Highlands Today
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Woman Adopts One Dog, Ends Up With 14
Kathy Waters/Highlands Today
Kelly nurses her 13 puppies on Wednesday in Sebring. Her owner, Helen Bogus, said that she got Kelly from the Humane Society not knowing she was pregnant but then about a month later she gave birth to the puppies.
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Published: January 31, 2008
SEBRING — When Helen Bogus first brought her dog Kelly into her home in December, she never knew how many dogs she truly adopted.
Even when the Golf Hammock resident heard the news from veterinarian Wendell Anderson that Kelly was pregnant, she was not ready to have puppies.
When Jan. 14 came, however, Bogus and Highlands County Humane Society board member Barbara Clark spent all night with the golden retriever/Irish setter mix-breed and several kids in the neighborhood as they helped with Kelly's labor.
"We just wanted Kelly," Bogus said. "We really just wanted one dog but we ended up with 14."
Kelly gave birth to six black puppies, six with light brown fur and another black puppy with a light brown muzzle. Bogus and Clark believe Kelly's pups have more than one father.
Kelly was given to the Highlands County Humane Society after someone found her as a stray in Avon Park, Clark said. Nobody at the society realized Kelly was pregnant when Bogus adopted her.
Bogus said she took her to a dog sitter after adopting Kelly while she visited her family in Colorado.
The dog sitter told Bogus that Kelly was putting on weight, and when she went for an appointment to the vet, Anderson determined Kelly put on nine pounds. The dog sitter already suspected Kelly was pregnant and suggested that Bogus should see the vet.
The vet confirmed it just as he was getting ready to spay Kelly. After that, Clark said she told Bogus that she can return the dog, but Bogus went ahead and let Kelly give birth to them.
Bogus even let several of the kids around the neighborhood come to her bedroom, where Kelly went into labor. Kelly gave birth to her first puppy just before midnight on Jan. 14, and Kelly continued putting them out until 5:30 that morning. Bogus said one of the kids watching the birth had a birthday the 14th, so she named the first puppy "Jessie" after her. The second pup was named "Kendall," after another girl watching over Kelly. Kendall's birthday was Jan. 15.
"The children in the neighborhood have been real helpful," Bogus said. She never dealt with a pregnant dog before, and after watching Clark work with Kelly all night, Bogus took the last puppy after Clark left her house.
The kids come to Bogus' garage after school every day to play with the puppies, who were named after everyone who helped Bogus with Kelly's labor Jan. 14. Bogus said some of them have tried talking their parents into adopting them, but she wanted to get the puppies weaned before she would consider giving up any of them.
Anderson said a golden retriever mix typically has a litter of six to eight pups. Though not unheard of, it was unusual for a golden retriever mix like Kelly to have a litter of 13 pups without at least one of them either dying or being underdeveloped.
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