Their exhausted mom was waiting for help nearby.
A Calming Woodland Encounter Turns Chaotic
There’s nothing more calming than trekking through the woods and reconnecting with the wildlife around you. But for one pair of adventurers in Missouri, a relaxing woodland walk quickly turned into a chaotic mission to save 11 lives at once.
A Shocking Discovery
It all started when the pair of Good Samaritans spotted a cluster of furry bodies huddled around a tree trunk just off the hiking trail. As they closed in on the fluffy pile, they were shocked to discover a litter of newborn dogs.
“Imagine walking through the woods and stumbling upon … a pile of puppies!” Stray Rescue of St. Louis (SRSL) wrote on Facebook. Next to the puppies lay their nurturing but heartbroken mom, who seemed too frightened by the Good Samaritans to trust them. She didn’t run away or attempt to defend her babies; instead, she diverted her gaze and focused on her puppies.
Gaining Trust
But her new human friends refused to ignore her.
“Thankfully, they made it their duty to help them and get them to safety!” SRSL’s Natalie Thomson shared. The Good Samaritans worked on gaining the mama dog’s trust and eventually managed to carry the entire family to their car. With a litter of 10 puppies and their exhausted mom in tow, they rushed to SRSL’s headquarters, where the little family received the medical attention they desperately needed.
Health and Nurturing Nature
To the SRSL team’s surprise, the puppies were generally healthy and plump, while their mom showed signs of severe malnourishment and dehydration. They weren’t sure how long the pups had been surviving on their own, but it was evident that the mama dog had drained herself to care for her babies.
“She is so nurturing,” Thomson said. “She is not protective, but rather, she seems to want to help with all these babies! She let us hold them when they came in and pet her, although she was very shy and not sure what to do with all that affection.” The SRSL staff showered the mama dog with as much love as she felt comfortable with and provided a quiet, cozy space for her to decompress with her babies.
A Unique Naming Inspiration
While they searched for an emergency foster home for the family, the team came up with the perfect set of names inspired by their annual golf tournament fundraiser that kicked off on the day of the pups’ rescue.
“Because this sweet family came in on the day of our golf tournament, we named Mama ‘Mary, Queen of Scots’ (the first-ever recorded female golfer), and her babies are ‘dogified’ professional golfers,” Thomson explained. The pups were named Ricky Howler, Roary McIlroy, Tiger Woofs, Graeme McHowel, Betsy Jawls, Inbee Bark, Doggie Pepper, Louis Puggs, Arnold Pawmer, and Woofy Austin.
A Loving Foster Home
A few days later, one of SRSL’s dedicated foster moms, Megan Percell, welcomed the little family of golfers into her home. With a free-feeding nutrition plan and an abundance of love from their foster mom, Mary, Queen of Scots, and her babies are now finally on the road to recovery.
“We are so thankful that one of our foster families came to get this sweet family and take them home so she can continue to nurse in peace,” Thomson said. “She is also eating unlimited food, so she can finally get the calories and nourishment she needs while nursing all those babies.”
Looking Ahead
Percell and the rest of the SRSL team are excited to see Mary and her babies continue to grow. They hope to find everyone loving adoptive homes in a few months, once the puppies are old enough to be separated from their mom and Mary has regained her weight.
Until then, Mary, Queen of Scots, is soaking up all the warmth and snuggles her foster family has to give while raising her cherished litter of resilient puppies.