Puppies dumped on dirt road jump into rescuers' arms when they realize they’re safe

A few weeks ago, two women were driving down a dirt road south of Houston when they suddenly noticed some movement by the tree line. As they pulled over to investigate, they saw several puppies, who’d clearly been dumped there.

“This is just a dark road with no lights and a lot of turns, so people dump dogs there,” Alayna, executive director of Three Little Pitties Rescue, told The Dodo.

The two women, named Kaylee and Rachel, lured the babies over to their car with some food they happened to have on hand. As soon as the babies realized Kaylee and Rachel were trustworthy, they ran straight up to them and melted in their arms.

“Some of them had their tails wagging, and they seemed really happy to have someone stop,” Alayna, who preferred to have her last name omitted, said. “They seemed to know that they were getting help.”

The rescuers placed the puppies in the car and were about to leave when they heard a noise coming from the trees and saw something moving.

“At first they thought it was a mama dog that was being hesitant, but then they realized it [was] another puppy,” Alayna said.

Kaylee and Rachel were heartbroken to realize that the fifth puppy’s back leg was severely injured, which was why she hadn’t run toward the two women with the rest of the babies.

“She was slowly moving toward them, and it’s not that she was too afraid, it was that she couldn’t move as fast as the other ones,” Alayna said.

The two women transported all five of the hungry babies to a warm barn, where they got the food, water and TLC they’d desperately been needing. The injured puppy, whom the rescuers named Kara, underwent surgery to amputate her broken leg.

Less than a week has passed since the procedure, and Kara is already thriving. As soon as she’s fully healed, she’ll be available for adoption through Three Little Pitties Rescue.

“What we usually see with puppies this age is they bounce right back totally,” Alayna said. “And their body adapts and strengthens to be a tripod, and they usually do it pretty quickly.”

Two of the puppies were transferred to other shelters, and the remaining two, named Wesley and Nova, are available for adoption through Three Little Pitties Rescue. Although they’re just a few months old, they’re already potty-trained and adjusted to living in a household.

“These puppies are unusually mature and laid back, and we wondered if it was because they were on their own for a while and had to kind of grow up quickly,” Alayna said.

Alayna and the rest of the rescue staff have been soaking in watching the puppies get to enjoy normal dog things for the first time ever. They’re learning how to play with toys and getting in lots of cuddling time.