Some of the best stories out there in the world are those of dog rescues. Whether it’s a story of how they walked tirelessly through the wilderness to protect a small, wandering child or sacrificing themselves for others, there is no question that dogs are some of the most incredible creatures on the planet. This is one such story about a precious stray dog named Way who went out of her way to protect an abandoned baby.

The stray dog is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, but even though she has had a tough life on the streets, Way still has one of the tenderest of hearts.

Being that Way is a stray dog, the sweet girl was never spayed. She had given birth to a large litter of puppies, and coming up with a way to feed them and keep them warm was going to be pretty difficult. The poor girl struggled to survive most days herself, let alone having to care for her newborn pups.

In order to feed her litter of puppies, Way would have to comb through the city streets searching high and low for any food scraps to feed her pups. The fact that it was in the middle of July, Buenos Aires’ winter season, was only going to make things that much more difficult. She would have to find food and get back to her puppies fast before temperatures started dropping.

While Way was searching the streets for food, she came across a shocking, heartwrenching scene; an abandoned newborn baby.

Way, the stray dog with a heart of gold, kept herself wrapped around her pups and the baby through the frigid 37-degree night.

Early the next morning, Alejandria Griffin awoke in her neighboring apartment to the faint sound of crying outside. Something made her feel like she should check it out. She was completely floored by what she saw.

Griffin walked out to find a cold, hungry stray dog wrapping herself tightly around a newborn baby beneath a blanket of puppies. Way was caring for the tiny human as if she were one of her pups.

Clearly, the child had been abandoned. Griffin immediately contacted local police to report the incident. Not knowing how long the child had been without care, they raced him to the emergency room for treatment.

According to the Province of Buenos Aires Chief of Police, Daniel Salcedo, the stray dog is a true hero!

“She took it like a puppy and rescued it. The doctors told us if she hadn’t done this, he would have died. The dog is a hero to us,” he said.

The newborn baby was taken to Melchor Romero Hospital for treatment and was given the name Santino. The hospital director, Dr. Egidio Melia, determined that he was only hours old.

Though the baby had a few mild lacerations, and at one point had bled from his mouth, he was in relatively good health. With all of the things that could have happened to a newborn abandoned in the city streets in winter, there is no question that Way had saved his life.

The morning after baby Santino was checked into the hospital, police were able to locate the mother who left him to die.

She was a 33-year-old local woman, who happened to already have 8 other children to care for. Unlike Way, she wasn’t willing to sacrifice any more of herself to keep her baby safe and healthy. She was arrested for her cruelty.

Way is a stray dog that many mothers could stand to learn a thing or two from.

Her selflessness and maternal instinct have made her a true hero. We’re sure that baby Santino will always be grateful.

Way and her litter were taken in by a local rescue that worked to place her and each of her sweet puppies in their perfect forever homes. Her story reminds us of another stray dog named LaChina. She rescued a newborn in Argentina back in 2008 who’d been abandoned by their 14-year-old mother. To learn more about this incredible story, watch the video below.

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