Just me, a perspective

I was born on crisp autumn day. Quite helpless as I was blind & deaf. Everything around me was different. The air felt so cold on my skin. Mom probably didn't appreciate all the noise. I couldn't even hear myself. So weird.

As I caught a whiff of something, it drew me to it as if by instinct.

Probably because it actually was instinct, it was so strange & familiar at the same time. I could barely move, just scooted on my belly.

The scent was stronger as I slowly crept closer to the warmth.

Barely able to open my mouth, I cried out for my mother to help me, she was busy doing other things. My jaw felt so tight, struggling to open my mouth. 

Then, there it was.

Struggling with all of the strength I could muster, I pushed my snout until it made contact with the warm, delicious source. Then, I discovered that whatever it was, I could taste it though I had never tasted anything before then. 

It was then that I discovered that I had competition. There were only 4 others like me, they were also discovering the warm deliciousness with the sweet scent. I was quite content to suckle on it, even though I had 4 others to compete with. Then, one by one, more competition arrived. 

Seven more competitors.

When I started to feel a warmth from the sweet liquid that came out when I suckled, I started to become very sleepy. One of the others like me had nudged me so they could suckle. 

I fell over on my back, I was so blissed out, I didn't care. The sweet, suckled stuff had a calming effect. 

Within 7 hours, I had lots of company which meant more competition in suckling. The interlopers smelled like me & smelled like my mother at the same time.

Where was daddy? He was such a busy one.

I found out about him much later.

Drifting off in a state of contentment, I went. As the effect of the suckle stuff wore off, I woke up. My first taste was so much easier to get, now I had to compete with 11 others.

"Hey! Mommy! Do you know where that long wet pink thing in your mouth is going?"

"Personal space, mom! Ohh, that's why you're doing that. OK, Cool."

Something warm trickled from inside me. It wasn't suckle juice.

My life was quite easy as time went on. Competing with the others to suckle was a drag. Falling asleep with the others in a pile to keep each other warm was nice. When my belly felt the ache from hunger, something inside me told me to start scooting toward the sweet suckle smell. It was paramount to my survival to be able to smell everything, especially suckle stuff. 

Eyesight & hearing are overrated. 

Mom was right there along with the 11 other competitors.

This was a sweet time at the start of life for me. Then, one day after so many suckle times & lickings from mom, I heard something. At first, it was a bit soft then gradually became louder. 

It was the others. I could hear the others. 

Had I become a Borg puppy?

It was the others, like me, making the squeak & squeal as we twisted our ways to the milk bar. If I squeaked the loudest, mom gave me a little help in my awkward scooting. It eliminated some of the competition for suckle juice.

Poor mom.

She didn't squeak, just laid down, let all of us get our fill before she left for a short time. It sounded a bit like she might have found a source for her own suckle juice. I fell back onto three of the others, fell asleep until I was awakened by the 11 others making so much noise. 

I knew that I had better get over there if I wanted to fill the ache in my stomach that was growing stronger. Then, I felt a sharp stab on my belly. One of the others was crawling over me to get to the milk bar. The other one had sharp little things that dug into me as they clawed for traction, going over my back, my belly, my head.

"Ouch! Hey dude, not cool, that really hurt me. NOT COOL!"

With the other making so much noise, then, I joined them. It brought mom back to us. We learned how to get our mothers attention. Things were going quite well.

We piled on each other to stay warm as we slept, waking up to squeal for our mother to feed us. This was a pretty sweet life. 

Little did I know how quickly it would change.

At first, it was just a blur of suckling, sleeping, waking up to suckle again.

It was about 100 or so suckles later that I felt a weird feeling on my face right above the place that drew me to my mom. It was a bit frightening at first. Then, I experienced a soft filtered light coming in through the places on my face above what I realized was my smeller. My nose? I guess?

This was new.

Now, I could hear the racket made by the others, I could see blurry balls moving around. What was this?

Although they may have all looked alike, I could tell the difference. All of them had smelled like mom at first, now, they were developing a scent of their own. 

As awkward as this may sound, my own personal scent was also changing. It was a little bit like mom, becoming my own unique scent with time. Everything was ever so slowly changing. For me, anyway. 

A big change that happened one day was when I woke up with most of my tail missing. 

In fact, all of my brothers & sisters' tails were also missing. I went to sleep with it, woke up without it. It was nowhere to be seen.

Most of mom's tail was missing, too.

So weird.

There were so many things that were more important, soon, we had all decided to concentrate on suckling, sleeping, keeping each other warm. There was no memo, all of us just accepted it, did it. 

We were a family. Just to be clear, an all-Doberman family.

Dogs have been known to care for babies that are from a different mother, even from a different species.

Was there anything else?

