ROCKWALL, TX (May 5, 2014) This Mother’s Day is shaping up to be a special one for Brooke Peters. She’s thrilled that the babies she brought into the world are now a year old. And she was so enamored with being a mother that she wrote an award-winning essay to share her experience.
But Brooke’s babies aren’t technically her own. They’re the puppies of a patient, small dog named Curry. And Brooke’s essay was part of a 4H competition. All in all, it’s a Mother’s Day to remember for a 13-year-old.
It started last year when Brooke wanted to learn what it was like to foster a dog. Working with the local No Kill advocacy group Rockwall Pets, she made it known that she wanted to save the life of a homeless dog in need. Brooke chose to begin with one of the most difficult fostering cases imaginable. Rockwall Pets had rescued a young female dog from the Dallas animal shelter who was suffering from a heartworm infestation. To top it off, the dog was very pregnant and about to give birth at any minute.
Brooke’s mother Jennifer, who noted the dog’s curious nature along with her curry color, immediately named her Curry. Brooke, on the other hand, wrinkled her brow with a motherlike worry. She was concerned that Curry couldn’t begin her heartworm treatments until after she gave birth, if the dog managed to live through the process.
It wasn’t long before Curry gave birth to an adorable litter of seven puppies. And it wasn’t long before Brooke decided she was in love. The puppies were made available for adoption through Rockwall Pets, but Brooke officially made Curry a member of her family before the pups were weaned.
During the mothering process, Brooke took notes for an essay she was writing for her 4H club. Called “Fostering a Dog,” it won first place in the Rockwall County essay competition. Brooke eventually went on to win third place in the district with her composition. “I’ve never done this before, so it was kind of exciting to win third place,” she said.
Then the hard part began. Brooke’s motherly instincts made her sadder by the day as Curry’s puppies were adopted one by one. Brooke admitted that she had grown attached to the puppies, but she realized each young dog deserved a home of its own. Brooke turned to mothering Curry, making sure she received her treatments until she was free of heartworms.
A year later, Brooke and Curry live happily together, sharing memories of the beautiful puppies. As part of the agreement with Rockwall Pets, Curry was spayed immediately following her heartworm treatments, so she’ll never give birth again. But that doesn’t deter Brooke. As Mother’s Day approaches, Brooke has already made it known that she’s ready to be a surrogate mother again. If there’s another dog who’s in danger of losing her life – and the lives of her future puppies – Brooke is ready to save the day. Just like a real mom.
Story and photos by Blue Ribbon News special contributor Michael Kitkoski with Rockwall Pets.
Brooke’s Winning Essay
Fostering a dog
Fostering or even adopting a dog is lots of fun and brings joy to everyone in your family! When you foster or adopt a dog make sure that the dog you is just right for your family also make sure you have enough time in your family to love and take care of a dog! So here is a little story of my experience of fostering a dog!!
Before I was born my mom use to breed Rottweiler’s, she loved do that kind of stuff so she decided to have her kids enjoy the fun of taking care of little puppies!! We fostered a dog named Curry with Rockwall pets help! My mom named the dog Curry because she saw how Curry was so curious and she is also the color of curry powder!
Some facts about Curry are that she eats A LOT, she also LOVES people! One thing that I don’t get about Curry is that she loves my dog Mary and they share the same bed and food bowl, but she HATES my other dog lily and try’s to bite her every time she sees her, so remember you have to make sure the dog you foster or adopt HAS to be right for your family! I am very exited to see her puppies, because we don’t know what the dad of the dogs are because she was a stray so it will be interesting to see what the puppies will look like! With Curry being pregnant we have to feed her a big bowl twice a day and she eats it all with is really amazing because that is a lot of food!!
Curry has heartworms with is really bad because of her being pregnant she can not get the heartworm treatments with is also bad because she could die and I really don’t want that to happen!! Curry is also the perfect dog for our family, she loves cuddling, she jumps on people when she first meets them so that she gets there attention! A really funny thing that Curry does is try’s to wag her tail but wags her butt instead; she also smiles all the time because she is the happiest dog in the whole universe, and I know that! We have a guessing game going on in our family in, my house there is a board that has my family’s guesses of the date that they think the puppies are going to be born on and how many puppies they think there are going to be and how many puppies she is going to have, for example I am guessing she is going to have 6 puppies on June 23. If I guess correctly on how many puppies she is going to have I get 1st name pick and if I guess the date she will have her puppies on then I will get 2nd name pick, it might sound confusing but it is really not!!
We could have not have gotten a better dog!! Curry is about 2 years old and we fostered her from Dallas animal shelter! It’s funny because whenever we say “hey Coo-Coo come” she runs up to you which is really funny and we laugh every time! Having the experience with Curry makes me really want to be a dog rescuer or a dog breeder, Curry has really influenced my life goals!
I would have to say Curry is one kool pup! Make a difference and go to your nearest pet shelter and adopt a dog it would make those poor little doggies in the shelter happy happy happy!
~Brooke Peters
________________________________________________________
`
To share your good news and events, email editor@BlueRibbonNews.com.
Please click here to LIKE our Facebook page, so we can reach more people with good news like this!
Motherly love…4-H teen fosters passion for pups added by Editor on
View all posts by Editor →