A mother dog that had been separated from her four puppies was reunited with them, and the loving reunion was captured on a video that has gone viral.
Someone had given up the mother, thought to be a Chihuahua cross, to the Marin Humane Society in California. After close inspection, they figured out that the female had recently given birth.
“After some detective work and a lot of convincing, our team was able to get the person who surrendered the dogs to also surrender the puppies, as they still needed their momma and were not in a safe situation,” the shelter said in a Facebook post.
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The group then reunited the mother with her puppies, which they caught on camera.
In the video, the mom crouches in the corner as the employee of the shelter presents her puppies to her.
The mother pops her head up and runs over, perhaps realizing what is happening. Tails immediately start wagging excitedly.
The hungry pups eagerly try and feed from their mother, although at one point she almost seems overwhelmed running to the shelter worker for comfort.
The mother’s name is Cora, so the staff named the puppies after other characters from Downton Abbey.
It’s anticipated that the mother and her puppies will be placed in a foster home first before they are available for adoption in a few weeks.