Lacey and Audra Wheeler were on a road trip back home to Ohio from visiting family in Indiana when they saw something strange on the road.
From far away, it looked like it could be a baby deer. After getting closer, they realized that the animal was actually a dog, who seemed to be starving. The dog was attempting to eat road kill because she was so hungry. They passed the dog and immediately realized that the dog was either pregnant or that she had just given birth, and they decided that they couldn’t just let the dog stay on the highway.
They turned around when they could and drove all the way back.
They didn’t find the dog immediately, but heard her barking at them from down a creek. The couple tried to follow the sound of the bark in order to find the dog.
They couldn’t believe what they saw next.
The couple was in for an intense surprise. As they got closer, they realized that the dog had been leading them to her puppies. Right in the creek were three cute puppies that were walking through the ice-cold water. They looked like they were freezing. The couple knew that both the mother and the puppies would not survive very long in the freezing weather, so they decided to pick up all four dogs and bring them to the car.
They turned the heat on in the car for a little bit to warm up all the dogs, and as the minutes went by, they knew that they wouldn’t be able to put the dogs back out on the street.
They decided to drive all the dogs to their home and took the initiative to care for them until they were completely healed and fed.
Lacey believes that the dogs had been dumped on the street by someone because they would not have survived in that type of environment had they been there since birth.
Today, all four dogs are doing great.
The couple, who called the mother Red and the puppies Cinci, Indy, and Louie, are working with the Columbus Dog Connection to find them a foster family. They would love to keep all the dogs at their home, but their current dogs do not enjoy other dogs as much as they had hoped. A foster family will have to take care of the puppies until they are old enough to be given away for adoption. According to the couple, the mother is potty-trained, and the puppies are almost potty-trained, as well.
The Columbus Dog Connection is an organization whose main purpose is to rehome dogs that have been abandoned.
It promotes all shelters and rescues in the state of Ohio and tries to save dogs by getting them adopted.
The couple, who is from Grandview Heights, believes that “everything happens for a reason” and “are glad to get them back in and get them warm during Christmas.” They really hope that their experience will push people to reach out and adopt the three adorable puppies.
They advised people who can’t take care of their dogs anymore to always look for a shelter or rescue organization instead of abandoning a dog on the side of the road.
Had the Wheelers not decided to pull over to check on the starving dog on the side of the road, the puppies might not have survived. They will hopefully soon find a family to adopt the dogs, who are already in much better health!
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