Giving birth should always be done in controlled, trust-inspiring conditions, right? Well, sure, but this service dog didn’t let the lack of such conditions stop her as she gave birth to eight puppies in a Florida airport.
The birth was quite unexpected for both the canine mother and her owners. It happened in the middle of the Tampa International Airport, right as the three of them were about to board their flight.
Eleanor “Ellie” Rigby, who is a two-year-old yellow Lab, is a service and guide dog for her owners – a woman and her daughter. The two of them were aware that Ellie was pregnant, but didn’t realize exactly how close she was to giving birth. Fortunately, the Tampa Fire Rescue’s medical team was on sight to assist Ellie and her bewildered owners.
Now, thanks to their efforts, Ellie and the now-father Nugget are the proud parents of eight beautiful pups – 7 boys and 1 girl.
Ellie went through the delivery process very smoothly and easily, despite the crowd of onlookers that had circled her to look curiously. Of course, she was aided by the Tampa Fire Rescue staff Larry Glanton and Natalie Brown.
Ellie is a service animal and as such, she is trained to help people with disabilities, be it as a guide dog for blind or hearing-impaired people, or as a mental health and seizure alert. However, none of this makes her prepared to give birth in the middle of an airport.
An airport spokesperson told Fox 13 that Ellie and Nugget’s owners were about to board a flight to Philadelphia right before Ellie went into labor. Obviously, they missed their flight, but after the happy ending of the whole ordeal, they didn’t seem too distraught about that. It seems that getting 8 new cute additions to your family can help you accept such minor inconveniences as a missed flight.
