Big surprise

EDITOR:

This letter is in response to Shelley Alexander's Feb. 12 guest opinion, "Shelter a place to find animal and human friends."

We would like to thank Shelley for her amazing good will about the unexpected event following her adoption of Peggy Sue (now Maizie) - i.e., the birth of 13 puppies by a "spayed" dog.

But how could this have happened? The Douglas County Animal Shelter requires all dogs be spayed or neutered before leaving the shelter. With males, it's pretty easy to tell, but females are tougher. Consequently, the shelter has females checked by a vet even if they can see what appears to be a spay scar. In very rare instances, a vet can misdiagnose a C-section scar for a spay scar. This is what happened in the case of Peggy Sue.

Thankfully, Shelley not only welcomed the challenge but turned it into a wonderful life experience. The 12 surviving puppies were adopted and most were processed through the animal shelter which requires a signed commitment from adopters that pups (and kittens) be spayed or neutered by 6 months of age.

So DAWG salutes Shelley and all who provided support and assistance - family, friends, shelter staff, American Medical Services staff - and, of course, Maizie herself, who while a wonderful mom is very happy to be permanently retired from motherhood.

Tina Dillion

representing Douglas Animal Welfare Group

Gardnerville