to dog-sit for a few weeks while their foster mom was out of town. Since then, three of these five puppies have been adopted - two are still waiting! They were born in foster care - someone dumped their mom after she got pregnant. If she'd been spayed, it wouldn't have happened.
Next, came several individual puppies - separated from their litter. I fostered Skittles, Reese, Bailey, Pepsi, and Ginger - all young puppies who needed a home. Others also had foster puppies - so many of them! There was Molly and her 9 puppies, a litter of 5 Dachshund/Lab mixes, Dolly and her puppies, and more.Fortunately these have all been adopted. Later in the summer, Heartland took in another whole litter of puppies - Lab/border collie mixes.
There were nine of them, I think. We still have seven of them waiting in foster care for their own homes. The owners of the mother dog got her spayed through a Heartland program as part of the agreement that we take the puppies - so at least next year she won't have another litter of unwanted puppies.
After that, we had these cuties - how could anyone just dump these adorable guys?
They've found homes, but there was immediately another litter waiting. This time, there were two litters of puppies at the same home. Again, we agreed to take the puppies and care for them until they could find homes, but last I heard, the owners still haven't taken in the adult dogs which they kept to be spayed/neutered - even though Heartland offered to pay for it!! The first litter had five lab mix puppies - this is Rosemary, one of the five. Four of these puppies are still waiting to be adopted.
The other litter from that home was made up of 7 Australian Shepherd mix puppies. This is Lily Rose, one of the 7 puppies. All seven are waiting to be adopted - they will be ready for adoption this weekend.
Then, last weekend, a volunteer driving home almost ran over 3 tiny puppies who were in the road. He stopped, and found out where they lived. It turns out the owner didn't want them, or their seven siblings, and they were all living outside trying to survive the cold. The Heartland volunteer couldn't leave them there to die, so he arranged to get them into rescue. Now I'd like you to meet our latest Heartland puppies.
I hate what these puppies have gone through, and what they will still go through, possibly months and months of waiting for their own home. And they are the lucky ones - they have been saved and will have a safe place to stay until they get adopted. So many more are not this lucky. And so because of this past year - my first year in rescue - I've become one of those who goes around preaching "spay and neuter!" - because it really will save lives!
Oh, and if you know anyone who wants to adopt a puppy - PLEASE direct them to Heartland Humane Society! :-)
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