Homeless Mommy And Her Babies

It’s always fun to play with puppies; their carefree charm, their playful nature and especially their infectious joyful squeaks. We found a litter during one of our regular feeding rounds and were completely smitten by them.

Volunteer, Val, with one of the puppies

For years, we have been feeding the strays around this particular industrial estate weekly, and yet not once had we spotted this particular dog until 3 weeks ago. We noticed that she seemed to be nursing and upon checking with some of the workers working in the area, understood that she had given birth to a litter of 6 puppies.

How did she suddenly appear in a dangerous industrial estate? Was she abandoned there because she was pregnant? 

Mommy and her cute puppy, who looks like a little bear

She truly longs for a home

Playing with her Mommy in a busy car park is not how a puppy should be raised

Food that is fed to these tiny puppies

This is their home

We decided to check on them regularly and last week, we headed back to the same location, but could only find the mother dog with 3 of her puppies, leaving us to wonder about the fate of the other 3 puppies. What could have happened to them? Were they knocked down by the trucks that frequently drove around the area, attacked by other animals or died from illness or infection?  It was too dark and we could hardly see, but we were too worried with the missing puppies and went back the very next day to take a better look at the litter.

The puppies live in here with Mommy

In the daylight, we took in their appalling living conditions with a sinking heart. There was a lingering smell of stale food which was lying all around them and huge rats almost as big as the puppies scampering around. Had a rat eaten one of the lost puppies?

This little one looks like a Retriever 

The little black bear

Volunteers feeding the puppies

These little puppies are living in a makeshift shelter plagued by dangers lying around every corner. They could be bitten by the huge rats, cut by the sharp objects that are strewn all over the floor, or hit and run over by huge trucks which was a common sight in the area. They are exposed to the elements with no proper shelter to seek refuge in and from the rain which has been pouring mercilessly almost every night. The poor babies do not even have a towel and must be feeling so cold. I could easily envision them shivering and trying to seek warmth by cuddling together but it probably wouldn’t help much.

The 3rd cute little puppy (all 3 are males)

Look how tiny they are, just slightly bigger than a can of dog food.

Although we try to feed them weekly, it is hardly enough as the puppies are still growing and their regular meals are those contributed by workers who worked or lived nearby and consists of leftovers that has gone sour and bad. No doubt these workers have kind intentions, but it’s scarcely enough to fill them and definitely insufficient for a growing baby.

The puppies are only 6 to 7 weeks old and one look is enough to melt your heart. They are sweet and friendly and one of them even turned over for a belly rub! Although the mother dog is protective of her puppies initially, she soon lost her reservations and warmed up to us quickly and is ever so affectionate! She begged for hugs and even reciprocates by giving you a little kiss on your lips! Mummy dog is very young and estimated to be less than 2 years old. She is such a pretty girl and is possibly a Sharpei cross.

Poor Mommy, heavily laden with milk

It's so unbelievable, Mommy is absolutely gorgeous, calm and affectionate. 

We have been reiterating that we are stretched to the limits recently with the spate of rescues and we have currently 20 dogs waiting to be adopted. We do not have a shelter and no place to house them. We cannot even afford to buy time by putting them at a temporary foster because we are just unable to commit. It pains us to leave them but we have no choice. It has been raining every night and this poor family has been wet and cold while we are warm and snug under our blankets.

The three male puppies that are available for adoption

We have begged so many times for adopters and we knew how slim a chance it is trying to get not 1, but 4! And yet, we cannot help but to appeal once again for your help. This Christmas, instead of buying another bag, instead of going for another holiday, perhaps you may want to open your door to a furry angel who will give you the best Christmas ever. Sometimes, we procrastinate, we worry if we can commit, if we can provide adequate care, if we will have sufficient time. Yes, adopting a dog requires commitment, a long term one akin to having a child, but the rewards more than exceeds any sacrifices.

‘Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.’  By Roger Caras

Time is of the essence here due to the perils that they face in their living environment. Please email us at hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg and make this the best Christmas for Mummy dog and her babies.

Note : We are looking for adopters. Not fosters. With fostering, very often people return the dogs / puppies to us after a few weeks / months of fostering and then what happens? We can’t possibly return them to the streets after having fostered them for a few months. As a result, we would then have to put them at commercial boarding, up to $480 per dog / per month and this may go on for years and we definitely can’t afford that. So we hope you will understand that we purely want adopters, not fosters.