approach. I will always look for my friend Bart when I go outside. I will always see my Anna smiling at me in all of her favorite places. Now her babies live on and carry that legacy. I have been able to keep in touch with so many of the new puppy owners. Some of my friends now carry Anna and Ava's torch for me. I have so many to thank for this. Mostly my parents. I mentally almost didn't make it through all of that. What an incredible opportunity it was for me to be able to deliver these puppies in my home, raise them, work with them, and find their new homes. My mother was here delivering puppies with me. Thanks to the Lloyd family for being so willing with Gunner to help us make this happen. It really was our only chance to save this line and its a miracle that it worked. Thanks to my friends and siblings for giving these puppies such loving homes. Thanks to Amber from Hughes Family Labradors for all her help. Unfortunately and very sadly one of my sweet yellow female puppies name SAvaAnna passed away. She ate a peach off my peach tree without us knowing and the pit got stuck in her intestines and ended up killing her. I will always be crushed because of this. It was so sad and so hard. We have 9 more puppies still out there writing the next chapter of Anna's puppies. I hope some of them do big things and I hope some of them carry on registered babies for all time and eternity of my dear Anna and Ava. See the pictures below as well as some facebook posts.
Thank you
Eric
https://www.facebook.com/hughesfamilylabradors/

                                                       (RIP sweet baby SAvAnna)

Facebook Post October 10th 2018

     This day was harder than I thought it would be. As hard as these little kids were to take care of it’s so bittersweet letting them go. My entire heart and soul was in this labor of love since I lost Anna in December. I spent countless hours and many thousands of dollars to get these babies here. I have got less sleep then I have in years. I put all my other dreams and aspirations on the back burner and learned and changed so much in the process. In a way I brought Anna back to life with the birth of her grand babies and let her go all over again today. I am so glad to see the joy they will bring to so many others and now I can focus on my Ava. She has given almost her life to help me and I will give her the best life I can. She was an incredible mama and is an incredible companion to me. My parents were so amazing to help me through several almost melt downs trying to keep these babies safe even staying at my house to help deliver and watch the babies around the clock. My mom single handedly saved the life of a few of these babies during the delivery. I just cleaned up our puppy pen, the bird of prey nets we put up, the feeders, all the yard blocks. It’s almost as if it never happened. I feel like a parent when I say it feels like they were just born yesterday and now they are all gone 😂. There’s no way I could go through that with a child for 18 years. What an amazing ride this has been. It started the week Anna died and I knew there might be a chance to find a living puppy of hers that could have babies still. There’s just no way I can describe all the emotions as I watch these families take these angel dogs to their homes. Anna forever :)