I hope you read about Dr Mikey and the very touching experience he had when on staff at Children's Hospital to give you some background on this eminent doctor's history in the medical field. When he was a puppy, Mikey lived with a woman who took care of the puppies for Guide Dogs of the Blind. After they were a certain age, they would live with a family for socialization and training until they were ready to meet their life time partner. The man or woman who had the disadvantage of being blind had the wonderful experience of bonding with the kindest and sweetest dogs that acted as their human eyes. Mikey witnessed several births and his previous owner was so amused by his maternal behavior since she told me it was very uncommon for a male puppy. Mikey believed after the delivery that he insisted on attending in scrubs that he and the mother of the puppies take turns breast feeding the newborns, usually Labadors or Golden Retrievers, and when she gave him to me she had a picture of him at 5 months old in the whelping box looking like he was in ectasy as the puppies cuddled up close to him usually being well fed despite the few who tried to breast feed. Usually, mothers will not leave the whelping box when their puppies are still very young and need to be breast fed. Mikey is a very special boy and it appeared that instintively they knew that for the short time Mikey had the illusion he was feeding the puppies would not harm their newborns. Actually Annie looked relieved like many human mothers to get some sleep after attending to her litter 24/7. Many daddy's nuturance and giving mom a break could help them since they showed no signs of stress given how well fed they already were. Finally Mikey had his own children with his last mate Annie and insisted on doing everything he could for his unborn babies including Lamaze classes, giving Annie alot of TLC when he saw her and insisting on wearing sanitary scrubs on the day of delivery. The only thing I told him was that I would not video the births although I do have pictures of his puppies and can scan them to show the proud father's offspring. Annie was a doting mother and this time Mikey had the opportunity to spend more time in the whelping box with his pups without the slightest idea that nature did not construct him for feeding them. Noone had the heart to destroy his illusion, especially since many of the pups looked exactly like him. It was a charming and adorable vision reminding me of the look that I have seen on father's faces as they bottle feed their infant babies, especially Charlie who loved the whole process of being a father so much that if the sexes were reversed he would have wanted many children. This is a scanned photo and my intention is not to show my skill as a photographer, especially since I had no idea I was one about six years ago when this photo was taken, but to show you what a special father Dr. Mikey was and to show the amazing experiences men have when sharing the care and nuturing their newborn children. The old model of Mom being the caretaker and Dad going off to the office has changed in many households. For many parents, when both partners contribute to the physical and psychological health of their children throughout their life, they will be rewarded by their loving care. The need to nurture was certainly demonstrated by Mikey where gender does not have to be a divisive issue excluding the father from the early months of his child's lifie. This is a great advantage to both parents and the babies they bring into the world. Mikey acted differently when he knew the pups were his and many times during those months we found the tired mother to be relieved of her maternal obligations.