Who loves puppies?

On Saturday, our dog Grace gave birth to 13 puppies.

This past Saturday, my wife, Jimmye Sue, noticed that our dog Grace was behaving strangely. She had been pregnant for a while and was due on Monday, but it was obvious she was going into labor that day.

She had the first pup at about 1:30 p.m., and that was the beginning of a long night. It took her from then to about 10:30 the next morning to have all of the puppies. She was so big that she didn’t have any energy, and she needed some help.

The X-rays showed that there were at least 11 puppies in there, but she ended up having 13. After the 11th one, we thought we were done and went to bed. When we got up an hour later to clean everyone up, there was another one in the box. That was at about 8:30 in the morning. Then, at 10:30, she had another one! Of the 13, however, three were stillborn, which is a sad thing. We worked to try and revive them but there wasn’t much that could have been done.

The coolest story from the whole deal comes from the puppy that has the ribbon tied around it. That particular one was stillborn; Jimmye Sue and I worked with that one but had given up on it. However, my daughter Jamie didn’t. She continued to work with it, breathing into its nostrils and massaging it; and, after 30 minutes, that little pup came to life. It was amazing, and we have her marked specially because the vet said that she’ll need some special care to make sure that everything’s OK. When they went to the vet, everything checked out, though.

So, this is our first-ever litter of pups, and there’s lots going on at the Jones house. We’re having a good time with them, and my daughters will hardly leave the utility room, which is where they’re set up. As time goes on, we’ll post photos of their progress.

Before the puppies, however, was the Skeeter dealer meeting, and it was great. I talked to one of the dealers, Jeff Gilbert of Fun ‘N’ Sun in Granbury, Texas, and he’s going to go on our Cast and Blast on Labor Day weekend at Falcon.

This Thursday, I’m going to be speaking at Irving Bible Church, which is in the Dallas area at a men’s outreach event. I think it’s at 6:30 p.m., so if you’re in the area, stop by and say hello. It’ll be a great evening of fellowship and fun.

With so much going on, it’s been a while since I’ve wetted a line, but it won’t be long before we’re down at Falcon busting some big ones. I can’t wait!