When we brought home Sweets, our adorable new German Shepherd, the plan was simple: love her, spoil her, and get her to the vet for a checkup. You know, responsible pet parent stuff—make sure she’s healthy, up-to-date on shots, and officially part of our family. Easy, right? Fast forward a week, and we’re walking into the vet’s office, blissfully unaware that our lives are about to turn into a canine soap opera as the great spay mystery began.

The Mystery of the Missing Scar

During the checkup, the vet casually mentioned, “I don’t see a spay scar.” Oh, cool. No biggie. Sometimes those scars are basically ninja-level invisible. The vet assured us that everything was fine but recommended an x-ray just to confirm if Sweets was spayed or not. We left that day feeling like gold-star dog parents, armed with a fresh stack of records, city tags, and an appointment to solve the Great Spay Mystery.

Plot Twist: Puppies Incoming, are you serious?

One week later, we’re back at the vet for the x-ray. Sweets is a champ—no fuss, no drama. Then the vet puts the x-rays on the lightbox and drops a bombshell.

“Hmm,” she says. (By the way, vets saying “hmm” is never good.) “She’s not spayed.”

Okay, fine. We’ll schedule the surgery. No big deal. But then she adds, “Actually, we can’t spay her right now.”

Wait, what? Why not?

“See these? Those are puppy spines. Congratulations—you’re about to have a litter in two or three weeks.”

Come again? Puppies? Shut up. That’s not real. Except, it was. And not just one or two puppies. Oh no. The vet counted six. The great spay mystery was solved.

From Dog Parents to Puppy Midwives

As we left the vet, I was having a full-blown existential crisis. We had signed up for one dog. ONE. My wife, on the other hand, was all smiles, reminiscing about the good ol’ days of puppy deliveries. Apparently, she’s some kind of canine midwife. Me? I was Googling “how to survive puppies” on the drive home.

The next two weeks were a whirlwind of preparation. We bought a kiddie pool (aka Puppy Maternity Ward), gathered every old blanket we could find, and set up what can only be described as a doggie birthing suite. The pool was genius—it kept Sweets comfy and ensured the puppies wouldn’t wander off into the void of our living room.

One Dog, They Said…

How did we end up here? We went from adopting one sweet German Shepherd to staring down the barrel of a six-puppy explosion. ONE DOG. That’s all we wanted. But now, here we are, waiting for nature’s cutest curveball.

Stay tuned for Part Two of our adventure: “How to Keep Six Puppies From Taking Over Your Life.” Spoiler alert: you can’t.