WOODHAVEN, Mich. – A group of puppies were saved from a dangerous situation involving their mother inside a garage, and now they’re up for adoption in Metro Detroit.
“Nothing registers besides getting them out of that situation and getting them stable and getting them healthy,” said Tonya Hampton, director of Pawsitive Change Animal Rescue.
Brooks and Hoka, two resilient puppies, are two of six who were rescued from a Toledo, Ohio, home and brought to Woodhaven Animal Hospital to recover.
The Husky-lab-shepherd mixes were part of a litter of 10 puppies found in a garage in May. Four of the puppies died, it’s believed, because their stressed mother ate them. Two suffered chewed off limbs and/or tails.
Brooks is missing her back leg, while Hoka is missing a front leg. But both are now safe, happy, and well-cared-for by their foster families as they await surgery on Tuesday.
“They are both having a leg amputation,” Hampton said “The doctor is going to be removing the stump from her front leg and the stump from her rear leg.”
The rescue learned about the puppies on May 12, 2025.
“My foster dog coordinator Andrea saw a post, and she reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, is this something we can help with?’ Absolutely,” Hampton said. “So I messaged the owner and got in contact with her, asked what the issues were and what was going on. She said that mom was killing the puppies and had taken the limbs off of a couple of the puppies.”
Tonya said the owners told them they had a new baby in the house and they could not take care of the dogs. They kept the mother dog in the garage for a couple of days.
The rescue said the temperatures outside were around 60-80 degrees in mid-May, which could mean even hotter conditions -- around 10-15 degrees warmer -- inside.
Another problem: The dog giving birth was very young.
“The dog that did this to these poor babies was less than a year of age,” Dr. Lucretia Greear said. “Not even mature enough or even gone through the whole puberty cycle herself.”
“When Andrea picked up the puppies, (the owners) brought them out, and we were never able to see mom,” Hampton said. “I did talk with them about paying for mom to be spayed, and they had agreed, but they have since not contacted me back trying to set up an appointment for her. We would definitely pay for mom’s spay. And because dad is in the home, we would pay for his neuter.”
The cost of surgeries for Brooks and Hoka is about $6,000 -- minimum.
“We don’t know what the total will be until after surgery, obviously recovery and things like that,” Hampton said.
Despite the challenges, interest in adoption is already growing.
“We’ve had a couple people that have followed their journey on our page, and they have put in applications,” Hampton said. “We have done their vet checks. We have done their home checks. It will be pending after surgery, with meeting their animals and seeing how it goes.”
The outpouring of support from fosters and the community is what makes their work possible.
“These are my babies,” Hampton said through tears. “We cannot do any of this without our community or our donations. We are completely donation-based when it comes to food, when it comes to medical, when it comes to just toys for them, you know, any of that. We’re completely donation-based.”
Those interested in adopting or supporting Brooks, Hoka and other animals in need can reach out to Positive Change Animal Rescue on Facebook or Venmo by clicking here.
Donations can also be made on CashApp by clicking here. Or through the Animal Resource Funding Foundation.