Aspen Animal Shelter Welcomes Josie and her Puppies

The puppies played in their nursery on April 27 at the Aspen Animal Shelter.

The puppies played in their nursery on April 27 at the Aspen Animal Shelter.

On a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of mud season, Aspen Animal Shelter’s parking lot was completely filled—probably because the shelter just welcomed Josie, the Dachshund/Chihuahua/Doberman/Cattle dog mix, and her puppies to Aspen.

Now Josie and the puppies are in the care of the Aspen Animal Shelter, where they get many visitors including prospective parents and puppy lovers.

Local Roaring Fork Valley elementary schooler Ruby and her mom, future parents to one of the pups, are already excited to adopt one of the little puppies.

“I’m here to see my puppy. I’m here to see my puppy,” Ruby screamed as she ran up to the director of the Aspen Animal Shelter, Seth Sachson.

Ruby already has three dogs, but her mom explained that they are still very excited to add the new addition because they were very attracted to this litter’s breed.

“We adopted our first Chihuahua last year, and he is the sweetest, nicest dog. We came to Seth and told him we wanted another one, and he said he didn’t have any, but he told us about the new litter coming in and how they were part Chihuahua. We came in the day after and chose our puppy,” Ruby’s mom said.

Sachson knows the puppies will find new families and believes Josie will too.

“Puppies always get adopted. The mom usually gets adopted, too, while she is still the mom. Often times the moms get adopted because they are super attractive,” Sachson said. “The mom is a superstar because she is most beautiful and appealing when she is with her kids, so the best time to find her a home is when she is still a mom.”

Most of the puppy rotations throughout the Aspen shelter are spread out over several months that include pregnancy, birth, and adoption, but Josie’s new pups have a different story. Josie and her puppies were brought to the shelter from New Mexico after being rescued from a kill shelter.

Carol Hawk, a volunteer who helped bring Josie’s litter to the Aspen Animal Shelter, currently works with a group out of New Mexico that informs her of pregnant dogs who are in need of help. This is how she came to find out about Josie and her puppies from Hobbs, New Mexico in Lovington County. Josie was a stray, who was found on the streets with her five newborn puppies.

“On Saturday (April 23), a volunteer loaded up 36 dogs and 11 cats at three a.m. in Hobbs, New Mexico,” Hawk said. “I met transportation in Lone Tree, Colorado, and drove Josie and her family to Aspen.”

Throughout the next month, Josie and her family will be the stars of attention at the shelter, and then they will slowly go as they find their new families, and a new litter will come in shortly after and start the excitement all over again.

“We rotate a different litter almost all year round. Sometimes we get pregnant females that give birth here. They are pregnant for many weeks, give birth, and then the puppies are ready for adoption after eight weeks. That is three months right there. Last year in 2015, we had four moms raise their puppies here,” Sachson said.