But Lessard's baby is actually two tiny, helpless English setter puppies. They would have perished if not for her quick action and kind heart when the pups' mother died due to complications while giving birth.

"This week is easier," Lessard said Wednesday of the week-old puppies, eyes still shut, that she was tending to in her kitchen. "Before, they were feeding every two hours. Now we're up to three."

Lessard and her husband Neil, a nationally renowned bird-dog trainer, own and run Stockley Kennels at their 250-year-old estate.

In addition to training bird dogs, the couple raise English setters.

"English setters can go from the truck to the hearth, from the woods to the bed, and they are very good with children," said Judy.

"I've got the best job. I get the puppies until they're 16 weeks old."

Judy often helps deliver puppies, so she knew from the beginning that Queenie, the pedigreed mother of the two pups, was in trouble. But even with the Lessards' intervention and the help of veterinarian Dr. Tyler Nichol, Queenie died.

Queenie produced champion setters in the Shoot to Retrieve Field competitions, and she was much loved by the Lessards.

"We buried her with one puppy (that died) in the backyard," said Judy, whose cheerful manner became subdued as she gazed out the backdoor. "I haven't had time to mourn I've been so busy."

Judy keeps a log of the feedings, the puppies' weight, when they relieve themselves, what has been working and what hasn't. That's to keep track of her intentive mothering and "to someday find the time to write a book."

Wednesday afternoon she took turns rousting the snoozing snow-white pups from their homemade incubator, a pink "Jersey Fruit" box, complete with heating pads, a stuffed seal for "King" and a bear for "Queen" the names given Queenie's last litter.

Judy wakes the pups to feed them in an effort to get them on schedule -- a tight schedule that started at 1 a.m. Wednesday. Each session of caring for their needs, cleaning the bottles and making new formula "will give me about a 45 minute break before I have to start all over again," said Judy.

Whimpering and wiggling in her hand was King. Judy held the baby bottle over his head as he stretched to drink greedily, kneading with his front paws against her hand.

"I do that to nurture them like their mom would," she said. "He thinks he is pumping the milk."

Judy has to duplicate their mother's licking by using a warm, wet cotton ball to rub on their anal area to induce them to relieve their bladders and bowels.

She is not sure how long she will have to bottle-feed the puppies.

"I've only done this before with sick puppies - jump - started them and returned them to their mom," Judy said.

Now, Judy is the only mom these puppies will ever know.

After the heartbreak of losing two sickly puppies from the kennel's last litter, Judy promised her husband she would not play mom again.

"It's been very time-consuming," she said. "A lot of breeders would just have let nature take its course. But they were healthy, I just couldn't."

She cuddled the tiny pup and gave him a maternal smooch.

He replied by suckling on her chin.