I was, perhaps, the only person in west Texas to know what had to be done if anyone was to be saved.

There wasn’t a moment to spare! I left Blue the Momma Dog and her puppies, and went back to the landlord. The lot next to my shack had a chain link fence around it, would he mind if I used it? He said he wouldn’t mind as long as I didn’t leave a mess.

From there I sped to the hardware store and Walmart. Luck was with me, as all that overtime pay was barely enough to buy what was required. I couldn’t find a heat source that wouldn’t short out in the rain or start a fire, but I could put together an insulated shelter that would protect my new charges from the wind and retain their body heat.

I raced back to the dogs, and moved everyone in to the fenced yard. All that food I had set in front of her started to make her feel better, and Blue the Momma Dog settled in to give her puppies a much needed drink of the good stuff.

I kept talking to her as I put the shelter together, trying to reassure. It was going to be alright, all was fine, she and her puppies were going to be snug and warm. But, as you can tell by looking in to her eyes, she wasn’t buying it. I never could lie to a dog, they always manage to pick up on my mood no matter what I do, and I was worried sick. There wasn’t a chance in hell that all of her puppies were going to survive the next few days. It would be a miracle if one or two pulled through.

I managed to get the shelter ready just as the rain started to fall. I placed the puppies inside, and didn’t have to tell their mother to stick close. I left food and water, and went to work.

While I was away, the front rolled through.

Over the next few days, until the weather broke and it became warm once again, I would check on them as much as possible. I always took a few trash bags with me, expecting to find a few tiny corpses, bodies frozen solid. But it never happened. Instead they all pulled through without issue.

So what did I do? I told Blue the Momma Dog she was a hero for saving all of her puppies from the killer cold.

Judging by her reaction to my few words of praise, something tells me her previous owner only spoke to her when he had something negative to say.

So the immediate danger was past. All dogs were fine and healthy. I was now faced with the job of raising them until they were old enough to leave the litter, not to mention the daunting task of finding homes for all of those dogs.

I know you want to know what happened to Blue the Momma Dog and all her puppies. What happened next? I’ll tell you in the next post, as this one has been going on a little too long.