NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio — Kismet and the power of social media helped give newborn puppies whose mother died shortly after their birth and the loss of another dog's litter a happy ending.
Indy, a three-year-old bulldog, gave birth by cesarean section to seven healthy pups Saturday.
She was cleared to leave the doctor, and Daniel and Katie Weese brought her home, but within minutes, she was dead.
The Weese's started the painstaking process of feeding the newborn puppies by hand when they got a message on their Red White and Bulldogs Facebook page, where they shared the news of Indy's death, offering help.
"Hey guys I am terribly sorry to hear of your loss," Macy Grubbs wrote. "I want to throw an idea your way, it may or may not help. I have a Lab that gave birth yesterday and she lost her pups. She is grieving and producing milk like crazy. If you're interested it might be worth a try."
Turns out, Grubbs and Amanda Phelps breed Labradors. After their dog Pixie gave birth Saturday, her pups were attacked and killed by another dog.
"It's a Christmas Miracle," Daniel Weese wrote. "I pictured the whole scenario played out in my mind like a Hallmark movie."
The next day, Grubbs drove from Kentucky with Pixie, who was panting incessantly, grieving for her lost puppies.
But she took to the new brood almost immediately.
"It couldn't have been five minutes before Pixie was laying on our living room floor feeding and cleaning her new babies," Weese wrote.
It all worked out, just like a Hallmark movie.