In time I would find out. So many different types of animals, dogs, cats, birds, squirrels, opossums, raccoons, so much more out there.

Later on, I learned that all of them smell completely different even if

they look so closely alike.

Time went on with important things like sleeping, suckling, playing with my brothers, sisters. Sometimes even mom joined in. Not dad. He must have been off competing in shows, making more suckle chasers like me. He would go out into the big yard sometimes to run, to play, to roll in the grass. I wanted to be like him when I was done with suckling.

That time arrived soon. All of us were getting so big, we were suckling the life out of mom just to survive. She did seem more tired with time. She was also standing up to let us suckle on her. It was tough on mom. She seemed less patient, less calm than ever before.

One morning when we were all kicking up a ruckus for food, mom was off doing other things. There was a new, strange smell. It was brought out by one of the tall ones then placed on the floor. As all of us went over to check it out, the tall one offered some of it to me first. I felt so special. Opening my mouth to try to suckle it, it had a completely different smell, not as warm as the suckle juice. It was easier to get to as my competition was less sure about it than I was.

That soon changed as the others caught on.

Once, again, I had competition, lots of competition as the others caught on, began lapping up this new suckle. It was solid. It was only a short time before it had the same effect. All 12 of us puppy piled to stay warm as we slept. Mom was there less, now, the new food mostly replaced the suckle juice. We still suckled just a little, there was less to go around. 

Our suckle time was slowly evolving into actual eating, playing together outside. Plus, of course, making fudge & lemonade together.

Life was pretty much the same most days, after that. Eat, sleep, play, sometimes a little play time with mom. We were all getting bigger. The new food fattened us up a bit now that we were eating it all the time. No more suckle juice, just playing with mom.

One day, we were piled in the car, we were in the car for a long time. We were used to car trips, just ones that were shorter than this was. We had food with us, no mom, just the tall ones. We were taken into a very strange place. The scents, the noises, they were so different. More tall ones. One by one we were taken by one of the tall ones. When each one of my siblings came back close to me, not close enough that I could touch them. Then, it was my turn. The tall ones looked at me in that sweet way. Soon after that, one of them was petting me, keeping me soothed. Then, there was "the pinch". There was not much soon after that except, when I woke up, half of each of my ears were missing. There was no pain, it just itched.

All of us looked so regal in our different colored crowns. Looking at each other, sniffing each other. All of us smelled exactly the same. Was that the purpose? To smell exactly the same?

Then, the biggest change of all. The tall ones were looking at us, more, playing with us to see what our personalities were. They did some weird things. Placing each of us flat on the back to see how we reacted. Then one by one, picked each of us up by behind front legs, holding under front legs. Then, just holding up in the air with back legs dangling. Among us, my sister who was born before me, seemed to understand what was going on, the most. Typical older sister, she was quite smart, though.

One day, the tall ones were getting ready to do something. I wasn't quite sure. They were making noises at each other a lot. Fiddling with things, then putting the things they fiddled with in a pouch, then, putting everything in a bigger pouch. These tall ones often did some very strange things which I'm sure had a purpose. Hope so.

The tall one who seemed very motherly, picked me up, cuddled me in her lap. She was stroking my head, my ears, my neck. I became so sleepy, nothing mattered to me. Just the comforting strokes, a warm lap, being cuddled. She had done this before, this time felt different.

I had fallen asleep in the tall one's lap with clean fur, a full belly. Even the loudness of my siblings didn't matter. They could be so loud when one of them started up, the others followed. Sometimes I had joined in, though it gave me such a hurting head. Puppy problems.

Later on that day, a new tall one showed up. I was resting comfortably in the motherly tall ones lap. The new tall one approached, the two were making noises at each other. The new one reached out slowly to softly stroke my back. It felt nice though I didn't realize where this was going. More like where I was going.

The tall ones noised at each other for a while. The new tall one went with the motherly one to see my dad. This tall one also seemed very motherly. She gazed at my brothers & sisters. She looked at them, didn't touch their backs like she did when she first saw me. Hmm.

After lots of noising at each other, I was placed in the new motherly tall ones arms. It seemed that something was about to happen. Something that would change the course of my whole life.

The lime green collar that was on my neck was removed. A new collar with a different scent was fastened around my neck. The new tall one, took me in her arms, carried me out to a new thing with wheels. I was placed in the front seat beside her. It felt so strange, hollow, empty & a little cold. It startled her, made her smile when I crossed the barrier between us to sit in her lap. That is where I stayed for a long time. It was a bit scary; I could no longer hear the others.

My connection to the others had been severed. Maybe it was that I was no longer connected. I had left the borg puppy collective.

This was where my new life, in a new living space, with new tall ones had begun. There were new rules, new places.

The best part?

New toys, all for me.