A family portrait
Photo by Cooper’s Chance Animal Rescue
Things are not always what they seem. Take Darcie, above left, for example. She was a stray who was busted for raiding local farms and eating their chickens. Sure sounds like a canine criminal! She was picked up and turned into Cooper’s Chance Animal Rescue, where it was discovered that she was actually starving and pregnant! How’s that for a good reason to eat a chicken?!
Darcie was placed in the Pawsitive Beginnings Puppy Rehabilitation program, which rescues abandoned puppies and homeless mothers with litters, often moments from euthanasia. Dogs lucky enough to enter this program are placed into loving foster homes where they can raise their families and receive the training and medical treatment necessary to give both Mama and her puppies a second chance at life.
Darcie was placed in one such foster home, where she promptly went into labor. After struggling to deliver her first pup, it became obvious that she was in trouble. She was rushed to the ER where an emergency C-section was performed. Three babies were safely delivered, and Darcie made it through with flying colors.
As a service of Pawsitivity, all puppies graduate from their Puppy Training course prior to adoption, and Moms like Darcie receive healthcare and rehabilitation to help them get adopted. Funds provide the vaccinations, spay/neuter, microchip, wellness exams, training, food and shelter until they are adopted by forever families. An Orvis Customer Matching Grant to the Petfinder Foundation helped to fund this and other lifesaving programs in shelters across the country.
So what happened to our poultry-pilfering pooch and her pups? The little ones are doing well, and are nearly old enough to be adopted. As for Darcie, she has already found a home with a human Mom who understands the lengths a girl will go to in order to protect her babies.
Darcie and her pups, chillin’ at the shelter
Photo by Cooper’s Chance Animal Rescue