Puppy-Mill Survivors Teddy and Harley Are on a Rescue Mission

The two Chihuahuas are spokesdogs for National Mill Dog Rescue.

Teddy and Harley are two Chihuahuas who were rescued from separate puppy mills, but their stories are all too familiar. Confined to wire cages with hardly enough food and water to survive, the two Chihuahuas endured lives of misery. They were used to breed litter after litter, without a single concern for their physical or emotional well-beings.

Finally, at the age of seven, Teddy was rescued by the National Mill Dog Rescue and transferred to Lily's Haven in Colorado, from which he was adopted into a loving home. Teddy's former puppy-mill days manifest themselves in the dog's missing teeth, uneven hips, and torn ears, but his spirit is intact.

Harley, however, fared worse. The older dog was given three months to live after being pulled from a puppy mill by Because of You Chihuahua Rescue. He is missing an eye and had to have most of his teeth removed as a result of them going bad from negligence, his tail is broken, and his heart is bad. His spirit, however, remains undaunted.

Not only have Teddy and Harley recovered, they are now leading a charge against puppy mills. Instead of wallowing in the injustices of their past lives, the two little survivors have become the spokesdogs for National Mill Dog Rescue, and they are heading a campaign called Harley to the Rescue to raise funds to send the organization on another puppy-mill rescue.

For many, the effort of survival consumes all their energy, but for Teddy and Harley, it was the beginning of a mission to help others just like them. It takes a very special spirit to be able to return to such horrors, but Teddy and Harley can't seem to be able to rest until puppy mills vanish. Now that's a Monday Miracle.

Click here to find out how you can donate to Harley to the Rescue, and make sure to pass this on -- news this good deserves to be shared with everyone!

Photos via Teddy's and Harley's respective Facebook pages, where you can also stay up to date on what the two dogs are doing.

Read about other miraculous dogs on Dogster:

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Amazing: Oklahoma Tornado Survivor's Dog Is Rescued During a TV Interview

Barbara Garcia thought she had lost her dog, but he was right at her feet, buried in rubble.

"I never lost consciousness, and I hollered for my little dog, and he didn't answer, he didn't come, so I know he's in here somewhere," says Barbara Garcia of Moore, OK, gesturing to the rubble around her.

It's a scene of utter devastation, and Garcia is describing how she survived the tornado to a reporter from CBS News. Her voice trails off, her eyes darting around, looking at what's left of her house, her neighborhood. She pushes the thoughts of her dog aside for the moment and gets back to the interview, telling of the horror that flattened everything around her.

And then a quiet, shocked voice from someone from CBS off-camera, interrupting the newscast.

"The dog. The dog."

The camera turns, lowers, and there, right at Garcia's feet: two eyes peeking out of the rubble. Her little dog, buried, right next to her. At the sound of his owner's voice calling his name, the dog starts moving, wiggling, trying to get free. 

Garcia herself pulls the rubble off of her dog, who crawls out of the wreckage under his own power. He seems stunned, shell-shocked, but he's able to move on his own. It's an amazing scene, and Garcia, overcome, delivers a heartbreaking coda. 

"I thought God just answered one prayer, to let me be okay. He answered both of them. Because this was my second prayer."

Watch the video here.

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Dogs Make It Better: Goldendoodle Puppies Bring Joy to Sandy Hook Survivors

The pups, who were born on the day of the tragedy, find homes with school staff.

Three weeks after the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, Laura Feinstein, a teacher at the school, received a letter from a breeder in Texas. She had a litter of nine Goldendoodles. They were born Dec. 14 -- the same day as the massacre. The breeder wondered whether there were any "Sandy Hook staff, families, victims' families, first responders, or anyone in the community affected by the tragedy who might find some comfort in taking on a pup."

There were. Feinstein responded to the breeder, saying that survivors would be delighted, according to a story she wrote about the affair for WTOP.

"I just knew this was going to be a new beginning for my family," she writes. 

Photos were sent, and people picked out their dogs. Feinstein and her family chose a male pup and named him Zeus, "Protector and Ruler of the Heavens."

As the staff waited for the pups to grow up enough to be adopted, the breeder, who is unnamed in the article, sent weekly updates and photos. These offered a bright spot in a school and community under such strain. 

"Those of us on staff who had agreed to take pups were often found huddled during our lunch period sharing photos, a temporary distraction from the struggles we faced adjusting to our new location and our new lives," Feinstein writes. "Whenever I was having a bad moment, I found myself going to the camera roll on my iPhone to sneak a peek at Zeus, who was the positive association I used to overshadow negative thoughts."

On Feb. 16, when the pups were nine weeks old, they arrived at a local airport, where "the reception emotionally overwhelming. It was simply beautiful to see smiling faces and tears of joy."

"I have to say when Zeus was handed to me I smiled like I hadn't smiled in more than two months. His puppy breath and warm little body all snuggled up to you puts you in instant relaxation mode."

Watch a video of Zeus playing with Fernando, Feinstein's black Labrador Retriever:

Feinstein now cares for Zeus with her college-age daughter, and doing so has brought them closer. She ends her article by thanking the breeder for her kindness, and for reaching out: 

"We will never forget what happened on Dec. 14, but a very special person, who had a team of others to support her efforts, did a kind and generous thing for a community of people who were in tremendous pain. I will be forever grateful for that."

Via WTOP

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