It was a breezy January day in Southern California when an unsuspecting resident noticed something strange in a trash-laden alleyway. Amid piles of mud and garbage sat a discarded bench seat from a car — and someone was sleeping on top of it.

The rottweiler mix glanced up at the Good Samaritan, her eyes filled with despair. She could hardly lift herself to greet them, despite how happy she was to finally be found.

Shocked by the discovery, the Good Samaritan dropped everything to help the pup. They took a picture of her and sent it to Suzette Hall, founder of Logan’s Legacy Dog Rescue, who rushed to the alleyway.

The experienced rescuer was heartbroken when she saw the dog, later named Delta, sprawled out on the car seat.

“She has scars, open cuts and swollen eyes,” Hall wrote on Facebook. “But deep down, all she wants is love.”

Hall tried her usual methods for trapping dogs: She set up a humane trap with enticing food and attempted to slide a leash around Delta’s neck. But none of them worked.

“She was scared of everything, even a leash would make her scream,” Hall wrote. “I can’t imagine what memories were going through her mind.”

While Delta yelped out in fear, Hall and her team continued to improvise a rescue plan for the traumatized pup. After many failed attempts, the team was finally able to lift her from the discarded car seat and place her in Hall’s Jeep.

The team loaded Delta into the Jeep and showered her with positive affirmations the entire way to Camino Pet Hospital.

“We told her as we looked behind us that she never had to go back to [that] deep alley or the nightmares when she slept on that dirty couch,” Hall wrote. ”We told her she was going to be loved.”

The dedicated vet team gave Delta a thorough checkup as soon as she arrived. They diagnosed her with a few treatable illnesses, like an eye infection, and quickly got started on a treatment plan. While scanning her abdomen, they made a surprising discovery: The resilient girl was pregnant with two puppies.

The staff was saddened to learn that Delta had been surviving on her own while carrying two puppies, but they were thankful that she’d been found just in time. They soon found a warm foster home, where she could decompress and prepare for motherhood. A few days later, her two babies were born.

“She gave birth to her two puppies and is being such a good mama,” Hall wrote in a Facebook update.

The puppies, named Chunky and Monkey after their inherent pudginess, thrived in foster care with their mom. They continued to grow thanks to Delta’s nurturing instincts, unaware of the trauma she’d survived. And with every day that passed, Delta’s memories of the past started drifting away, too.

Now, the loving mom is happier than ever, and she can’t stop smiling.

“Delta’s frown has been turned upside down,” Hall wrote. “Look at her smile, she is so proud of her little family.”