Here's where puppies come from.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Nearly every day, I see a client with a new puppy. These visits are often the best part of the workday for me. It occurred to me that many people don't ever think of how these puppies came into being. So, I thought I'd tell my readers where puppies come from.

Most people have heard of a female dog being "in heat." This is the common term given to the period of time when the female is fertile and willing to accept a mate. Generally speaking, females are in heat for three weeks; one week coming into heat, one week of active bleeding, and one week going out of heat. There is some natural variance between individual dogs, so three weeks is just an average. Females ...