Title: Saving Miz Lotto and Her Babies!

Artist: Janette Barber

Medium: Watercolor and marker on canvas

Dimensions: 18" x 24"

Animal Depicted: Miz Lotto

After the May 16th tornado, calls flooded in. North St. Louis City suffered a lot of damage. While we were out responding to a call about a dog, we could hear another dog barking frantically in the abandoned house next door. We crawled in a broken window to assess the situation, but the dog got spooked and ran out of the house. A car pulled up just then. "Are you with Stray Rescue? There's a dog we have seen before that ran out of that house, and it looked like she could be nursing puppies!" Game on.

We slowly navigated through the trash filled rooms to the stairway which was COVERED with Missouri Lottery tickets. Did the previous inhabitants hit the jackpot and move away? Up the stairs we went, and sure enough, on the top floor, we counted at least six puppies - silent and scared and scattering into the rooms they have called "home" up until now. No wonder the mama dog was barking so frantically. She's a good mom and very protective of her babies! We devised a plan to safely rescue this little family, and we were able to get seven puppies out of the house - Winner, Scratch Off, Powerball, Mega Million, Lucky Draw, Lottery, and Jackpot.

The abandoned house was so full of hiding spots, junk, and trash, we were worried we may have missed a puppy. The only way to be sure was to leave mom there overnight to care for any missed puppies. We set up trail cams and watched intently. It absolutely broke our heart seeing her looking for her puppies and bringing food for them, but it let us know for sure that we had all of them. Now, it was time to go get mama! Once we got her, we were smitten. She was the sweetest, most beautiful mama we could have imagined! She went into a foster home where she gets to be the center of attention (as she deserves!), and her babies went to foster homes as well. The whole family is now safe, and they will only know love from here on out.

Status: Adopted

Shipping Available:

*If you are the winning bidder and are not in attendance to pick up your item(s) the night of the event at the Four Seasons Hotel artwork will be available for pick up from the Pine Street Shelter starting Wednesday, August 13th. Artwork will NOT be available to pick up before this (unless you are notified otherwise via email). If you are not local to the St. Louis Area, shipping is available for this item upon request (for an additional cost which will be calculated for each piece individually). All winning bidders will receive an email with more information once the auction has closed.