Henry didn't know how much time was passing - he knew there were other small bodies around him - but everything else was dark, warm, and safe. The thudding heartbeat of his mother was soothing, and it was so niec to stay in this sleepy awareness.
Pressure. He was being squeezed out of the warm place, and found himself suddenly in open air. Huge hands picked him up and massaged his belly gently, and he whimpered with his first breath.
"This one is female - that makes three bitches total and two males." He recognized the voice of the woman they had seen when they came to the kennel, but couldn't open his eyes. "I always wonder which ones got a sex change. At least one of the females had to be male to start with."
It was hard to think, but even confused and struggling in his feeble puppy body, Henry realized he was one of the sex-changed. But even that didn;t matter now. What he really wanted was food. Hunger overwhelmed everything else in his mind, and when he was set down next to MaryAnne's belly, he quickly found a teat and started to nurse.