Sad mom asks rescuers to save her puppies in a pipe

In my experience having fed stray dogs for a few years, I’ve come across puppies many times. The mother will do her best to give birth somewhere hidden away to stop people or other animals harming her babies. I came across one mother dog last year who gave birth to puppies in a local park. She found a good hiding spot under bushes but close to a small Chinese wooden pavilion.

It seemed like the perfect spot but unfortunately it turned out that people could get to the puppies easily from the pavilion by reaching down in a small gap. I kept watch as much as possible and when I returned the next day the puppies were all gone.

Sometimes people take them because they think they are a cute pet, or maybe somebody wants to help them. People here often don’t realise that it’s much more difficult for a newborn puppy to survive without their mother, they need feeding often and the nutrients from their mothers milk are far more effective.

Newborn puppies also can’t use the bathroom themselves so they need their mother or someone experienced who knows how to help stimulate a puppy to goto the bathroom. It’s a bad idea to take puppies from their mother unless you really need to.

Anyway, back to the story of a mother dog and her puppies hidden in a pipe in northeast China. I came across this video and story online and I want to share it with you because it’s a touching story and shows a mothers efforts to hide her puppies but then her desperation and need for help.

In the photo above is a mother dog inside a tunnel which she has chosen as a safe place to hide her young puppies. A good choice to protect from the weather and a narrow space which would be easier to guard than a bush or somewhere more exposed. A rescue group in northeast China hear about this mother dog.

She was often seen at the side of a road where locals would sometimes stop to put down some food for her. On this day she seemed to be more distressed. The rescuers arrived and were soon able to pet her. She began to lead them through the grass, amazingly, stopping now and then to check that she was being followed.

She led them all the way to this pipe where her puppies were hidden. She must have been very desperate or worried about her puppies to risk bringing somebody to them. Dogs will do anything to protect and make sure nobody gets close to their puppies but in this case she wanted them to be found. She must have known it was her only chance of saving her babies.

Even though she led the rescuers to her hiding place, when they went close to the puppies she stood in the way. She brought them here to help her puppies but motherly instinct kicked in and she didn’t want to let them close. It didn’t take much persuasion to get her to move though, a little bit of food often helps you guide a starving dog into a cage to rescue them or move them somewhere safer so you can help them out. When I rescue animals I often use boiled chicken, I haven’t met many strays who will turn down some freshly boiled chicken. In this case the meat they used worked wonders and the man was able to pick up the puppies.

He put them into the carry cage with the mother and took them back to their rescue centre. They are give food, water and a room to shelter in. They are an adorable family of dogs, it’s so heartwarming to see a mother saved from the streets with her puppies too. After rescuing puppies like these, you need to wait until they are about 6-8 weeks old to begin giving them their vaccinations agains dangerous diseases . During this time they need to be kept somewhere disease free, it’s a risky time especially in a rescue centre where lots of animals have been and diseases are more likely to be present.

The puppies are adorable. Thank goodness they were rescued from the streets. If they grew a little bigger and started to walk around it would have become much more difficult for their mom to protect them. Even though mother dogs will do their best to be firm and warn their puppies of dangers, puppies are full of energy and curiosity and I’ve seen many stray puppies playing on roads and running into dangerous locations while their mother tried to warn them. Every day I read or see a story of animals rescued off the streets I feel happy because it’s such a life changing moment and often their only chance of survival. If you’d like to view their video I’ll post it below, I’m not associated with this group but thank them for sharing this beautiful story.