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1:28am

The Saga of the Rescue of Mama Savvy & her pups

It was the worst possible place to try and catch a dog, but the half-acre grassy area was what mother dog called home. It was surrounded on all sides by either Hwy 18, the exit and entrance ramp onto and off Interstate 20 and by I-20 itself. She and her companion had managed to survive for about two years, sleeping under the bridge and living on occasional handouts from kind strangers and scraps from the nearby IHOP. Unfortunately her companion’s luck ran out when he was hit on the interstate. Three weeks later mother dog gave birth to a litter of puppies. Elizabeth Jackson with Animal Rescue Fund had been trying to get her on and off for about ten months. When the puppies were born Elizabeth contacted Community Animal Rescue and Adoption (CARA). They immediately went into action. CARA and ARF went out and gathered up her pups, six of them. Then plans were hatched to catch mother dog. A live trap was set up with food and the pups. But her survival instincts were too strong to enter a trap, even for her pups. The pups went home with Christy Bullock to be bottle-fed. Christy had been seeing her as she went to and from work each day. Monday and Tuesday CARA staff along with ARF and volunteers patiently tried to lure her close enough to be leashed. She hadn’t lived on her own for so long to be caught that easily. Janet Madden arrived at the scene early Wednesday morning and discovered another puppy. She then called Jerri Bennett who came to help look for more pups. A passer by stopped to help and chanced upon the last pup lying in the tall grass. Mamma dog no longer felt the need to defend her area and for the next four days Janet managed to gain her trust enough to hand feed her treats but at the slightest twitch mother dog was off like a shot. Marita Smith discovered Mama dog’s favorite treat was bacon. She was fed sedatives wrapped in bacon but retained her awareness enough to avoid capture. On the sixth day, a Sunday, Janet and her brother, Porter arrived back on site at 6:00 am. After 5 hours, hope was beginning to wane, when one last idea was born. Cathy Gatlin had the idea to bring out and set up a Priefert pen. A Priefert pen is made up of individual welded kennel panels that can be broken down and reassembled easily. It was set up on site and food and puppies were placed inside. The door was rigged with a rope that could be slammed shut should she enter the pen. Now the wait was on again. After a couple of hours, curiosity got the best of her and she went inside. Porter, who had patiently lain in the grass about 5 feet from the pen, slammed shut the gate and he and Janet lassoed her before she could come over the top. And on the seventh day, we all rested. For the first time in a week CARA staff, ARF, and volunteers could sleep easy knowing mother dog is now safe at the shelter, reunited with her pups. Hopefully these cute pups will find loving homes and mother dog, now named Savvy, will be rehabilitated and adopted as well.
The saga of “Savvy the Mother Dog” had a happy ending thanks to the teamwork of a group of ladies who would not give up on her or her pups. Happy endings are not in store for most animals dumped on the side of the road. Starvation, getting hit by traffic, or disease usually happens before rescue. Had they not been rescued, the pups would have met several possible fates. Fire ants, picked off by big red-tailed hawks that patrol the sides of interstates or killed when the tractor mowers cut the interstate grass in the summer. Had they not met any of these horrific ends they would have been surely killed by the never-ending traffic.
This mother dog was more than likely dumped because she was a female and someone did not want her to have puppies at their house.
ARF and CARA are united in their effort to promote neuter/spay of all pets and hopefully one day in the future stories like this will be a rarity.