By CANDACE CHASE/Daily Inter Lake

In late December, life looked grim for Amber, a very pregnant silver Labrador retriever that was either lost or dumped in a remote area near McGregor Lake.

Alone in the cold, she found shelter inside a burned-out log, where she gave birth to nine puppies. Somehow, Amber kept herself and her litter alive, for a week to 10 days.

Then her luck changed. The roar of snowmobiles caught her attention and she raced out for the companionship she craved and the help she needed from two compassionate young men.

It was just a coincidence that Joey Norris, 20, and Austin Lowe, 22, were in that area. Norris said it was his first ride on a snow machine and his first time in this particular area.

"There's not much around there," Norris said.

He said he and his buddy were enjoying their outing when the dog ran out to engage them in play. It was obvious that she was nursing puppies.

"We stopped and asked her where her puppies were," Norris said.

Amazingly, she led them to the hollow log where she had kept all nine pups warm and fed.

"We couldn't even see them, but we could hear them," he said.

Amber had secreted the puppies deep down inside the log where neither predators nor good Samaritans could reach them. Even with the strength of youth, the men couldn't break the log open enough to retrieve the tiny dogs.

They were forced to leave them overnight to return home for tools and a plastic tub.

THE NEXT day, they hiked back to the spot to initiate their rescue mission.

Norris said they first lured the mother lab away in case she became too protective. Then, the work began.

"We had a crow bar so we peeled the log back, piece by piece," he said. "Then we put them in the Rubber Maid and drove them to the Humane Society."

Norris said he was familiar with the shelter and its no-kill policy. They trusted the staff would take care of the mother dog and her litter.

Although the Humane Society of Northwest Montana has no quarantine facilities for puppies, shelter manager Marje Guest made room for the heroic mom who had gone to such lengths to save her babies.

"She's a wonderful dog - somewhere between brown and silver," Guest said.

The shelter settled on the name Amber for the dog, noting her color and honoring Norris' girlfriend of the same name. An exhaustive search of lost-and-found ads and calls failed to turn up anyone looking for a dog of her description.

Although she had a collar, Amber had no tags or microchip to identify her owner. But her friendly manner and knowledge of commands indicates she once had a home.

"She was somebody's dog," Guest said. "But it was obvious she had been out there for some time."

GUEST said Amber and the puppies were in decent condition for as long as they were on their own. It appeared that she had been living on carcasses while feeding her young.

"She wasn't in terrible condition, a little on the thin side," Guest said. "The puppies were in good shape, nice and chubby. She's a very good mom."

Guest recognized the dog as similar to a silver Labrador retriever, which are fairly rare.

"The puppies are going on seven weeks," she said. "They look like little black labs with a little white on them."

The shelter recently weaned the puppies to prepare them to find new homes. When they reach a weight of two pounds, the shelter will take them for neutering or spaying.

Amber's intelligence and happy personality already have won her a new home where she will move after she gets spayed in the next few days. Guest said her new family has successfully taken in other animals from the shelter in the past.

But the five male and four female puppies still need homes. Guest said they officially become available for adoption on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

Interested families may come to meet the puppies at the Charlotte Edkins Animal Adoption Center located at 3499 U.S. 93 North, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For additional information, call 752-PAWS.

The shelter collects a fee of $100 to pay for neutering or spaying, microchips, vaccinations and deworming.

According to Guest, the men who saved Amber and her puppies have come back to check on the dogs since rescuing them. She remains impressed that they went the extra mile to help a dog and find her puppies when many others would have just driven away.

"They are very caring young men," she said.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com