Mitchel Craddock of Vicksburg, Michigan, got the surprise of a lifetime when a dog showed up at his bachelor party. He, his family, and friends rented a cabin in the woods to celebrate together. However, on the first morning of their stay, they noticed a dog outside the front door. She had not come with them.
“We were cooking bacon with the door open. The next thing you know, there’s this dog sitting right at the front door. She wouldn’t come inside, but she sat right there,” he told ABC News.
Craddock said that it was clear that the dog was dehydrated and malnourished. It was also apparent that she had just had puppies, though her milk had dried up due to her circumstances.
The eight men quickly befriended the sweet pup. It then became their mission to help her however they could.
“She was such a sweet dog that once we gained her trust, she was happy to see us, wagging her tail — just a big sweetheart,” he said. “After we gave her a bunch of food and water, she started producing milk again. So we figured if she’s making milk, her pups can’t be that old.”
Not A Party Without Puppies
It was not long before the group of guys realized that the dog was protecting a particular spot in the woods. They knew then it was worth seeing what she was doing. Upon further investigation, they found a big hole near her. In that hole were all seven of her healthy puppies. Aside from the expected dirt and fleas, they were healthy.
“We set each pup individually down in front of her, and she nuzzled their faces, and she checked out the pups, and to the person holding them, she gave the look of ‘It’s OK, I trust you,’” Craddock said. “Every single one had a big fat belly on them. The mom had given the pups literally everything she had.”
A Puppy Marks The Occasion
Once the puppies were safe and sound inside the cabin, the group proceeded to wash and feed them. As luck would have it, there were a total of seven puppies and their mom – exactly eight dogs for the eight people at the party. When life hands you a puppy, you can’t say no and, they didn’t.
The puppies and their mom were all adopted by the attending groomsmen and their relatives. The situation is even better knowing they all will live within a 5-mile radius of each other, making it easy to plan puppy playdates.
One might be curious how Mitchel Craddock’s wife feels about the surprise puppy. He would say he has no regrets and that she was excited for the new addition to their life.
“I proposed to her with our chocolate Lab, and now it’s our joke that for any of our big life events, we’ll get a dog,” Craddock said.
