LEROY â Betsy Nickel wanted her dog, Maple, to have a good first birthing experience. They'd bred the fox-red English labrador but thought the breeding hadn't taken. It was only a week before Maple delivered a single pup that they realized the dog was pregnant. The puppy was stillborn. Maple and Nickel were both heartbroken. In 10 years of breeding, Nickel's dogs had never lost a puppy. Their mutual grief grew. "We took it really hard, and she took it really hard," Nickel said, "and I think I took it really hard, too, because she took it really hard." Though the puppy would have been Maple's first, she'd proven her maternal instincts around other litters raised by Nickel Labradors. Without a puppy, Maple was crushed. Nickel tried to spoil her, but it wasn't working.