Last summer I recieved a call from a lady in Washington county,PA reporting that there was a bunch of dogs being kept along a country roadside. The "owners" had 6 dogs that they kept outside, each chained to a dog house with no insulation or warmth. A neighbor of theirs called us one day and told us about these dogs. My dad and I drove the 30 min trip to where the dogs were to see how bad of conditions the dogs were being kept, only to discover that the one female dog had 5 puppies, all were females. There was a puppy in every different color. A dark brown one, tan one, yellow one , grey one and black/white one. The mother, a lab/chesapeake bay retriever mix (whom we named Lucy) had dug a hole in the concrete-like cement and put her puppies inside since the owners gave absolutely no care to the puppies who appeared to be about 11 days old . None of the dogs had water or food and were obviously lacking in health. The people caring for them were all older and did not seem to really care what the fate of these puppies was. At this time, we already had 3 other dogs in the rescue and were in no way ready to take in a mother and her 5 nursing pups. Instead, I went home and rented a U-HAUL truck and brought out a big 6 x8 foot kennel. We set it up and put Lucy and her pups inside of it. My goal was to keep them safe in the kennel until they were old enough to leave their mom and then find them homes.
A week later I recieved a call from the neighbor saying that the people took down the kennel we set up and "freed" the puppies because they thought the mother dog didnt like her puppies anymore, which was a total lie. Within an hour my dad and I were at the roadside spot where the dogs were being kept and were searching for the puppies who were now somewhere in the wilderness. We found the first two close to where the kennel was set up but could not find the other 3 The other two puppies I found after a few minutes of walking through high grasses and weeds .We then found out that the one puppy (a beautiful grey one who I already had a home lined up for) had been hit by a car and killed. This was all simply because the careless owners took down the kennel that was a safe haven for them. We later found out that the true reason they took down the kennel was because they wanted to use it as a "chicken coup" instead .
The first thing I noticed was how much smaller and skinnier the blonde puppy was. She looked very malnourished and weak. She had a "worble" which is a parasite that stays in the neck of the dog it goes in and feeds off of the food that the animal takes in. We performed minor surgery to remove it from her neck. After that I immediately went to the pet store and got puppy milk supplement to "nurse" the puppies, who were no more then 4 weeks old. From then on, I nursed the puppies using a bottle every 4 hours and had to moniter their weight and health to make sure they all were growing the way they should.
After 3 weeks of bottle feeding,playing and vet visits, they all found wonderful homes.
Not long after, We went back down to the road where the dogs were being kept and took in both the mother, lucy and father, Charlie. Both dogs had not had much interaction with people and were very frightened. It took quite a few weeks and expensive vet bills to prepare them for new homes. These days, Both dogs live in wonderful homes where they are spoiled.
All of the roadside dogs lived happily ever after =) special thanks to all the people who opened up their hearts and homes to these dogs.
