Mother’s Day is a special time to honor the great moms out there who go above and beyond to keep their babies safe, happy, and healthy. The mama dogs in these stories have that motherly instinct and will do whatever it takes to protect their youngsters, even if their kids aren’t the same species!
Whether moms are biological, adopted, or foster, they deserve to be celebrated on Mother’s Day.
Here are six stories and videos of mama dogs who saved their babies.
1. Injured Mama Walks Two Miles & Saves Ten Puppies
An emaciated Greyhound dog wandered into the town of Vera, Spain one day with a broken leg. She was picked up by a concerned citizen and brought to a vet who noticed that she was producing milk and bleeding, which indicated that she had recently given birth.
The vets fixed her injuries and named her Vera after the town where she was picked up. They knew she had puppies to care for, so they brought Vera back to where she was found and let her go, hoping she would lead them to her puppies.
Vera limped along on a two-mile walk, leading her new friends to an abandoned car where they found her ten healthy puppies. Vera had cared for them all by herself and then, trusting her new human rescuers, saved them by bringing them the help they needed.
All the puppies were rescued with their mama and brought to a nonprofit that worked to find them all forever homes. You can watch the original, full-length video here!
2. Mama Takes The Plunge For Pups
A mama dog in Vietnam named Lu kept her puppies in her den under her human’s patio, but a sudden downpour sent water cascading into the hole, and her pups were about to drown.
Her human, Binh Dao Thi, helped scoop water out of the den as Lu tried to pull water away with her paws. Finally, when enough water had cleared, Lu fearlessly plunged into the den and began pulling out her puppies.
One of the pups wasn’t breathing, but Thi performed some quick compressions, and the dog finally took some gasps of air. The whole family was safe thanks to Lu’s motherly instincts. Hopefully she and her human will keep her pups high and dry from now on.
3. Mom Puts Puppies In Hole To Save Them From Fire
A wildfire in Chile cornered a mama dog, named Blackie, and her two-week-old pups, who had no way of escaping the blaze. Blackie had to act quickly to save her puppies, so she started digging.
She dug a deep hole under a metal container and put her nine puppies inside. Blackie managed to get away from the flames, and rescue workers were able to find her pups once the fire died down.
It took them an hour to rescue the pups, but all nine of them were miraculously safe thanks to their quick-thinking mom. Several locals, touched by the story, offered to adopt Blackie and her puppies, making sure they had loving forever homes.
4. From Piglet To Puppy
When Roland Adam found an abandoned piglet on his property, he knew the little creature didn’t have much of a chance at survival. Foxes probably would have eaten the poor thing during the night, so Adam brought the piglet home to his dog, Katjinga, an eight-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback.
Katjinga had a litter of puppies who were ten months old at the time, so she was still in mama dog mode. Katjinga took to the piglet right away, cleaning it like one of her own puppies and letting it nurse.
The piglet was named Paulinchen, and it survived and thrived thanks to adopted mom Katjinga.
5. Follow Mama To The Pups
Betty Boop was abandoned and dumped in the California countryside. Each day, she would walk two miles to scavenge for food in order to provide for her ten puppies. Then she’d walk two miles back to her babies so they could nurse.
Concerned people started sending messages to Pinky Paws ResQ, who went to investigate. They found Betty Boop and trapped her so they could bring her to the vet for treatment.
Her rescuers could tell that she had given birth recently, and they knew the puppies needed their mom. After treating Betty Boop, they brought her back to where they found her. They played puppy noises from a phone, hoping it would encourage her to lead them to her pups.
She led them two miles into the country to an abandoned farmhouse where her ten puppies were waiting. Thanks to this trusting mom, rescuers found all the puppies and kept them safe. Betty Boop will never have to walk so far to help them ever again.
6. Cheetah Cub Gets New Mom
Amur leopards are very rare, and less than 60 are left living in the wild. So when a leopard mother who had eaten three of her previous litters gave birth, zookeepers in Russia thought it would be best to separate the newborn from her biological mother.
She still needed a mom, though. Luckily, Tessa the dog, who already had four puppies, was ready for the task. She took in the cub like one of her own, letting her nurse so she could grow big and strong.
In fact, she soon outgrew her adopted puppy siblings and thrived thanks to Tessa. Sometimes adopted moms are the best mothers for the job.
Do any of these doggy moms inspire you? What other fantastic mama dogs should we celebrate on Mother’s Day? Let us know in the comments below!
