Dog mama gets reunited with her puppies

March 10, 2016 2:22 PM

Scared dog + lost puppies = happy dog. With pics and video.
posted by phunniemee (37 comments total)

The terrible things people do to dogs keep me awake at night sometimes. Thanks for posting the happy stuff, it helps!
posted by WalkerWestridge at 2:32 PM on March 10, 2016 [6 favorites]

That happy reunion video made my whole day better.
posted by ilovewinter at 2:32 PM on March 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Oh god, poor Molesley...
posted by Naberius at 2:33 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I just love animals so much. So so much.
posted by JenThePro at 2:35 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

oh my godddd the mama dog looks like a long-legged version of my family's dog when she was a puppy

I WANT THEM ALL
posted by burgerrr at 2:36 PM on March 10, 2016

Get ready to cry watching this scared Marin rescue dog reunite with her puppies

I WAS BORN READY
posted by penduluum at 2:37 PM on March 10, 2016 [47 favorites]

Seeing as mom was already named Cora, the puppies were named after more Downton Abbey characters. The three male pups were dubbed Branson, Carson and Molesley; the single female is Edith.

Ah, Marin County, please continue to do nothing to change my stereotypical perception of you.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:43 PM on March 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

I just love animals so much. So so much.

Me too. Don't tell anyone here, but sometimes A LOT more than people. (See also the story accompanying vids. What pieces of shit gave up the mother/kept the puppies?)
posted by NorthernLite at 3:00 PM on March 10, 2016 [7 favorites]

Thank you, phunniemee! This really helped today.

Oh god, poor Molesley...

Maybe the new owner can rename him Fido?
posted by Kevin Street at 3:02 PM on March 10, 2016

we had a pretty traumatic vet experience yesterday and this video has done so much to help me remember how kind and selfless those who work with our animals usually are.
posted by nadawi at 3:19 PM on March 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

Best. Post. EVAR!!!
posted by eriko at 3:31 PM on March 10, 2016

while it's easy to find homes for the puppies, it's often difficult to find homes for mom

In other words, enjoy the reunion while it lasts.
posted by Nelson at 3:44 PM on March 10, 2016

Rough day rescuing an injured bird today... Between this and tinykittens, I feel a bit better.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 3:49 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

In other words, enjoy the reunion while it lasts.

It's not unreasonable to split puppies away from their mom after they have weaned. Given the publicity here, it's possible that they'll be able to find a home that can accept 5 dogs, but I would generally expect them to be separated when the time is right.

The problem here came from the "surrenderers" giving up on mom because they wanted to keep the cute puppies, and doing it before the pups could live on their own. Which makes them not just assholes, but stupid assholes.
posted by sparklemotion at 3:49 PM on March 10, 2016 [21 favorites]

I swear there's a moment after they begin mobbing her and fighting to nurse when she looks at the humans as if to say "Oh my god what have you done please take them back."
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:02 PM on March 10, 2016 [14 favorites]

This is my local Humane Society and they do a great job. I volunteered there in the 70's when they were still taking in wild critters and livestock. We'd always get litters of baby skunks and raccoons that well-meaning people would bring in thinking they'd been "abandoned" by mom, when really she was just out hunting. We also had an Angus steer, Berkshire hog (he was huuuuge!) and a burro and donkey. It was a lot of fun.
posted by agatha_magatha at 4:13 PM on March 10, 2016 [12 favorites]

Get ready to cry watching this scared Marin rescue dog reunite with her puppies

It turns out I am exemplary at following these sorts of commands!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:15 PM on March 10, 2016 [7 favorites]

AWWWW
posted by Bringer Tom at 4:25 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

while it's easy to find homes for the puppies, it's often difficult to find homes for mom

I adopted a puppy who was born in a rescue (the mom came in as a pregnant stray). Anyway, the mom still lives with her rescue foster mom who adopted and kept her. It may have been partly that the mom was harder to adopt out, bit they also really loved those dogs and wanted to keep the dog. They were left crying when I adopted my dog and took her away.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:07 PM on March 10, 2016

There's a big difference between separating a mom from her puppies at 4 weeks (as these are) and 12 weeks (when the humane society normally puts them up for adoption.) In a couple of months, the maternal hormones will have dialed down, she'll be discouraging them from nursing, leaving them alone more. I.e., they'll all be much more ready for separation; in fact, if she's like a lot of mom dogs, she'll be damn glad for some alone time around then! Of course, it'd be nice if she's rehomed with one of them, companionship is good for dogs, and I saw some offers to do just that on the facebook page.
posted by tavella at 5:11 PM on March 10, 2016 [6 favorites]

Who's a good dog! and WHO ARE GOOD PUPPIES!
posted by rmd1023 at 5:40 PM on March 10, 2016 [6 favorites]

I adopted a local stray that was pregnant. I didn't know she was pregnant, she just kept trying to get into people's houses in my friend's neighborhood, but didn't actually belong to anyone. Most of those people couldn't have cats, or didn't like cats, or were allergic to cats - but she'd sit outside the door and try to scoot inside as soon as they opened it. My friend invited me over after this happened to her (knowing I had a cat-shaped hole in my life) and when I sat on the ground, the cat ran over to me immediately and curled up in my lap, purring and nuzzling. Welp.

