A pregnant mother dog was surrendered to a shelter just three days before she would give birth to several puppies, including one very special puppy.
When he was born at the shelter, Guinness with just a tiny puppy who was about half the size of the other puppies in a litter. There was no denying he was the runt. But it wasn’t just his small size that was concerning.
A desperate situation
A day after he was born, it was becoming evident that the tiny puppy’s health was declining rapidly. He was struggling to breathe and was making concerning movements. Even the expressions on his face looked like he was fighting for his life.
That’s when the worst possible thing happened.
He stopped breathing.
The shelter worker who was there instantly began pressing on his chest, doing CPR as best as she could on the very tiny pit bull. She didn’t know what was going to happen, but she had to try something. She couldn’t just let him die.
Luckily, her efforts worked, and he began to breathe again. The worker immediately called her boss and asked if she could take the puppy home with her to see if there was anything she could do to keep him alive.
Recovering at home
As soon as she got him home, she gave Guinness a bottle of formula, realizing that part of the problem may have been that the mother dog hadn’t been nursing him, which is an unfortunate situation that can occur with runts. This is especially true when the mother is stressed, which we can assume she was after having recently been surrendered to a shelter while very pregnant. It had been a difficult situation.
The puppy instantly latched onto the bottle and began drinking with enthusiasm. He still had some fight left in him. Over the next few days, his health would begin to show improvement. He was no longer hanging in the balance between life and death. He was turning into an active puppy. According to the woman who took him in, he would also turn out to have a rather adorable stubborn streak.
Growing from tiny to not so tiny
However, he still had a few obstacles in his way before everything would be okay. When he started to walk, the woman who had taken him in noticed that he was really only using his front legs. She had to help him exercise his back legs by holding him, so it looked like he was walking standing up. It gave him a chance to build up the muscles in those back legs – it also led to some really adorable moments.
Finding a home and a family
By the time he was six weeks old, the woman who had bottle-fed him since he was only a day old knew that he had to stay with her. There was no denying that he had already found a huge place in her heart. After all, they had been through together, there was no letting go for either of them.
She kept track of his growth over the next year and it did not stop. He is now a full-sized and goofy pit bull with one of the best owners on the planet – something we are sure Guinness would agree with.
We’re so glad this story had a happy ending for both of them.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
