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Ilya was on a walk with Anya. They were walking through some trees when Ilya heard a little squeak. Anya stopped in her tracks and perked her ears up. Then they heard the squeak again and a small bark. Anya turned away from the road, into the trees and Ilya followed close behind. She sniffed her way through the undergrowth and sat down in front of a tree stump. And out of a hole in the ground stumbled a little puppy followed by two of her siblings. Two of them were black with white spots on their belly’s and one was brown with a black spot around their eye. The first one, black, came closer to Anya and Anya sat patiently and let it sniff her. When the puppy registered that Anya was friendly it cuddled into her side. The other two followed its example. Anya licked their little body’s while Ilya stood there and watched it all happen. He then crouched down and beckoned the puppies to him.
“Hello little ones. Where is your mama?”
The brown one looked up and then ran to Ilya crouching on the ground.
“Oh you are so sweet. What happened to you?”
The little one licked Ilya’s shins while Ilya petted its little head.
“Did someone abandon you?”
The dog just barked happily.
“Okay. I take that as a yes. But you can’t stay here. I will take you all home with us where I can bath you and then I will feed you some real food.”
Ilya pulled the puppy into his arms and it cuddled into him contently. Then he directed Anya out of the trees. The other two puppies followed her obediently. On their way home the two walking puppies became tired so Ilya also pulled those up into his arms to carry them home. He entered the house through the front door with the three puppies in his arms and Anya on his heals.
“Shane, I’m home!”
“Did you have a good walk?” Shane asked from the living room.
“Yes. And I brought some new friends home.”
“New friends? What do you mean?”
Shane walked out of the living room into the entryway and stopped when he saw Ilya with the puppies.
“Surprise!”
“Oh. Where did these little ones come from?”
“Anya and I found them between the trees in a hole. The mother was not around. I think they were abandoned.”
“That’s awful!”
“Yes, it really is.”
Shane stepped closer to Ilya to look at the puppies closely.
“They seem to have been there a few days. I will prepare some water and food for them and then we will bath them thoroughly. They have all bloated bellies so they probably have worms. I will call our vet when they eat and then we can probably bring them in today. On the way back from the vet we will stop by the pet store and buy some toys and collars.”
“Sounds like a plan, solnyshko. But I thought you would be more complaining that I brought them home.”
“Ilya! Those are little baby’s needing our help! Of course I will not complain!”
“Okay.”
“Now get the puppies in the kitchen so they can drink and eat!”
“Of course, solnyshko!”
After the puppies have eaten, were bathed and checked by the vet they were all decompressing on the couch. The brown one lying on Ilya’s chest, the confident black one cuddled into Anya’s side and the other black one on Shane’s chest.
“The vet said, that they are only 5 weeks old and when they are twelve weeks old we can find them a new home,” Ilya probed tentatively.
“No!”
“No?”
Shane wound his arms protectively around the puppy on his chest.
“Look at them! They are already at home here!”
“Lyubimyy… we can’t keep three puppies. Even if we really want to. We are professional hockey players. We don’t have time for three puppies.”
“No!” Shane pouted.
“We can keep one, give one to your parents and maybe we give one to Hayden.”
“Hayden told the kids often enough that they won’t get a dog because he is not a great fan of dogs.”
“Exactly! Hayden would hate it and the kids would love it!”
“I don’t know if I can give them away. But maybe if I can still see them it’s manageable.”
“See. And you still have seven weeks of all three of them.”
“And I will appreciate every second of them.”
“We both will.”