So I took her to the vet - the vet didn't know she was pregnant either, it must have been VERY recent. He gave her all her shots and I took her home, with the intent to get her spayed a little later (I thought it was going to cost me a lot.)

I'd only had boy cats before, so I didn't actually notice/think anything was weird until she looked like a basketball with legs. I asked the vet what I should do. He said it's possible to spay her and remove the kittens, but that she's pretty much about to pop anyway - if I'm okay with having kittens around and can make sure they get good homes... (which turned out easy, she taught them everything and they were adorable and friendly.)

The point is that as soon as the last one was gone I went down to a local animal rescue and got a coupon for a discounted spaying. When I explained my situation, everyone at the shelter acted like I was some kind of superhero for keeping the mom. I was shocked. Why wouldn't I keep her, she's the one I adopted and fell in love with in the first place? They said that it's sadly common for people who have a pregnant pet to ditch mom and keep baby/babies instead. :-(
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 7:24 PM on March 10, 2016 [26 favorites]

gloriouslyincandescent, you live up to your name! What a sweet story.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:39 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

The wildly wagging tail is what warmed my heart. What a sweet moment.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:25 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Great story!! We adopted a pup who had been born to a mom, hit by a car. The mom was brought in to a local vet and her two puppies were born two days later. Everyone survived, barely.... It was so fun (and difficult) to go visit our new baby for the next 12 weeks until she was ready to go with us. This was way before we had human children so we went 2-3 nights a week after work. I think that awesome vet staff was glad to send us all off together. We drove them crazy.
posted by pearlybob at 8:57 PM on March 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Our Molly was given up to us because she had kittens and the previous owner "had too many cats now". They told us she was 2 years old. 2! Whatever, their loss.
posted by like_neon at 1:20 AM on March 11, 2016 [5 favorites]

My favorite part was how she didn't retreat to her bed to be alone with her puppies. She cuddled into the woman instead. Like she wanted the human to be part of the happy event, too. Dogs are great.*

*No dogs at our house yet, because I have a 4 yo, 3 yo, and 8 month old. I identified a LOT with that mama dog tripping all over the kids swarming her.
posted by that's how you get ants at 6:09 AM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

Great. I just got into the office and now I want to go home and schnuggle with my schmoo!
posted by Sophie1 at 6:55 AM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

This makes things so much better. All the things.
posted by Splunge at 7:04 AM on March 11, 2016

Me too. Don't tell anyone here, but sometimes A LOT more than people.

Honestly, this thread specifically and Metafilter in general is probably one of the safest spaces I can imagine making this statement.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:34 AM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

The cutest part? Cora keeps running back to the dog carrier to make sure no puppies are missing. All present and accounted for, pup!

Well... the people who surrendered the puppies were willing to lie in order to keep them. Why suppose they were telling the truth when they said that there were only four? Cora might be searching for her fifth puppy, which makes this video sort of bittersweet.
posted by painquale at 7:44 AM on March 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Well... the people who surrendered the puppies were willing to lie in order to keep them. Why suppose they were telling the truth when they said that there were only four? Cora might be searching for her fifth puppy, which makes this video sort of bittersweet.

And now you ruined it and we're all sad.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:04 AM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

while it's easy to find homes for the puppies, it's often difficult to find homes for mom

And yet my immediate thought when I saw this a couple days ago was "what a lovely little dog." I'm not a big puppy fan but if that dog weren't all the way across the country I would have taken her in a hot minute.
posted by dlugoczaj at 8:21 AM on March 11, 2016

painquale: The Humane Society visited the home, and they seem pretty confident they got all the puppies, and that she's just investigating it because she's surprised to have them appear out of it. Notice she doesn't keep looking -- after a couple of passes she's more interested in getting pets from the human and settling down to nurse.
posted by tavella at 9:15 AM on March 11, 2016 [2 favorites]

Am I the only one who thinks there's at least one pup missing? Watch the mother's body-language from the moment she sees the first puppies—tail wagging, active, attentive, smelling them and checking them—and then after she's checked the four she repeatedly checks the carrier, inside and out, even while the pups are trying to nurse, she stops the big tail movement, and then she goes to the handler and adopts a pose that I recognise as "Please give me something." She's looking for a missing pup.

Edit: I'm with Painquale
posted by Hogshead at 9:59 AM on March 11, 2016

I've seen my own dog see us come home, sniff, greet, and get petted by us each in turn then check the door, sniff us each again, check the door. The number of times she repeats the loop depends on how long we've been gone and how much energy she happens to have.

Dogs do all kinds of weird stuff when they're super excited.

I'm not saying that she isn't checking for a missing pup, just that there are other plausible explanations.
posted by VTX at 5:38 PM on March 11, 2016

dumping a new mom and keeping the babies=Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 5:42 PM on March 11, 2016