A DOG NAMED DINA: fontyler

A DOG NAMED DINA

There used to live a dog in our street in a quiet little township near Moscow. The dog’s name, as you might have already guessed, was Dina. She was biggish and blackish, a pooch of no particular breed, perhaps a little like a German Shepherd. She was a quiet thing, never in a hurry, always watchful. She never stayed long at any of the yards, but rather changed her location now and then, and it was fine with everybody. I remember her sleeping at night on our neighbour’s veranda, and then she would disappear for a couple of weeks.

She would eat at practically every household, and also at a nearby shop, where the kind owner had a bowl of juicy bones and a bowl of water ready for her at any time of the day, or night, for that matter. So, Dina was not skinny, but rather on the fat side. And nobody paid any attention to her getting a little fatter, and fatter with the passage of time. She spent all days out in the open, didn’t she? She needed a big dinner, didn’t she?

At some time she became very fond of coming to our place and looking at us, which I found rather flattering, for, you know, if children and dogs like you, it means… it means that you are kind-hearted, right?

Well, nobody was concerned with Dina’s getting fatter until she gave birth to six (yes, six) puppies! Very nice, you would say? Right, I would have said that, too, if she had not had her puppies right in my back yard.

We have a disused outbuilding, actually, a long-disused sauna-house, which has been turned into a workshop with all kinds of tools. Now, it is very practical to have all the tools that you might need on hand, right? But they were not in great demand, actually, so it was a quiet little place.

Dina, as it turned out, found a space in the fence around our backyard, dug a hole under it, and made herself comfortable under the sauna-turned-workshop.
And one fine autumn morning we heard strange noises coming from the backyard. When we finally found a way to look under the old log cabin, we were in for a big surprize. Well, six squeaky and smelly surprises with their eyes still baby-closed.

Dina did not mind us getting her litter from under the cabin, perhaps one might say that she looked rather proud… And she found a way to persuade us that this log cabin was the best place for her and her kids… So, practically immediately her darlings were placed on a thick, if rather old blanket, and had a bowl of warm fresh water placed near the blanket under the sauna. Dina honoured us accepting a little food, and soon was enjoying a hearty meal…
Well, it must be said, ashamed as I am to admit it, that after the first hour and a half of excessive joy, we started to come to the realization of the fact that we had a bit of a problem on our hands. Actually, we did not have the time… and we cannot stay here… and be riveted to the place… and we have our lives to live … and…

But… What ‘but’… Well, you cannot turn a mom with six (six!) kids out into the street, can you? No, we can’t… And who is speaking about turning them out, for Christ’s sake! We shall find a way round this!.. Sure, we’ll think of something… But of course… Oh, what a relief! Everything is going to be fine, you’ll see… Yes, everything will be fine!

But if we only knew that this was not the last of surprises that Dina had in store for us!