A Texas family spends 12 hours in the car to ensure their dog can give birth in warmth and comfort

Magnolia (Maggie for short) was found wandering the streets of Fredericksburg, Texas, all alone and very pregnant. She was picked up by local animal control, but since she was an expectant mama, she was taken in by the Hill Country SPCA, who quickly found her an amazing foster home.

From the moment Maggie joined her foster family, they could tell she was an incredible dog, whose motherly instincts were already kicking in with the family’s two young kids.

Aubrey Morgan, Maggie’s foster mom, was a bit nervous as she’d never fostered a pregnant dog before. She did a lot of research to make sure that she’d be ready to help Maggie when the puppies arrived.

“I had read so many resources, watched so many whelping YouTube videos, and collected hundreds of dollars worth of whelping and emergency supplies to have on hand,” Morgan told The Dodo. “One thing I had read was the importance of puppies staying warm after being born. If they aren’t warm, they can’t digest food and will start fading.”

As Maggie got closer and closer to giving birth, her family was nervous but ready — and then they lost power during the huge winter storm that recently swept across Texas.

Of course, right around when they lost power, Maggie started showing signs that the puppies would be there soon. Her family hoped that by the time the puppies started arriving the power would be back, but when the first puppy arrived at 12:30 am on February 16, there was still no power, and the house was definitely getting cold.

“Our house was in the 50s and dropping (it was 1 degree outside that night),” Morgan said. “We moved her into our guest bathroom where we had the shower steaming to try and warm the room and my husband was boiling water to put into bags to also try and keep the room warm.”

As each puppy was born, the couple tried their best to keep them as warm as possible, but the house was just too cold, and they knew they needed to do something to keep the new little family safe.

“After the fourth puppy was born, we realized, despite our efforts, the puppies were still too cold,” Morgan said. “That’s when my husband started preparing the car for Maggie and the puppies. Maggie had her last three puppies in the car. We first got them into the car around 2 am and stayed in there for about 12 hours.”

When the family took Maggie in, they promised to support her and keep her safe while she had her puppies. Even through extenuating circumstances, they did absolutely everything they could to keep that promise.

While they were monitoring the little family in the car, the couple was also doing everything they could to try and find a generator to get at least part of their house warm again. Eventually they found one and moved everyone back into the house. After a while though, the rest of the house was too cold for the couple’s own kids, and so they decided the best thing to do was to leave until the power came back on.

“We didn’t want to drive since roads were dangerous but eventually decided it was our best option,” Morgan said. “So we moved our family of four, our three dogs, mama and her seven puppies 45 minutes to my parents house (who had electricity) and stayed there until Friday!”

Eventually, the power came back on and everyone was able to settle back into home, including Maggie and her new puppies. The sweet dog was instantly an incredible mom to her seven babies, whose names are Daisy, Poppy, Ash, Rosie, Dahlia, Clover and Aster. Despite a chaotic start, the puppies are all doing extremely well, growing and developing exactly as they should be.

“Maggie is so gentle,” Morgan said. “She’s extremely nurturing, not only to her puppies, but also to my 2 year old and 9 month old … It’s been amazing watching her become a mom. She’s a total natural with her puppies.”

Maggie and her puppies will all be available for adoption through the Hill Country SPCA in April. Until then, their foster family will continue to keep them safe — which hopefully should be pretty easy from here on out after dealing with all the snow and power outages. Regardless, they’re so happy to have Maggie in their care, and can’t wait to see how she and her puppies grow into themselves.

“She really is an amazing dog … we will miss having her around when she finds her forever home,” Morgan said.