Lacey and Audra Wheeler were driving home after visiting family when they saw what looked like a baby deer wandering along the side of the highway. As they got closer, they realized the animal wasn’t a deer at all, but a dog, desperately searching for food. As they passed, they could see that she was either pregnant or had just given birth, and knew immediately that they had to help her. 

“We found an exit and turned around and went all the way back,” Lacey Wheeler told The Dodo. “When we returned we didn’t see her but heard her barking at us from down in the ditch/creek.”

The couple followed the dog’s desperate bark down into the creek — and discovered that she had been trying to lead them to her puppies. 

“She had three adorable puppies walking through the water in the creek and FREEZING,” Wheeler said. 

Knowing the pups wouldn’t survive out in the cold for much longer, the couple quickly scooped up the three puppies and were able to lure the mom dog back to the car with them. After letting the little family warm up in their car for a while, they knew there was no way they could just leave them behind, so they drove them all home, and decided to care for them as long as they needed to. 

“We would almost bet money these poor things were dumped there,” Wheeler said. “No way they had survived since birth out there in that weather and right off the highway in the middle of nowhere.” 

The mom dog and her puppies are all doing well now. The couple named them Louie, Cinci and Indy, and the mom Red. The couple worked with Columbus Dog Connection to find a foster family for them, as they would love to foster the whole family themselves, but their own dog unfortunately doesn’t do well with other dogs. The little family will stay with their new foster until the puppies are old enough and all ready to go off to their forever families. 

If this couple hadn’t decided to pull over and check on the dog they spotted, she and her puppies might not have made it out there all alone in the cold. Now, they’ll all soon have families of their own.

“We love them so much,” Wheeler said.