The maternal instinct is one of the strongest forces in nature and it affects many species, including humans. Moms just want to protect their babies and dogs are no exception.
This article is about a brave mom who found an unlikely shelter for her pups in ice and snow-covered northwestern Minnesota.
When you’re out in the frozen wilderness with your pups, shelter means the difference between life and death
With nowhere to hide from the elements with her 3-week-old babies, the dog dug up a simple shelter in the snow and wrapped herself around her puppies to keep them warm. It’s uncertain how the puppies would have fared on the freezing cold if they and their mom weren’t spotted by a family who drove them to Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue shelter.
The family found mom and her babies in a wooded area near a lake and immediately jumped to the rescue.
Meet Snowbelle
When the family arrived at the shelter, the staffers couldn’t believe their eyes! The mama dog and her puppies pulled out an amazing fear by surviving alone in extreme cold. Furthermore, the mama dog had stopped producing milk and could not feed her puppies. The staffers named the dog ‘Snowbelle’ and shared their story in a Facebook post.
“After a few days of warm shelter and good food Snowbelle started producing lots of milk for her babies,” the shelter wrote in their post.
Two of Snowbelle’s puppies have already been adopted
Snowbelle and her puppies were nursed back to health in the shelter and two of them have already found a home. Snowbelle, who is now called ‘Asha’ is currently living at Pet Projects, and is waiting to find a new home.
Asha had spent a log time living by herself with no one to take care of her. According to the founder of Pet Projects, Nancy Bruley, Asha was in ‘tough shape’ when she arrived.
“We don’t really know anything about her past,” she said. “She was very, very thin and in tough shape, so she had been scrounging on her own for a while.”
Bruley said that Asha didn’t even know how to walk on a leash when she came to live at Pet Projects but that she was always well-behaved inside the house.
“The mom was extremely shy when she came — not aggressive in any way — but timid,” Bruley said. “Kind of fearful if you went towards her, her head would go down. You could tell she was apprehensive of people.”
It has been a good six weeks for Asha since the family found her huddled with her puppies in the snow. She has gained six pounds and is doing much better.
Brave mom ‘is much more confident’ now
“She’s really blossomed,” Bruley said. “She walks well on the leash now and is much more confident. She jumps and puts her paws up on me. She’s definitely more outgoing than when she came in.”
Asha is yet to find a loving home and someone who will take care of her. We are sure that his brave mom will be adopted soon!
