The Friends Litter

This litter of puppies was a true rescue. We often refer to it as our COPS night. A normal rescue for our group involves driving three hours after we get out of work to CT, meeting an ACO at the dog pound, introducing ourselves to the dogs briefly before we put them in crates and drive back to VT, by the time we get home (usually midnight or later) we do what we need to to settle the dogs and fall into bed. Those are long nights and they are really more exhausting than exciting. This rescue had drama!

We had a phone call from a woman in the city that had a litter of puppies she could not take care of and she wanted to surrender them to us. Normally we do not take any owner surrenders but we knew if she had been given our contact information that the situation was probably grim.

We drove to CT and met an officer at her house. Although he could not go into the house with us he did wait outside to make sure we were safe.

We had been given some advice about going to this house, like not to go without an officer, my husband and a phone. Not to enter the building etc. As we walked toward the house a man opened the door and told me we would need to go into to get the puppies out. I could hear the voice of reason saying don't go in... as I passed the man in the doorway and headed down the hall.

A woman at the end of the hall handed me the puppies and we passed them out to each other. They were limp in our hands, bony little skeletons missing their hair and energy. We rushed out of the house and got into the car. I think we were all wondering if we were too late to save them, but as we pulled away from the house their little tails started to wag and we thought they might make it. They were absolutely starving to death so we stopped at the nearest 24 hour store and bought them some food and water.

The feeding frenzy that took place next would rival the intensity of any school of sharks, seeing the way these babies were fighting for the food was heart breaking.

The hair loss was from malnutrition and it soon became very clear that all these puppies had been eating was cat litter. It was a week before they started to slow down the eating and drinking and trust that more food would come. They thrived in foster care, gained weight, grew back all of their hair, wrestled in the grass and played like normal puppies. All of the Friends puppies were adopted and given second chances at lives they almost did not have.-Shane