Stray dog mom found hiding under house with puppies rescued after 6 months by local family who gave her furever home with canine sibling, dog pawrent says: ‘Bertha’s story is a wild one, but we’re hoping we can give her the best life we can.’

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Mar 13, 2026 3:00 PM EDT

It might seem obvious that a dog would want to be given the gift of a warm and safe home with an instant family. But as you'll come to find out in this story when a pupper has been treated poorly all their life they have no clue that a warm and safe life even exists.

Which has to be one of the saddest doggo facts and even sadder one of the most common doggo facts. For dogs as young as 1 or 2 years old can quite easily find themselves out on the street after being treated poorly by a pawrent who did not want them. Leading them to think that hoomans are the kind to begrudgingly feed them but no more than that. A feeling that could not be further from the truth and one that likely has left many puppers out in the cold for little to no good reason.

Including the doggo in this story who hid under an abandoned house to protect her puppies, but even after being offered a home of her own, she was still too scared to accept. That is until she was captured following a tougher than expected chase. But with a clean bill of health and the vet's approval she was sent home to live a life of happiness with her new family. 
 

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    "She loves chewing on bones, pets and sleeping. Hates: rain."
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    She'd been wandering around our small town for 6+ months. Very big, so very intimidating. Seems like everyone around town feeds her time to time.
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    She'd come and go and we'd see her out the window all times of the night and day. One Friday, the pound showed up at an empty house on the next street over, I have a clear view
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    of. They were there for a while and left. I figured it was to try to nab her. For some reason we decided to go check on her to see if they got her, no clue how we came to the decision to do so. She was still there sleeping
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    under a 5th wheel trailer. We decided to start feeding her because she was thin, and a large dog. Pyrenees/Anatolian Sheppard? We also noticed she must've had puppies recently, no clue where they were.
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    She was hanging out at the house a lot and we would feed her morning and evening. She'd hang out with us and let us pet her, but then she'd go back to the empty house. We
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  • What? How is this story so sad? A litter of missing puppies and a poor dog momma who wants nothing more than love and food who has become so used to being rejected that she would choose to leave the comfort and company of hoomans to sleep alone outside. There is no domesticated soul on this planet who deserves to be treated like this such that they internalize this behavior. We would be so tempted to lure this sweet giant back home so that she can curl up under the covers with us all night long. 

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    looked for her puppies around the empty house, none found. Finally caught a care taker of the house outside and he said the pound got the puppies, they were under the empty house, but not her. She ran.
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    We made the decision to gain her trust, and get her a vet appointment the following weekend to get her checked out since she had puppies but we would have to catch her. When I tell you
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    she knew we were going to catch her, she KNEW and decided to make a day of it! Vet appointment Saturday, Friday was the catching day. Friday morning she disappeared which
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    was so unusual. When I found her she barked and ran, which she wasn't usually doing with me at that point. I found her on a busy road, we herded her back to the neighborhood with the help of others who were also
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    feeding her. We got a slip leash around her and she ran before we got ahold of it. We searched for her all day after that. Friday night after dark we went back to the empty house for a last shot
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  • Oh goodness, please let her be found and helped. We cannot imagine how scared this poor pupper must have been to be behaving like this. After all, doggos are incredibly trusting so long as they have been brought up to trust. But it seems very clear that this poor pupper has been through a thing or two and is incredibly wary of hoomans and what they can do. Little does she know how much good is waiting for her on the other side of this ordeal. It is cases like this that make us want to drop everything and invent a hooman to dog translation device. 

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    of finding her. Lo and behold, she barked at the flashlight light from under the house. We figured out that she got under the house from a well house she had broken into. We crawled under the house to coax
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    her out. I pulled my car up to the door of the well house and put her in. Saturday was the vet, she got all her shots, started flea, tick and heart worm prevention, but unfortunately at the
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    time, she did test light positive for heart worm. She started doxycycline. She's 15ish pounds under weight. They think 2-3 years old. No chip. Sunday she went to the local dog wash,
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    she was very matted and has lots of stickers in her fur from living in the woods. A couple of weeks later we moved to a new area. The few hiccups we've had are separate an ty and eating. Also, she
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    went for a follow up heart worm test and is still positive so, we do begin that treatment in a few weeks. We are going aggressive, with 3 shots. She had not gained weight either, but we had allowed her to eat when she pleased
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    and apparently she doesn't please enough. I've started feeding her homemade dog food with ground pork, rice and veggies, plus regular kibble and puppy kibble all mixed together, with goats milk on top to make
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    it more yummy and she's seems to be more interested. She also blew her coat with the move and looks thinner than she did but it'll come back with time. She tore some things up at our new house and she had
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    to start Trazodone because of the separation an. y. Every night she would wake me up just to have me sit in the livingroom with her while she slept. We called the vet again and they said melatonin. It seems
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    to be helping if you wait until she falls asleep to leave her in the livingroom. We have no issue with her in our bedroom but she doesn't want to be in there. Also, she does NOTHING in a hurry.
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    Very slow and at her own pace. She is somehow leash trained and house trained. She just came to us that way. Our Pit Terrier seems to enjoy having her around to keep him company. He's a 9 year old male and
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    DODO
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    plays very minimally, and she does the same. They both sleep 80% of the day aside from the time spent barking at cars driving by. Bertha's story is a wild one, but we're hoping we can give her the best life we
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    can. Patience is key with her, and she's lead a tough life so far so we want to try to make it least stressful as possible. She loves chewing on bones, pets and sleeping. Hates: rain.
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months dogs after stray dog found house dog mom puppies reddit story under local canine pawrents family dog story sibling furever home hiding rescued
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