Peaches And Me | The Story of Peaches

Peaches' littermates.

Let me share the story of where Peaches came from and how we got her.

Samantha, Peaches' mother.

This is Samantha, a beautiful 1.5 year old Chow by the time she gave birth to Peaches and her littermates. Samantha was actually the pet of hubby's cousin's daughter (whew).

A closer look at Peaches' littermates.

Samantha gave birth to five cute little puppies, of which the cinnamon pup is the only male. When hubby's cousin lent us two pups because he knew I loved chow chows, hubby's nephew saw the cinnamon pup and named him Banana. Peaches and Banana.. *stomach growling*

Say hello to Banana!

Peaches is probably the pup on the left as she has pointy ears.

Peaches actually was the smallest in her litter. Life is full of irony indeed.

Unfortunately, two weeks after they were born, one female was found out outside of her cage with wound marks on her body as if she was pulled out of it.

One week after, Banana was found dead as well. And days after, one more of the females was found lifeless. But hubby's cousin has his hands full as his daughter, the owner of Samantha, was diagnosed with Dengue. Plus, he has ten 2-months old Labrador puppies to care for as well.

A day after, hubby happened to visit the Labrador puppies and saw another chow pup was lifeless and Peaches herself was convulsing. He immediately notified his cousin but with a lot on his plate, he let hubby decide what to do. Hubby rushed Peaches to the vet.

Little Peaches seemed to be in a trauma.

The vet's diagnosis: heatstroke. And it probably was the cause of the death of Peaches' littermates as well.

After one night of confinement, the vet assured us that Peaches has recovered though extra care must be given. Peaches might have suffered from organ failure because of her high body temperature but it was too early to tell. After being released, hubby decided to return Peaches to her rightful owner.

However, hubby's cousin admitted he is busy with his daughter and other puppies. And there's the fear that Peaches' mother might not recognize her anymore. After all, Banana was found headless and they thought Samantha bit his head because he was always brought outside and must have caught the scent of all the people who carried him. Hubby's cousin decided to give Peaches to us as we can probably care for her much better, with a deal to share Peaches' future pups.

But caring for a month-old pup was no easy task. Peaches doesn't know how to eat from a bowl so we had to feed her using a baby bottle and we had to wake up during the wee hours to follow her every-2-hour-feeding schedule.

Peaches looked like an angel when she's asleep. But when she's awake - that's a different story.

Thank God Peaches survived and grew to be a monster puppy - er... healthy puppy. As a puppy, she loved to chew and play. But without littermates to play with and learn bite inhibition from, we had to find new playmates for her. Initially, we let hubby's family dogs to play with her but Tuna, Dexter and Kaka were too old for her.

Good thing my brother's Labrador-Golden Retriever dog has given birth two months ago plus he recently acquired a 3-month old Rottweiler. We found new playmates for Peaches!

Athena the lovely Rottie.

Pups from my brother's dog.

My brother's pups were too big and impatient for little Peaches but they gave her plenty of exercise when they play.

Oh well. As owner, raising Peaches well is our main task, after all. At least Peaches get to meet other dogs. Socialization is important with chow chows.