When Donna Lochmann received a call about a family of Pit Bulls in need of rescue, she tried to prepare for the challenges ahead. A Good Samaritan had reported at least three puppies and a protective mother dog hiding in an overgrown backyard. As the chief life-saving officer at Stray Rescue of St. Louis, Lochmann had considerable experience. Upon arriving at the scene, although she spotted some of the puppies, she chose to focus on the mother first. “I thought, ‘Well, I’m just gonna try to get mom first because if she’s barking at me, I don’t know what her reaction is gonna be when I start picking up her puppies,’” Lochmann explained to The Dodo.
Noticing the mother dog’s hunger, Lochmann used Vienna sausages to coax her into her car. She successfully secured the mother, whom she named Donutfest, inside her vehicle. “Once Donutfest was safe, I started working on finding the puppies,” Lochmann said.
The first puppy she approached was by a fence, alone and didn’t flee as Lochmann got closer. However, when picked up, the puppy reacted loudly. “She absolutely started screaming,” Lochmann recalled. “I can’t believe nobody in the neighborhood came out to see what was going on.” She quickly reunited this puppy with Donutfest in the car and continued her search.
Lochmann then found two puppies concealed in the weeds and another on an abandoned couch. Initially, these puppies evaded her, darting deeper into the vegetation. Rather than chasing them, she used the same tactic that worked with their mother—opening a can of puppy food. Attracted by the smell, the puppies came to her one by one.
With three puppies now secure with their mom, only one remained. This last puppy jumped off the couch and tried to escape, but Lochmann was able to catch him as he wasn’t moving too fast.
“It took me a while to get the last three puppies,” Lochmann shared. “But once I got them all in the car, I was so happy.” After passing their veterinary checks, the puppies were placed into foster care. Once Stray Rescue of St. Louis shared their photo on Facebook, there was a massive influx of adoption requests.
“I think most of them are already spoken for as far as finding their forever homes,” Lochmann commented. However, Donutfest was still waiting for her chance at a permanent home.
Donutfest had transformed from a downtrodden dog to a joyful one, always appearing happy and energetic. “She’s completely just a happy, smiley, bouncy girl now who loves her caregivers and going on walks,” Lochmann noted. “We would love for her to be in a home and finally get adopted.”
The staff at Stray Rescue of St. Louis remained hopeful that Donutfest would soon find her loving forever home, cherishing their time with the cheerful dog and providing her with the affection she had missed.
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