A mother dog who lost her entire litter has adopted 10 puppies whose mother recently died. Their union gives the mother and the newborn pups a chance to bond and learn from one another, their rescuer said.
When a dog named Poppy recently gave birth to a litter of pups, the birth ended in tragedy. Poppy died, leaving behind 10 newborns.
Poppy had been adopted through Ruff Start Rescue, an animal rescue shelter in Princeton, Minnesota. She had been adopted by the Johnson family. After Poppy died, the Johnsons knew they had to act quickly to keep her newborn pups alive.
"We frantically started figuring out our next move with the babies," Poppy's foster parent Lexi Johnson told KARE. "Throughout the evening my husband and I were up every 3 hours getting food in their bellies... and it was taking over 1.5 hours each time."
Soon though, the Johnsons heard about another mother dog who had recently experienced her own tragedy. A dog named Pepper had delivered an entire litter on a nearby reservation, but none of the pups survived.
Sensing that the two might need one another, the Johnsons invited Pepper's handlers to bring the dog to their home. They wanted to see how she would react to the pups.
Johnson said that upon entering the room containing the puppies, Pepper immediately sat down next to them. Lexi Johnson then began placing the puppies next to Pepper, and she laid down on her side. Sensing her presence, the other puppies began wandering towards her and started nursing, Johnson said.
"I cried again last night but these tears were happy tears," Johnson said in a Facebook post. "Tears knowing that mama Poppy would be so appreciative of Pepper taking over the mama role".
Johnson shared the story and photos with Ruff Start Rescue, and the shelter shared the story with their followers. Pepper's adopted puppies won't be old enough to adopt until the end of the month. Nevertheless, the shelter said that several people have already stepped forward and offered to adopt several of the pups.
For now though, the orphaned pups and their newly adoptive mother have some important bonding to do.
"The babies were all thriving with their humans," Johnson wrote in a Facebook post, "but the best place for them is with a mama who can not only give them some good milk, but teach them dog things, behaviors we as humans can't."
Newsweek contacted Ruff Start Rescue for comment.
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