Not every hero wears a cape. Some of them, like Maggie the Australian shepherd mix dog from Alberta, Canada, have four legs and a fur coat. This cunning dog managed to break out of her kennel throughout the night after being dropped off for a short stay at Barkers Pet Motel and Grooming. Why? Two young puppies were comforted on their first night there.
The 9-week-old puppies were fosters from a local rescue organization who were staying at Barkers Pet Motel as they awaited adoption. They were probably scared, given that it was their first night together, but Maggie understood just what they needed. Maggie had just weaned her litter of puppies a few weeks before, so when she heard the puppies screaming, her maternal instincts kicked in.
“We’ve never really seen that before,” Alex Aldred, a Barkers employee, said, “when a dog sneaks out to some puppies and is so pleased to see them.” The employees at Barkers Pet Motel and Grooming have seen a lot of cuteness over the years, but this one “takes the cake,” according to them.
While Barkers is a boarding facility, it frequently accepts foster dogs from local rescue organizations when there aren’t enough foster families available — which is how the 9-week-old puppies ended up there. Sandi Aldred, the owner of Barkers, had gotten all of the dogs into their kennels for the night. Aldred uses her phone to check in on the facility via surveillance cameras, so she opted to check on the puppies while out to dinner with her family.
That’s when she saw anything out of the ordinary. Maggie had gotten out of her kennel and was now standing outside the puppies’ kennel. Everything was captured on surveillance video. Maggie had gone to sniff the puppies, lick them through the gate, and then lie down next to them. After dinner, Sandi returned to the kennel, and Maggie was waiting for her at the door.
“She came to me and she was very joyful, and then she took me back to their chamber as if to say, ‘I need to meet these puppies,'” Sandi recalled. That’s when Sandi decided to let Maggie inside the kennel with the puppies. Sandi added, “They were just all so glad to be together.” “She was gently nuzzling and prodding them before laying down and letting them cuddle with her.” “She needed the puppies, and the puppies needed her,” she added. “It was almost flawless.”
Maggie was permitted to spend the night with the puppies by Sandi. When the staff returned in the morning, all three were still snuggled up together. Maggie had just weaned her litter of puppies a few weeks before being rescued by the Edmonton Humane Society, so her mother instincts were very strong at the time.