Tiny Dog Rescued From Streets Feels So Safe Around Giant New Siblings
“Basiel and Julie love it when she jumps up and licks their heads. It’s so cute to see them together that way.”
There was something about Molly that Marie Mattart just couldn’t resist. As soon as she saw the dog’s photo on the website for Gaia Dogs, a rescue group in the Netherlands, Mattart knew she wanted to adopt her.
“I immediately felt she was the one,” Mattart told The Dodo.
And Mattart was right — not only did Molly bond with Mattart herself, but she got along with the other rescue animals in Mattart’s family, including two Saint Bernard dogs, a goat, a pony, a donkey and six cats.
Before being adopted by Mattart, Molly and her sibling had a rough start to life — last year, they were found living next to a river in Greece. People eventually noticed the two puppies and alerted a local rescuer, who took the puppies into her care.
From there, Molly and her sibling were transported to a shelter run by Gaia Dogs, a Dutch rescue group that helps rescue dogs from Greece. Then she went to live with Mattart in Belgium.
Molly was only 4 months old when Mattart adopted her — still very much a baby — and she never wanted to be alone. Even now, Molly craves company over solitude.
“She doesn’t like to be without her humans,” Mattart said. “Whenever she has been without one of us for even only half an hour, she gets so excited and starts squeaking and squealing when we get home. Maybe she remembers being left as a puppy.”
It’s not just people who Molly loves to be around — she also connected with Basiel, Mattart’s dad’s 3-year-old Saint Bernard, whom he rescued from a shelter in France, as well as Julie, Mattart’s own 6-year-old Saint Bernard, despite the dogs being much bigger than her.
“When Molly met the dogs for the first time, she was scared as hell,” Mattart said. “She sought cover underneath the car. Step by step, we then introduced her — slowly, at her pace. We made sure she was comfortable.”
Once she was comfortable, Molly couldn’t get enough of Basiel and Julie.
“Molly just needed a little time to realize that Basiel and Julie are big, gentle giants,” Mattart said. “Basiel and Julie love it when she jumps up and licks their heads. It’s so cute to see them together that way.”
Molly also loves playing with Mattart’s rescue goat, Hans.
“It didn’t take long before she was chasing the goat and playfully biting his legs and nibbling at his horns,” Mattart said.
Molly loves Mattart’s cats too.
“The oldest [cat] is 18 years old, Mauwie, and she’s Molly’s nap buddy,” Mattart said. “They can often be found napping together on the couch or on Molly’s big pillow. She’s old and somehow Molly understands that, and she’s always really calm around Mauwie.”
“With the other cats, [Molly’s] more playful and she teases them,” Mattart added. “She loves to chase them or jump in front of them when they walk by. Sometimes it’s the other way, and the cats are chasing Molly. It’s very cute to see.”
Seeing how much Molly loves people, dogs, cats and goats, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when Molly made friends with Mattart’s donkey and pony, who are also rescues.
“The donkey and the pony are Molly’s buddies too,” Mattart said. “Whenever she’s on their pasture, they get all excited and start running around the pasture with Molly chasing them. Their names are Astrid and Annabelle, and they’re two big sweeties.”
When Molly doesn’t have people or animals to interact with, she finds comfort in her stuffed animals.
“She has them in all sorts — a cow, a giraffe, a chicken, a duck,” Mattart said. “She loves to play with them, especially when they make squeaky noises.”
Molly is so full of love that sometimes she can be a teensy bit annoying to the others — especially the cats.
“Sometimes she wants to play with the cats and chase them but they don’t appreciate that all the time,” Mattart said. “Mostly they do like it, but when they want to rest or sleep, they don’t like it.”
And spending time with all of her friends can definitely be exhausting for Molly.
“After chasing the donkey, the pony and the goats with her short legs, our little girl gets really tired at the end of the day, and she loves nothing more than literally getting under the covers of our bed and sleeping through the night,” Mattart said.
But for the most part, everyone gets along brilliantly.
“We think all of our animals get along so well because being a rescue makes a bond between them,” Mattart said. “They all have something to teach each other. We truly believe that’s why they live perfectly in harmony as a family.”
