I have done hundreds of rescue calls for the Humane Society of Cherokee County (Oklahoma) over the years. The mother dog and her puppies I rescued on October 31, 2008 are among the most memorable.
HSCC received a call that there was a mother dog with pups under a shed near a house in the vicinity of the local water treatment plant. The caller said the mother looked like she had been hit by a hoe or a machete. This area of town is notorious and I have been there many times on abandoned and abused dog calls.
My wife and I found the house and the owner showed us the shed where the dogs were located. We could see a large black Lab mix mother underneath and could hear the pups yipping. I was afraid it was going to be difficult to get everybody out and was also worried that the injured mother dog might strongly object. The homeowner, however, produced a bowl of dog food and the mother came quietly out, looked at us and wagged her tail as she walked over to the bowl of food. The sight of her was shocking, to say the least. She is thin as a rail and her wounds were horrendous – one side of the top of her head was split completely open and her back had a very deep gash the size of a sweet potato.
After eating she remained calm as we carefully loaded her into my van. The homeowner called his (skinny) grandson, and with the help of a hoe, he crawled under and slowly coaxed out six beautiful little pups who appeared to be about two weeks old.
We took all of them to a local vet and by 5 pm he had her back and head stitched up. He told us she’d live and we could pick her up the next day. Despite her problems, she continues to nurse the little ones.
I plan to make an abuse report to the local sheriff and DA and provide them with some of the pictures I took of this brave and amazing mother dog.