I’m sorry I haven’t blogged lately. I’ve been on vacation and had some major changes. I had to put to sleep my dog Tipper. She was 14 and in a lot of pain.

My pet column tomorrow will explain more. This is a picture taken by animal photographer Peggy Foster of Tipper (left) with her mother Molly. Molly died a few years ago. Here is a story written in July 1993 about Molly being protective of her pups.

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL
Date Thursday, July 29, 1993
Headline ELUSIVE CANINE GUARDS PUPS FROM WORKERS

Source By Wayne Risher The Commercial Appeal
A mother dog, protective of her seven newborn puppies, held construction workers at bay for two days last week before Harbor Town workers removed the dogs from beneath a home.
The mixed-breed dog was later reunited with her puppies when Stephanie Wolf, an employee of The Commercial Appeal, agreed to care for the dogs until the puppies are ready for adoption.
Harbor Town resident Pat Murphy said the wily mother dog had lived on Mud Island for more than six months, evading capture by moving from house to house and living beneath construction dumpsters.
The dog lived on scraps left by construction workers and food set out by neighborhood residents, Murphy said. The dog, a stray, became pregnant after a neighbor’s dog got loose when the stray was in heat, she said.
The mother dog had her puppies July 17 in the crawl space beneath a house that is under construction on Harbor Bend.
“She went under the house and came out 10 pounds lighter, ” Murphy said.
Tony Babb, owner of the house, said construction was delayed for a day and a half after an electrician came to turn on power for his central air- conditioning system. “She kind of got after the electrician and wouldn’t let him get out of the truck, ” Babb said.
Babb said he tried to retrieve water hoses from beneath the house and the dog “chased me back into the house.”
Harbor Town workers set a trap for the mother, placing a cage outside the opening to the crawl space.
A maintenance supervisor, Nancy Wright, said the dog was lured into the cage with a piece of luncheon meat.
After the dog and puppies were removed July 21, Wolf volunteered to keep them.
She said she has a soft spot in her heart for stray animals and has kept several at her Midtown home until permanent homes could be found for them.
Murphy lamented that the dog had apparently been dumped at Mud Island by a former owner.
“She wasn’t a bad dog - someone just dumped her here. I knew when she had the puppies, it would be the end for her. She couldn’t be moving from house to house. She was vulnerable, ” Murphy said.