06/02/2026
Please read this amazing story about our little husky Mama, Baskina. Thank you to Carol Flynn for writing this beautiful story for us ❤️🐾
Beverly-Morgan Park History
A first time event on the Ridge!
By Carol Flynn
There's always space for some "feel good" historical trivia, too!
May 6th saw a first time event on the Ridge - puppies were born at the Blue Island Police Department (BIPD) headquarters.
This "blessed event" happened in the garage, where kennels are set up for the Blue Island Stray Dog Project (BISDP) volunteers to care for the dogs rounded up off the streets of the city of Blue Island.
Dogs that are rescued from the streets become property of the city if not claimed within three days. This dog, named Baskina by the volunteers, came in on May 1. She did not have a microchip, and no one responded to the posts on lost/found dog sites, so she became the property of the city of Blue Island.
Baskina, a young husky, was very thin, but had a distended abdomen that the experienced BISDP volunteers realized could be parasites or puppies.
Vet exams are always set up for the dogs, and hers was set up for May 9, but on the morning of May 6, she went into labor, and the result was six healthy puppies - three males and three females.
The volunteers, of course, contacted the vet, but there was not much they could do but let nature take its course and be prepared to step in if there was a problem, but the young mother dog handled this instinctively like a pro.
She had plenty of human support, from the BISDP volunteers, and the police and fire department personnel - even the chief of police stopped by the maternity ward.
The usual routine for the BISDP with a new dog is to try to find a permanent or foster home, or a rescue place, to take the dog as soon as possible, because it is very stressful for dogs to stay in those garage kennels, and they need the kennels for new dogs coming in all the time.
The garage would have been a very traumatic place for a mother dog and puppies, and fortunately, P.A.W.S. of Tinley Park agreed to help. That very night, she was placed in a foster home with a couple in Tinley Park, who saw the story online and reached out to help.
Now, the mother, who has been renamed Princess, and the puppies are thriving.
Princess is enjoying steak, chicken, eggs with cheese, and smoothies, along with her dog food and supplements, to help her improve her own health while she nurses her babies.
The puppies have grown and are thriving, and are already being introduced to puppy gruel.
The thought of what the outcome would have been if this dog had delivered her babies "out on the street" is just not something to be pondered. It points out the need for supporting animal rescue places. May 20 was actually National Rescue Dog Day.
This is a story with a happy ending. It will still be weeks before the puppies are ready to be adopted, and that will happen through P.A.W.S. of Tinley Park. Princess has already been spoken for.
More of the story can be accessed online:
https://www.beverlyreview.net/news/community_news/article_c4f748e4-0fa8-4c95-a3a2-8255b84ba27d.html
This image is of an exhausted Princess and her puppies the first night in their foster home.
