Mama Dog Who Lived In Junkyard Is So Happy Her Puppies Are Safe Now
“You can tell she’s very proud of them, and she takes really good care of them."
For years, the only home the dogs knew was a junkyard in an alleyway in Baltimore. While they’d technically been owned by someone, the owner had recently passed away, and the dogs had been fending for themselves ever since.
Thankfully, someone alerted animal control.
When the officers arrived a few weeks ago, they found two dogs — a male Labrador mix and a petite golden-furred female who’d be named Goldilocks. But as the officers were getting the dogs onto their transport vehicle, they heard something — squeaking. A swift search led them to three tiny puppies — two black ones and one brown — huddled behind a junk pile.
“[Goldilocks] had been caring for them, but they just weren’t visible to animal control when they got there,” Maureen Sosa, intake director at the Humane Rescue Alliance, told The Dodo. “But she allowed them to pick her puppies up, and she was very sweet about the whole thing.”
The officers took the dogs back to Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS), and kept them there for their stray hold.
“They wanted to make sure that nobody was going to come forward for them, like a family member,” Sosa said. But no one did.
The male lab mix, who Sosa believes fathered the puppies, was quickly adopted after his stray hold. Goldilocks and her puppies, however, needed more time together — Goldilocks was still nursing, and her puppies needed to get bigger and stronger. So last week, Sosa went to pick them up, and transferred the little family to the shelter run by the Humane Rescue Alliance in Washington, D.C.
“Mom was so sweet,” Sosa said. “She jumped up in my lap and wanted to be pet. Then she climbed right into the crate in the van, and curled up with her puppies and slept the whole ride over.”
Since the mom was already named Goldilocks, the workers at the Humane Rescue Alliance named the puppies Little Bear, Pooh Bear and Baby Bear. “I think it was because she had three little ‘bears,’” Sosa said.
Goldilocks is a bit thin and malnourished, so the shelter staff is giving her extra meals and vitamins to help her gain weight. But nothing has stopped Goldilocks from being a great mother to her puppies.
“She’s an amazing mom,” Sosa said. “She takes really good care of her babies. She tends to them, cleans up after them. You can tell she’s very proud of them, and she takes really good care of them.”