Angel’s Story
Notified by a kind soul that fed this stray dog for a while, telling us she was now pregnant and very concerned about her, Michele and I went to get her. As often happens with uncontained dogs, she was not around to find. Later in the day, she returned and we were able to get her.
In settling her in to her new digs, she exhibited a strange startling movement and Michele noticed that her mucous plug had released. Anticipating birth sooner than we expected, Michele took her to our vet immediately.
The x-rays showed 6 pups and yes, she would be delivering sooner than later.
We knew that dad dog is a very large black lab, and mama being only a small medium size girl, we were concerned if she could deliver them safely.
Michele took the lead on this case, thank you, thank you!! She contacted Connie at CWW Feed store and they offered to take her in and care for her. They quickly got together a whelping pen insulated with straw bales and soft blankets. We bought a pet heating pad for it and heat lamps were also installed.
Meanwhile, I was waiting to hear back from the two Colorado Puppy Rescue groups I had contacted. Because we don’t have foster homes for birthing moms, we try to get pregnant moms to one of these groups, who do have foster homes for this situation.
I had already contacted several groups in town who have a few foster homes and they were all full.
Sure enough, the following evening, Mama dog started delivering the pups in the afternoon. The first 5 were born and all good. The last pup was stillborn. Three black and two chocolate brown pups. Angel is a great mama for her young age (she is under a year old).
The next morning, the message came through that she was accepted by the Colorado rescue group. Natalie at Heart and Soul Sanctuary in Glorieta made this connection with the rescue group happen. She agreed to put Angel and pups on her transport that was also taking two other pregnant mamas to this group. Because a medical certificate is needed for them to cross state lines, Natalie arranged for her vet to take in the family the day before the transport left. I drove Angel and pups to her Santa Fe vet for an overnight stay with them.
The next morning, Angel and pups were loaded into the Heart and Soul Sanctuary transport van going north to Brighton, CO. I could finally take a deep breath and stop worrying about them.
Without Michele, and the CWW crew, Natalie at Heart and Soul Sanctuary and Lifeline Puppy Rescue, this would never have been possible. Six lives were saved. If we had delayed in rescuing her by just a few days, those pups would have been born in the cold winter outdoors………….and most likely not survived. Mama is the sweetest dog that so deserved to be saved.
