Bulldog love by the dozen
CRAIG COUNTY – When Cathy Davis and her sister Elaine Puckett sit down to talk in Elaine’s living room in Craig County, they’re likely to have a lapful of company: Lily the English bulldog – and her 11 puppies.
“These days it’s older people getting together and having bulldog babies,” said Cathy.
Sisters Elaine Puckett, left, and Cathy Adams share a lapful of bulldog love.
The sisters went in together to buy Chalpoints Cadillac Lil because as kids growing up in the panhandle of Western Maryland, they always wanted a bulldog, they said. And they enjoyed her so much they decided to breed Lily to get a couple of puppies.
Instead, they got 11 perfect pups from the artificial insemination after Lily and Max met.
“Bulldogs are just the best pets. They are so loving. They follow you everywhere. They might be slobbery, but are just wonderful dogs,” Elaine said.
Lily, in driver's seat, and Max enjoy sitting in an antique MG.
Although the two smallest puppies were weak, with plenty of the sisters’ attention and supplemental feedings for Little Girl and Little Boy, all are fat and healthy, Cathy and Elaine said.
Artificial insemination – and Cesarean sections – are common for bulldogs, Cathy explained, because of their short, stubby body types.
As Lily’s due date approached, the sisters drove Lily to Bedford Animal Hospital where veterinarian Dr. Scott Noe performed the C section. “It took about about three hours,” Elaine. “Cathy and I were in shock. Eleven puppies! How are we going to raise them?” they asked each other, she said.
During the day, the sisters took turns feeding puppies every four hours. Even thought getting down in the floor is difficult for her, Elaine would place four puppies at a time with Lily so they could take turns nursing.
“The puppies should not be left with the mother because she can roll on them,” said Cathy. “Bulldogs are not graceful.”
“I would take care of feedings during the night. Then Cathy would show up. We’re in each other’s houses all the time,” explained Elaine. The sisters live next door to each other near the community of Abbott.
Her husband, Eugene, and Cathy’s husband, Dooley, left the puppy-raising to them.
Now that the puppies are weaned and playing everywhere, Jack-the-puppy has picked out Eugene as his favorite. But Jack won’t be staying.
All the puppies except one – a little girl they named Lovie – are for sale. Lovie is a carbon copy of her mother, they said, except where Lily has a white spot, Lovie has a brindle spot on white.
The sisters acquired Lily from a friend, Cindy’s Grooming in Vinton when the bulldog was 6 months old and already a big girl, at 60 pounds. Now she weighs about 72 pounds, they said.
This was Lily’s first litter, and her last, the sisters said, emphatically. She already has an appointment to be spayed in early March, and Elaine plans to take Lovie to be spayed as soon as she’s old enough.
Max, the father of the puppies, lives with Tonya and Mike Berbert. “We had contemplated breeding Lily, and when Karen told us about Max, we drove over to meet him,” Cathy said, referring to traveling veterinarian Karen Bowman of Boones Mill. “We saw his face through the storm door. It was love at first sight.”
A photograph of Max and Lily sitting together in an antique MG is evidence of their mutual affection.
Although for two years Lily had been an only bulldog, she wasn’t alone. Elaine and Eugene have Boo Boo, a chocolate toy poodle, and Cathy and Dooley have four poodles and Zeus, a 100-pound German shepherd who is an 11-year-old therapy dog.
She takes the poodles to Elaine’s house after dinner “so they can play.”
Lily played a part in Elaine’s recovery from cancer.
“About a month-and-a-half after we brought Lily home, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a bilateral mastectomy,” said Elaine, who added she is healthy now. “Lily was really gentle for about 10 days, and then she cut loose again,” she added.
The Pucketts have lived in Craig County since 1989. They lived in Salem before that, and wanted to live in the country near the mountains that reminded her of where she and Cathy grew up in Maryland.
Cathy, who visited her sister for three weeks each year, also liked Craig County, and so she and Dooley followed after they retired out of Sebring, Fla. They brought Cathy and Elaine’s mother, Lucille Hostetter, who lived out her last seven years of her life in Craig County in her own suite in Cathy’s house. She passed on at age 91 last year.
Between them, the two sisters have four children. Cathy’s are Philip, who lives in California; Paul and daughter Tracie, who both live in Broward County, Fla. Elaine’s daughter Theresa lives in New Mexico. They have a total of seven grandchildren.
And as for the puppies Tail Spot, One Spot, Two Spot, Three Spot, Red Boy, Red Bandit, Black Jack, Little Jack and Little Girl and Little Boy, “We’re going to miss them when they’re all sold,” Cathy said. “We’ll still have Lily, though, and Lovie.”
Oh my goodness, I have never heard of an english bulldog having 11 puppies! Good job taking care of all of those cute babies. Good luck finding homes for everyone!