One of the things that Adam has always talked about, even when we were dating, was how he raised Rottweiler Puppies when he was in high school and after his mission. For some reason, he has always been drawn to this breed of dog, where I have not. Actually, I have been scared of this breed. They are quite intimidating!
We have now been married for 8 1/2 years and when Adam has extra time, he has spent it reading the news, looking at Rottweilers and looking at horses. He would find dogs he really likes and research their bloodlines and come up with what he thought would be the perfect dog if this dame was bred to this sire. I have learned a lot about Rottweilers, but not enough yet.
Adam spends a lot of time traveling and it feels like he is gone out of town more often than he is in town. I know this probably isn't the case, but it sure feels like it sometimes. One time he came home from a trip and said, "Did I tell you I bought a dog?" He had not mentioned it and it ended up being one that he could have backed out of if he had wanted to, but after talking and me realizing that he was never going to give this up, we decided to go ahead and get this bred dog. Her name was Una and she was bred to a male that Adam had hand-picked. She was in Serbia. Yes, Serbia. Halfway around the world. Crazy.
Una flew on an airplane and we went to the Salt Lake Airport to pick her up about 3 weeks before she was due to have her puppies. Adam was home for a couple weeks after we picked her up, but then was gone again the week before she was due. I was praying that Una was not going to have her puppies without Adam here. Thank goodness I didn't have to do that by myself. I was able to handle having Rueger by myself, but I don't think I could have handled the puppies.
Una had 11 puppies and 10 lived. One passed away because of our lack of experience in the beginning of her labor, but 10 puppies is a lot!
Adam took a bed outside and slept in the garage for over 2 weeks taking care of these puppies and making sure they lived. Una liked to sit wherever she wanted and sometimes would sit on one. It was a very nerve-wracking experience for me when Adam would leave, even if it was only for a couple hours for Scouts. Una was protective of those puppies and would act like she was going to bite anyone that came close enough. Adam was the only one that she let do whatever he wanted and get as close as he wanted.
These puppies were worse than newborns as they had to be watched constantly, weighed and hand supplimented. Lots of work.... but we made it to the three week mark before Adam had to go on another trip and so we took Una and her puppies up to Adam's cousin Lukrisha's house. She bought a dog the same time as Adam and her dog had 4 puppies just a few hours after Una had her puppies. Once we dropped off Una and puppies she had 14 puppies at her house. She took care of them all and sold all the puppies and kept Una and we got to bring one puppy back to our house.
It was quite the experience and I don't want to do it again anytime soon.... ever... but hopefully our new puppy Fiji will be a fun addition to our family.
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