By LYNNETTE HINTZE

The Daily Inter Lake

Puppy love

Mother hound leads rescuers to abandoned pups

It was a "total shot in the dark" when Humane Society workers Marje Guest and Melanie Soderfelt followed an abandoned hound through the thick woods near Swan Lake to search for a litter of puppies.

But mama hound, true to her breed, knew right where she'd left her newborns.

The rescue of the emaciated mother hound - and the discovery a day later of her four puppies that had survived freezing overnight temperatures - is miraculous, shelter officials said. And in a business that deals with abandoned pets day in and day out, it's a story with a happy ending.

"It was so thrilling," said Guest, manager of the Humane Society's Charlotte Edkins Animal Adoption Center north of Kalispell, where the rescued dogs are staying. "We do good every day, but this was really good."

THE RESCUE saga began on Sept. 28 when Glacier National Park Chief Ranger Mark Foust found the emaciated black-and-tan hound while he was bird hunting near Swan Lake. The dog was alone, wearing no tag or collar, at the intersection of Montana 83 and Cilly Creek Road.

Foust stopped at a local store to inquire about lost dogs in the area, and when no one turned up, he brought the dog to the Flathead County Animal Shelter, where shelter assistant Heather Blush got involved.

"She was about the most emaciated dog we'd ever seen," Blush said.

Blush posted a report of the rescue on the Montana Pets on the 'Net Web site to track down the owner, but got no response. The next morning shelter workers discovered the hound was lactating and obviously had very recently given birth.

Blush, who does a lot of rescue work with animals, then kicked into sleuth mode. She called Joe and Jocelyn Watmuff, owners of Swan Lake Trading Post. Foust had stopped by to see them after he found the dog and they called neighbors, to no avail. Jocelyn Watmuff said there are several residents in that area who breed hounds, but no one was missing a dog.

What the Watmuffs could provide for Blush was the location where the hound had been picked up.

"It was a total shot in the dark, just a hunch" that the puppies could be found, she said. "She [the hound] probably went off to find food" when she was discovered by Foust.

Since Guest and Soderfelt were able to break loose earlier in the day than Blush, they took the hound back to the spot where she had been found, and the dog did the rest.

"She dragged Mel right to the spot," Guest said. "She got so excited when we pulled up to the intersection."

About a half mile away, there were the four pups, unprotected but still alive. Rescuers figured they were only two days old.

The hound, named Cilly after Cilly Creek Road, and her pups are being housed at the Humane Society shelter until they're ready for adoption. Shelter development director Brad Seaman said Cilly "looks like she's been in a concentration camp," but is now putting on weight.

"We think, based on information given to us by people in the area, that she and the pups were dumped by her owners right after she gave birth," Seaman said. "She's obviously been badly neglected for quite a while. It's a miracle that she and the pups survived."

Guest said the mother and pups are "doing great.

"Cilly is a good mama and such a sweet dog," she said. "She sure didn't deserve to be abandoned."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com