11 puppies found abandoned in vacant basement, Regina rescue organization says

Eleven puppies found abandoned in a vacant basement are in urgent need of help, according to a Regina rescue organization.

CC RezQs, an organization that works to rescue, rehabilitate and re-home dogs, said it was contacted on Monday about the puppies and went to go pick them up.

“When we showed up, the door to the home was open so we thought all the puppies would be gone,” Stephanie Senger, CC RezQs’ coordinator of adoption, foster and vet care, said. “But the bottom two steps to the basement were removed and they couldn’t get out.”

The organization said the dogs had access to water, but no food in the basement. Some of the puppies resorted to chewing on the drywall.

“They were hiding under the furnace, in a sump pump hole in the floor, behind a shattered mirror on broken glass, under benches, amongst pipes and garbage,” the organization said in a social media post.

The puppies are nervous and some are shut down when around people, said Senger. CC RezQs did not provide the location of the home.

“While we want to keep every dog and puppy we rescue in our care, we are over capacity. We do not have the open foster homes required to keep this crew,” the organization said.

“We would need people to come forward immediately ready to take them in, and ready to work through the trauma these puppies have experienced.”

CC RezQs said it does not have any open space for new dogs at the moment and is asking for “urgent assistance” finding foster homes for the puppies or other rescue organizations and groups who may have space for them.

Daniela Minteako, owner of Dandy’s Artisan Ice Cream, is hoping to step up.

They are collecting donations of blankets, bedding, food and more for puppies.

“We want to see if we can get as much that we can to help them out,” she said.

On top of the donations, proceeds from the store’s seasonal ice cream will also be sent to CC RezQs. Over the next 11 days, one flavour will be featured daily for each puppy.

“It takes such a long time to heal and for them to feel comfortable again,” said Minteako who has five dogs, two of them rescues, herself. “It’s such a rewarding process and that’s why it’s special to me.”

The next step for Senger is to get the puppies cleaned up, dewormed if needed, and put into foster care.

“My hope is the support that’s coming forward leads to some great foster, and hopefully, forever homes,” she said. “This won’t be the last pick-up of the year, it’s only the first one. It just happened to be a pretty horrific one.”