Her 15 puppies got adopted — but she needed a home. Then this dog’s luck took a turn

A dog kept her 15 puppies safe — and now, she has a home of her own.

Baby the mama dog was rescued from an Alabama yard before she ended up at 2nd Chance Shelter. She went home with foster parents Don and Patti Uhlir, who reportedly felt a connection and couldn’t wait to keep her for the long term.

“They fell in love with her and Don just didn’t want her to leave,” the rescue wrote March 3 in a Facebook post.

The couple recently adopted Baby, ending a journey that started more than a year ago. The shelter said a woman living in Albertville saw the stray dog and realized she had given birth. She searched near her home but had trouble finding the puppies.

“One day she was outside and Baby came out of the woods with a puppy in her mouth,” the rescue wrote, adding that Baby put the first puppy under the safety of the woman’s deck before placing the rest of the pups there one by one.

Eventually, the 15 puppies were weaned off their mom and got adopted. But Baby still didn’t have an owner.

“Now it is Baby’s time to find her forever family and home,” the shelter wrote in February 2023. “She was such a good mama and now it is her time to be loved and to love her family back.”

Baby landed with Patti Uhlir, who helped her get treatment for heartworms. She and her husband fell for Baby, known as a calm, loving and “sweet” mixed-breed dog that’s about 4 years old.

Several Facebook users said they were fans of Baby’s story, which the shelter lovingly described as a “foster fail.”

“They failed at fostering, but they (were) excellent at adopting,” Teresa Camp, office administrator for the shelter, told McClatchy News in a phone interview.

The shelter is in Boaz, near Albertville and roughly 65 miles northeast of Birmingham.

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