By Jody Worsham
All rights reserved for new breed
I have had this talk with Miss Tia Mia before. I told her that if she didn’t want to sit at the
Wal-Mart parking lot with me again peddling illegitimate pups, she had better
behave herself. I thought she
understood. I did not count on male perseverance,
the strong sense of procreation, and the tiny body hidden beneath a mound of
fluffy hair that enabled this determined male Maltese to slink between the
slates of a very sturdy picket fence.
When I discovered their indiscretion, I noted the
date on the calendar. We are pro puppy,
after all. She gained the usual puppy pregnancy weight but this time was
different. She would just lay around and only
cut those shaggy eyes up when I walked by.
Guilt, I’m sure.
Sixty-one
days came and went. No puppies. No digging in the closet for a maternity
ward. No eating binges or lack of
eating. Just a lot of whimpering, heavy
breathing, and a strong need to be held by Dr. Hubby. I was worried. At 66 days she was way overdue so it was off
to the vet for x-rays. The vet asked how many days and I told her 66.
“66 days from the last encounter?”
“Uh, no from the first encounter.”
“Oh, you have to count approximately 62 days from
the last encounter.”
“Oh,” and I glared at Miss Tia as if I could possibly
make her feel more miserable.
“Yes, there
are five puppies in there and yes they could arrive within the next three days
and yes that will be $130 please.”
And yes she had the first one two hours after we
arrived home, not in the nicely prepared birthing box I had for her, but on the
bottom book shelf on top of Hubby’s t-shirts.
By morning all five puppies had arrived. Now how to market them.
My niece said to advertise them as “Designer Pups”. Ok, Designer Pups, but they needed a cute
name like those Peek-a-Poos to reflect their heritage, a Shih Tzu mama and a
Maltese daddy. Would that make them Shih-
Tese? Tzu-Malts? Tzu-Tese? Shih-Malt-Tzu-ese? Mal- Shihs? None of
those sounded very “designer-ey”. This
was not looking good for the Wal-Mart Parking Lot Puppy Sale.
Six weeks flew by.
I put an ad in our local e-trade newspaper. I simply said Shih Tzu/Maltese puppies, shots
and wormed, six weeks old, $200 A week later
and we had sold two and given one to my oldest daughter. By now the nine-year-old and the thirteen-year-old
had named the two remaining “designer pups”…Tatter Tot and Two-Spot-the-Runt,
not exactly the kind of names that would generate big bucks.
Then the oldest daughter got a promotion at work
which meant traveling so her puppy came back to our house. I should have named her Boomerang but she only
stayed a day. She was sold the next day to a nice family.
Spring Break and Tatter Tot and Two-Spot-the-Runt
went to the RV park with us. It was my
lot to walk the two puppies around the RV park while Dr. Hubby walked Miss Tia
in the opposite direction. I’m sure he
was thinking somebody in one of those half-million dollar motor homes would
like a Designer Puppy to go along with the other dogs they had. One lady did
stop me and ask the price of Tatter Tot.
Without twitching an eyelash, I said “$1600.” Ok, I had become attached to the little
thing. And the price doubled when asked
about Two-Spot-the-Runt. Well he’s
little and fluffy and would have gotten lost in a big old motor coach.
“Have any luck while you were walking the pups,”
asked Dr. Hubby.”
“Some, but I think the price put them off.”
I have since received at least fifteen calls from
people wanting a Shih Tzu/Maltese puppy. I told them I did not have any more
for sale and that is the truth.
I have two very
special unique puppies valued at $3,200…..by me.
And Miss Tia has an appointment with the vet next
month.
The Maltese will be so disappointed.
