The gentle, playful barks of puppies of all shapes and sizes could be heard throughout the halls of MAMCO Rescue Saturday afternoon. 

MAMCO (Moms and Mutts Colorado) Rescue’s weekly adoption event allowed local dog lovers to come to the shelter in Englewood and play with puppies, falling in love with the potential pets.

But MAMCO’s mission goes beyond the big-eyed puppies that so many people fall head-over-paws for. The shelter and foster rescue focuses on the mothers that brought those puppies into the world. The dogs often overlooked by both shelters and adopters alike.

“We rescue pregnant moms and pups. Not a lot of rescues go for pregnant moms. A lot of times, kill shelters actually euthanize the pregnant moms and puppies,” Emyli Walter, an employee at the shelter and daughter of owners Erin and Rob Jones, said.

Erin and Rob Jones started the rescue in 2016 and began rescuing pregnant dogs from Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma — states where overbreeding and overpopulation are significant issues. 

“Some are found in dumpsters and on the side of the road,” Walter said of their rescue efforts. “We usually either get them from hoarding situations or breeders. A lot of the time a mom will get pregnant and the owner won’t want to deal with it, so they’ll take her to a kill shelter. There’re also drop-off sites on the side of the road where they’ll drop off pregnant dogs.”

Initially, the rescue worked entirely through foster homes, but has recently moved into having a shelter, as well. The shelter can hold up to 80 dogs, but the need for foster homes continues.

Because of the nature of the mission — taking in pregnant dogs — the rescue ends up with more puppies than the average shelter, leading to the need for fosterers.

The end of the COVID-lockdown era has also caused issues, with a lot of dogs getting returned to shelters and a lot of fosterers dropping out due to a lack of free time.

“We could take so many more dogs if we had more fosters. We have to turn away so many people, and a lot of dogs, which sucks,” Walter said.

“People always ask, “How can you even foster?” because they’d get too attached. But it’s the most loving thing you can do,” Mari Battreall, a woman who has been fostering with MAMCO since 2020, said. “If you have someone coming in to foster, it’s saving a life every time. All the puppies here, all the moms, if you can just provide them a loving home for a few weeks, it creates a massive difference in how that dog is socialized.”

Battreall started in 2020 when her daughter began fostering while home from school. Her daughter went back to school and Battreall continued — falling deeply in love with the job.

“I have three dogs at home and a couple that I’ve failed at,” Battreall said, jokingly calling herself a “failed foster” because she’s kept so many of the pups she sought to find homes for.

“The first couple of times it was really, really hard,” she continued. “But they do such a good job here and usually the dogs go very quickly. You get excited, but you also feel that sadness to see them go.”

While people interested in fostering (or adopting) can find more information at mamcorescue.org, those who already have enough animals (as if there’s ever enough) can also help.

The shelter can always use donations, Walter noted, saying that any donations are welcome at the shelter, including blankets, bedsheets, kennels, gates, unopened food, tough toys and other pup-related items. 

And, above all, people are welcome to stop by the shelter during the week and during the adoption events every Saturday. 

Though some of the dogs can only be seen on the shelter’s website due to their foster status, the shelter always has playful pups waiting for a new home.

“It’s very rewarding. I have three dogs and two cats from here,” Walter said of the work. “Unfortunately, it shows you how cruel people can be, but it’s very exciting to know that, every day, I’m saving puppies and giving them a different life than what they would have had.”

“It’s such a blessing to be able to come here to do it. It’s a gift to me, honestly… I would have never seen myself fostering before, but now I want a farm with a hundred,” Battreall said with a laugh.

Walter concluded: “A lot of people go through breeders and then they come here and realize they don’t need to go through a breeder to find a perfect dog.”