Leo & Lyle
by Tanya M. Jackson

Again, tiny babies arrived at the Nassau Humane Society, too young to stay there in the stress and possible illness, and very much in need to 24 hour attention. These two little pups were newly orphaned. Their mama had gotten into poison and died, as had the rest of the litter of puppies. Only two had survived and their owners did not know how to care for them. I agreed to give it a try.

I have raised three children, and was right hand girl to my Mom, who raised six sons and six daughters. I am the eldest. I know about nurturing. But I am now a grandmother, and I had forgotten what sleepless nights and walking colicky babies is like.

Yes, puppies get colic, have terrible tummy aches, are hungry every two hours and need you constantly. They don't need diapers changed, but you sure do clean up a lot of piddles and poops! These two kept me hopping for the first couple weeks. We tried bottle feeding - too slow. While one was eating the other was crying incessantly and neither one seemed to get the sucking right. A dish did not work - they simply fell into it and were totally unready to eat on their own. We had estimated them to be only 2 or 3 weeks old. Finally I decided that the syringe for administered meds was the best. I could slurp up the puppy formula from a cup with the syringe and get a steady flow of milk into the hungry puppy mouths. One still had to cry while the other was fed, but we took turns at who was first.

They began to grow and to thrive - and I was thrilled. Time to find some names - this took days. The little brown one with dark shading walked like he owned the world - like a lion. He swaggered. He became Little Leo. The black one was totally black and built like a Mac truck. I think I forgot to mention that mama was a Rottweiller. Daddy left early in the game so we don't know his lineage. Anyhow, I remembered some of singer Lyle Lovett's music that I enjoyed and so we had Lyle Lovett.

We always tell the adopting families that they may certainly change the names we tack on these pets that come to the shelter and into our foster care. There is not much rhyme nor reason to how we name them. It's just that a name is better than trying to call 21306 or 32567 - the ID numbers assigned to their records. And no matter the name - when I call them to me I always call "Puppy Puppy Puppy" and they always come to that - so whatever works! These two were a joy, but the work continued.

Their little pen in my living room constantly needed cleaning. They had to be watched when they went out to play, to be sure the big dogs didn't play too rough and that two such little ones did not wander off on our two acres and get lost. But they grew fast, started walking in harness and leash with me, and played rough and tough until they were exhausted. I was exhausted too!

And it was time to start the adoption process again. Again my babies were going to leave for their new forever families. Little Leo went first. His new mom, Carol, named him Cooper and fell totally in love. Her daughter had been looking for a puppy for her after she lost her long time dog companion to old age. "Leo," she said, "is the one. May I bring my mom to see him?" She was right - they are a perfect match. I've seen him a couple times - he is a happy and wonderful growing puppy.

Lyle went to a young couple who saw him on the website. Jennifer and her husband are from Orlando. We talked several times and of the families I spoke with, these two were right for Lyle. He is all Rottweiller - going to be big and black, and needs a strong hand and lots of love in his training. Both are familiar with big dogs, especially Rotties, and Lyle (whom they renamed Dozer) stole their hearts right away. It's no easy chore to raise and train a puppy, but love is the most ingredient and I could see that there was plenty of that already. I'm happy, they are happy, and who knows what surprise another day at the Nassau Humane Society will offer!