Donna, who works at Stray Rescue of St. Louis, is always keeping an eye out for stray animals or animals in need. When she saw a dog walking down the road by herself, she knew she was a stray and probably needed help.
She followed the dog, and when she got closer, she realized the dog was full of milk.
She must be a mother with puppies nearby. That’s when Donna realized the rescue was going to be a little more complicated. She couldn’t just take the mother, or else the puppies wouldn’t survive.
She now had a whole family to save. She was going to have to wait it out until the mother led her to the puppies, so she could take them, too. She assumed the mother dog was out searching for food and would return to the puppies once she had eaten.
Donna put out some food for her and waited.
Sure enough, once the mother dog was done eating, she went right back to the pups. Donna followed her and prepared to load the whole family up in her car. The dog led her back to the woods and to a pile of brush.
Donna could hear the cries of puppies, but they seemed to be coming from every direction. She assumed there was a bunch of them. Then she realized she was just hearing one puppy cry and the other sounds were just echoes.
She followed the sounds and came to a pipe in the ground.
Inside was a scared puppy. She was trapped and calling out for help. Donna picked the pup up, held her close to comfort her, and put her in her car. As soon as the puppy knew she was safe, she started wagging her tail.
Donna set out to find the other puppies. She heard the mom bark deeper in the woods, so she followed her, and sure enough, there were more puppies. Four more to be exact. She loaded all the puppies in the car and then went back for the mother, but she couldn’t find her. She waited around for a few hours, but the mother dog never came back. Donna decided to come back and look for her the next day.
She took the puppies back to the shelter and then found the mother, as well as another female dog.
The shelter staff thought the dogs were just friends but soon realized the dog was a pup from a previous litter. She had just chosen to stay with her mom and young siblings.
The older pup was able to be rescued, but the mom still ran away. Donna and another rescuer tried to get her, but they couldn’t, so they had to leave her again. Then they came up with a plan. They would go back the next day with a cage, and inside, they would put the puppies’ soiled blanket. The mom would smell the scent of her puppies and go into the cage looking for them.
It worked, and they were finally able to rescue the mother and bring her back to the shelter.
Now that all the dogs are safe, they will stay at the shelter until they can be adopted into new homes. The rescuers are relieved that they were able to get all the dogs and that the mother is no longer in the woods trying to care for all her puppies.
Donna said:
“It’s just the most awesome feeling to know she’s not out there by herself anymore.”
The shelter hopes that someone might want to adopt some of the dogs together, but if not, they hope the dogs can all find safe, loving homes.
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