Background: Last night at 9 pm, I chased (on a busy, unlit street) and rescued a young, female German Shepherd who is extremely underweight and has distended nipples (so I knew she had recently had puppies and was feeding). She had a faded, red collar on, but due to her state of being, I assumed she had been dumped or a stray. I brought her home and fed her until I found a friend who could take her in for the night as I planned to bring her back to the spot to see if she would lead me to her puppies. When she got to my house, she basically gorged herself on the food I had out for my dog and acted as starved as she looked. She was still sweet and took treats fairly nicely from my hand, so I knew she wasn’t feral. When I picked her up this morning, I had my friend check her nipples and though they are distended, she is not producing. I put her in the car and brought her back to where I found her (on a long line). Also, I did the due diligence of posting her on my county Facebook page, my city’s lost and found pet page, pawboost, and nextdoor. I got a ton of responses saying they’d donate or even foster (both the mama and the pups if we found any).

Today - As soon as I bring her out, she leads me to a house and a woman with a young daughter came outside and said the dog was theirs and I also saw two small puppies come running as well. She told me that it was an accidental litter with her littermate and only 2 puppies survived. She said they are one month old. She has not given any shots or dewormed them.

She told me she’s been having to feed the puppies kibble because the mom isn’t producing (because she’s extremely emaciated - I’m talking skin and bones here). She said she feeds the mom dog (but with how she ate last night and this morning according to my friend, I don’t know if that’s true). The puppies are chunky and appear to be fine health wise, but their coats were starting to mat up due to not being bathed or groomed. I tried to give her some advice and my phone number if she needed anything, but she sort of dismissed me. Right now, I’m trying to collect donations of food, supplements, and other things for the mama. I’m also securing some milk supplement for the puppies.

I had my backpack on the ground and it had treats and food in it (since I was thinking I’d be out searching for awhile) and the mom started to resource guard the food from both myself and her own puppies which makes this a dangerous situation and also sort of validates the idea that she isn’t being fed or isn’t being fed enough.

My hope is that I will be able to convince her to surrender the puppies to me at the very least (but mom would be ideal too). I have people who are willing to foster, some with bottle feeding experience. I’ve bred dogs and have experience with raising puppies with puppy culture and training. I’m almost sure that she is going to want money for them and I’ve already had 3 people (plus myself) who are willing to put in to pay for them, but I’m hoping I can get her to surrender them just so that they can be properly cared for.

So, here’s my question - if it comes down to it and she refuses to surrender them, what are the legal recourses that I need to take in order to get the dogs taken? I have photos and witnesses to how bad off the mama dog is. I also have photos of the puppies.

Also, should I be able to legally force her to surrender them, how would I be able to go about getting them to my fosters? My heart is seriously broken right now knowing that girl isn’t a stray and that she’s so neglected.

Please help.