Worried Dog Sneaks Out of Kennel Just to Comfort Two Scared, Crying Foster Puppies

(Courtesy of Barkers Pet Motel and Grooming)

From the archives: This story was last updated in July 2019.

There’s nothing in the world as comforting as a mother’s love. While we all know that’s true for us, we’re far from the only species that understands how important it is for everyone, no matter where they came from, to have a mother in their life.

A story from Alberta, Canada, a few years ago showed that human moms don’t have anything over their canine counterparts.

Located in St. Albert, just outside Edmonton, Barkers Pet Motel and Grooming is a boarding service that prides itself on giving dogs a safe and happy environment to stay in while their owners are away. The motel gets to see lots of cute canines coming its way, but one night while its charges were supposed to be sleeping, something happened that really tugged at their heartstrings.

The motel had just taken on some very lonely foster puppies from the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society named Kari and Hannah, who had been weaned from their mother but were clearly still missing her. As Barkers explained on their Facebook page, “We aren’t a rescue, we are a boarding kennel that fosters for rescues when we can and they need us.”

It just so happened that a mother dog, Maggie, was also staying at the Pet Motel. Maggie already has a great home and loving family, but they were away, so she found a place to stay at Barkers.

(Courtesy of Barkers Pet Motel and Grooming)

Clearly, the puppies were pretty sad about all the changes in their life and started whimpering and crying. Maggie, meanwhile, had cleverly managed to escape her enclosure and went walking around the boarding area until she found them.

She ran up to their cage, put her nose up to it, and then just plopped down right outside to keep them company. Eventually, one of the staff members saw this incredible mom’s attempt to soothe the little puppies. The employee was so touched by what they saw that they walked in and let Maggie in to the puppies’ cage.

What ensued was an absolutely adorable scene, with Maggie settling on the blankets and the puppies curling up right next to her. As Barkers posted, “we put them together for a while and all 3 of them were so happy!!!” While the scene was already touching enough, Barkers revealed that Maggie too had recently weaned her puppies at the Humane Society, where she was adopted.

A mom without puppies and puppies without a mom. It was a match made in heaven.

Barkers’ post of the simple but beautiful love between this mother and these puppies quickly went viral. People were incredibly touched, but as dog owners, many said they weren’t at all surprised to see dogs that weren’t related showing compassion for each other.

Some commenters noted that the sweet story also shows the sadness of separating moms from their puppies before it’s time. Marilyn Ramsay wrote: “too bad humans control how long a mother has with her babies...shows how much she missed her babies! some are ready to let go sooner then others.”

Another commenter, Linda Clarkson pointed out that “the humane alternative would be to keep the family together but most people would not be willing to adopt the parents as well as all of the babies of a litter.”

Thankfully, according to WNYW, the attention that the post brought to the puppies’ plight managed to snag them a forever home where they will find the family that Maggie was able to provide at the pet motel.

A wonderful tribute to a mother’s love!

(Courtesy of Barkers Pet Motel and Grooming)