Wondermutt Momma and her 8 Amazing Pups!

 

 
I have evidence that when we put our hearts, minds, and muscle together- good things happen. Fortunately for the homeless dog who delivered eight puppies under the floor of an abandoned house in west Dallas, people came together for her. Mom and pups are now safe- but waiting for foster homes, funding, and soon new families to call their own.

Back in July, Chuck Williams, dog lover and nightshift security guard for a strip mall in west Dallas, noticed a very pregnant and starving dog wandering the streets in search of food. “She comes out at night to eat any garbage she can find and crickets drawn to the lampposts.” He started feeding her and made friends. Because he could not stand the thought of the dog delivering her puppies without a home he sent an email to any rescue group he could find asking for help. Elaine Jones of Feral Friends received Chuck’s email and forwarded it to Take Me Home Pet Rescue. “It seemed like a desperate situation and you seem to be able to corral the right people to help in these really tough situations,” reported Elaine.


After a few emails to fellow rescuers we had a team lined up and ready to go.. Rebecca Poling of the Dallas Pet Examiner, who has a resume a mile long in animal rescue, contacted Elaine Munch, President of Metroplex Animal Coalition and Jean Paul (JP) Bonnelly, long time volunteer for Operation Kindness. Together they hatched a plan to rescue the dog.


JP has a reputation for catching dogs that don’t want to be caught in the Dallas area. You may have seen the black lab running up and down LBJ Freeway a few months ago-yes, caught and rehomed by JP. This man has a reputation of not giving up on these homeless and frightened dogs that no one else will venture out to help.


Sadly the dog at the strip mall had delivered the puppies during the time frame it took to organize her rescue and it was not obvious where they had been born. But after visiting the area several times in the late evening and bringing tasty canned dog food JP quickly befriended her and built the trust needed to find the puppies.  Momma dog took to him and started to lead him into the woods and eventually over to a few abandoned houses that backed up to the retail center where Chuck had seen her, but unfortunately there was no sign of the pups.


The evening of August 11th, five volunteers with various degrees of rescue experience met near the strip mall to search again for the puppies.  It had been 3 weeks and the team was worried about the little ones being out in the 100 degree heat!  Momma dog met them at the edge of the woods and they headed back to the abandoned houses. 

There were several dilapidated buildings and piles of wood, broken glass and tons of junk.  The pups could have been anywhere but through a stroke of good luck, after only a few minutes, Sally Seegers reported they heard a whimper and quickly found the puppies lodged under the floor boards of inside the house. “It took us two more hours in 120 degree heat to remove the flooring and pull the pups out while the momma dog sat beside us and licked each one as they were removed from the hole.”  The team found 8 pups that are in remarkably good condition!  There are 7 brown/white and 1 black/tan/white pup who is now named Chuck.  It was absolutely thrilling to find the puppies and bring them to safety!

Wendy, JP and Momma locating the pups under the floor

First Puppy!

Pat and Wendy check on 2 of the pups

One puppy is missing a back leg from what appears be a traumatic injury, however, according to Dr. Aron Neeman of Kindness Small Animal Hospital who is directing their care, “the momma dog took very good care of the injury and it healing without any signs of infection.”

This is one tough little pup!

Sweet Momma checking on her babies

“The very sad thing is we found bones of other dogs and even a rooster as well as many old boarded up dog kennels in and around the house and yard. It appears that this home could have been used as a breeding facility or worse yet, a dog fighting ring at one time,” reports Rekka Melby, one of the rescuers.

Loaded up in the car and on the way to a better life!

Pat, Wendy, JP, Sally, Rekka and Momma Dog

The family will stay together for three more weeks until weaned and then we will need foster homes and adopters!  It would be great if we could find a foster home for the entire family until the pups are weaned. And, we need donations to help cover our expenses.

Take Me Home Pet Rescue is a Richardson based dog and cat rescue group that relies solely on donations and fundraising. For more information go to www.takemehomepetrescue.com.  Donations can also be sent to Take Me Home Pet Rescue at 508 W. Lookout Drive, Suite 14-40, Richardson, TX 75080.  Thank you for your support!