This mother dog was doing her best to care for her puppies in the only home she knew: a trash-filled hole next to a store in Udaipur, India.
When the owners of the neighboring store noticed that he had cut himself on broken glass and was bleeding from his back leg, they called in rescuers from Animal Aid Unlimited to help.
Despite the pain she must have been in, the mother dog began to wag her tail as soon as she saw the animal ambulance arrive.
She even stood up and walked over to greet them. Perhaps the mother dog could sense that these people were there to help her, because she showed no fear, only pure gratitude.
Animal Aid took her back to their shelter, where her injured paw was treated and she and her puppies received the care they needed. After sleeping on broken glass and empty cans, snuggling up in a soft bed must have felt great.
While the mother and her puppies were recovering in the care of Animal Aid, some staff members returned to their small shelter next to the shop and transformed it.
They cleaned up the trash, laid a floor and covered it with mats to make it comfortable.
Then it was time to return the mother dog to her home next to the tent. “In India, there are millions of homeless animals on the streets and virtually no one to adopt them,” Animal Aid explained on its Facebook page.
So Animal Aid took her back to where she had been living, along with her nursing puppies (and some big bags of dog food).
There are so many dogs, like this one, that will never have real homes, but luckily there are people working to give them the best life possible.
“We got the shop owners to fully engage in this frantic effort and they promised to make sure she has a clean bed and feed her and her little angels, and of course, to alert us immediately if she or her children need our help again,” Animal Aid posted on Facebook.