My Perrito (dog) Gino

As you've read in my previous post, I have traveled to Ecuador plenty of times. The year my brother got married I stayed in Ecuador for one month. My other cousins who live in the capital, Quito, were also going to the wedding. I stayed with them for two weeks until the big day because they have an extra guest bedroom and I insisted on staying with them because Quito is a very metropolitan area that is filled with rich art and culture everywhere you turn. There are sculptures constantly being constructed in the middle of the city or in unknown parts of it. There are artisanal markets with people sharing their stories, arts and talents.

The first day I arrived to my cousin's house, she told me her dog, Celina, was pregnant with a litter and she was supposed to give birth that night. We set up a small "cave" with heating pads, pillows, blankets and towels, ready for the night.  I have to say that it was one of my most memorable experiences. What made me nervous was that Celina ate one of the placentas, I started getting nervous, but my cousin said it was completely normal, however, if she eats more than two is when we have to stop her. When each of the puppies were born, we had to remove the membrane that each puppy is wrapped in, clean them with a towel and keep them huddled together and well-fed.

Surprisingly enough, Celina got up immediately after giving birth to her last puppy and walked around for a few minutes then returned. We realized that she did not like being in the whelping box because it was too hot for her, although the puppies needed that warmth. Especially because Quito is up in the mountains, the floors are always cold.

One week went by, and Celina would come in and out of the whelping box as she pleased. She knew she had to tend to her puppies but it was too hot for her and she wouldn't stay for more than 15-20 minutes to feed her puppies. With that in mind, her puppies could not survive with an inconsistent feeding schedule. She gave birth to eight puppies, and slowly, one or two puppies a day would pass away from pneumonia. We rushed the puppies to the veterinarian each time, but it would always be too late. Only two ended up surviving in the end. One of them became my own. I was unable to bring him back home with me after the one month I was there because he did not get through all of his vaccines. Thankfully, my other cousin was coming to New York one month later and she brought me my new puppy! He's been with me for the last 5 years and he is the sweetest dog. He also never barks and is bilingual. He understands both Spanish and English.

Vocabulary
previous - existing or occurring before in time or order
capital - the most important city or town of a country or origin, usually government and administrative center
unknown - not known or familiar
metropolitan - characteristics of a city, especially in culture, sophistication, or in accepting and combining a wide variety of people, ideas, etc.
constantly - continuing without pause
sculptures - the art of carving, modeling, welding, figurative abstract
membrane - a thin sheet, or layer, serving to line an organ
surprisingly - unexpected
veterinarian - a person who practices medicine or surgery on animals
whelping - the young of a dog

Grammar Point:

A proper noun is the special word (or name) that we use for a person, place or organization, like John, Marie, London, France or Sony. A name is a noun, but a very special noun - a proper noun. Proper nouns have special rules. An adjective is a word that describes, identifies or further defines a noun or a pronoun. There are thousands of adjectives available to describe how something feels, looks, sounds, tastes and acts.