Recently, a woman in Houston, Texas, was on her way home from work when she stumbled across something heartbreaking. Two stray dogs had appeared to make their home between piles of trash and old mattresses.
The Good Samaritan immediately alerted a local rescue for help, but when they arrived, there were way more dogs than they bargained for.
“We went the next day to assess and set traps as they did not trust us,” Sylvia Lopez of Houston Dog Outreach Guardians told The Dodo. “We quickly managed to trap the momma dog, and we also trapped a young female dog that we believe was her daughter from her previous litter.”
But upon further inspection, Lopez quickly realized Mom and baby weren’t the only pups in need. It was an entire family: Mom, Dad, three daughters and Grandma all waiting for help.
“We managed to chase behind Grandma, then she got tired of running and gave up,” Lopez said. “She didn’t put up a fight [because] she was exhausted.”
The rescue team spent the entire day trying to get half of the dog family and, eventually, set traps for the night. By Monday morning, everything was looking up.
“I went to check the traps at 5 a.m. and, thankfully, Daddy and puppy were trapped safely,” Lopez said.
But there was still one last dog — the youngest daughter — in need of saving, so Lopez left one trap behind while getting the rest of the family to safety.
You can watch the rescue here:
“I left the area to reunite the puppy with her momma and daddy with the rest of the family,” Lopez said. “Later that same day, we went back to check the trap and finally trapped the last dog, the young daughter. We reunited the whole family at our holding facility.”
Now that everyone had a warm place to sleep and a good meal in their bellies, their true personalities came out.
“2-year-old Momma — now named Naomi — was very sweet and trusting,” Lopez said. “8-month-old puppy daughters were timid and scared, but now they’re warming up to us. They seem to be very sweet girls. The 2-month-old baby puppy — named Abigail — was timid and scared but now is warming up to us and very playful.”
Daddy dog — now named Thomas — is still timid and scared and does much better when his dog family is with him. He’s also 2 years old, while 10-year-old Grandma loves everyone and loves to go on long walks.
Though the two youngest daughters — named Shannon and Christel — will stay at a rescue with Grandma for now, the rest of the family has all gone to foster families while they wait to find their forever homes.
Despite everything this sweet family has been through, they stuck it out — together. Now that’s love.
