Some people have a genuine heart for animals. Not in the weird “animal lover” way that media often portrays, but volunteering at the local shelter sort of way in the down to earth. Ashlee Holland is one of those people.
An avid lover of dogs, Ashlee has wanted to work with animals for a long time.
Ever since Ashlee can remember, she has been interested in helping animals. For a while, she even considered going into the veterinary field! While we often have one way we hope to go about life, life doesn’t seem to care all that much about our hope! Instead of being a vet like Ashlee thought, she still gets to work closely with animals as a volunteer.
As part of her instinct to help animals, Ashlee couldn’t look away from a dog that crossed her path.
Ava is a Chow mix that was in some serious trouble. The poor dog was in rough condition. Even worse, she was on the euthanasia list to make room for other animals coming into the shelter.
On top of her being on the euthanasia list, she was pregnant.
You would think that being on the euthanasia list wouldn’t apply to late-term pregnant dogs, but they didn’t care all that much as the matter would have it. There were only two options for what was going to happen to Ava.
Ashlee or the Midwest Animal Resq was the last resort for the awaiting mother.
If Ashlee didn’t take Ava in, she would either secure permission to go to a different rescue (where nothing is guaranteed) or head off to be put to sleep. Unless Ashlee stepped in, Ava’s fate was on the brink.
Being a mother herself, something about the dog touched the heart of Ashlee.
Having a dog go to sleep for old age and pain is one thing. Putting a pregnant dog to sleep for space is another entirely.
“No dogs deserve to be put to sleep for space,” Ashlee said.
With that in mind, she decided that she was going to take her home.
The first step after taking Ava home was to see what medical help she needed and get some more information on the puppies.
Taking her to the vet, Ava got a check-up and x-ray to see the puppies. They couldn’t tell exactly how many, but they were relatively certain everything looked normal. Nothing out of the ordinary, they said.
Less than two weeks later, Ava went into labor.
In an exciting flurry of activity, Ava went into labor and started delivering pups! Ava delivered her first, then four more! After a little break, she popped two more out, bringing her total to seven. Her contractions had also stopped, so the whole house thought she was done giving birth!
While they were cleaning up overnight, Ava delivered with more pups!
In a wild turn of events, Ava delivered eight more pups when everyone thought she was done! The house was astounded, but Ava still had one more push! As the early morning hours arrived, Ava popped out three more pups, bringing the total to 18!
You can keep up with Ava and her pups on their Facebook below!
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https://www.facebook.com/avaandher18royals/photos/a.1896380203963618/2576328505968781
