Leeloo the boxer, mere days away from giving birth, was brought to a high-kill animal shelter in North Carolina just before the holidays. The deaf, emaciated dog had spent much of her time chained to her previous owner's porch and was in desperate need of care.

Her arrival at the shelter set off a chain of rescue efforts that changed her life and the lives of her six puppies.

Someone at the shelter reached out to a local nonprofit called Mayberry 4 Paws, which reached out to Christina Lee, who runs Deaf Dogs Rock, a nonprofit for deaf dogs. Lee in turn got in touch with Erika Proctor, the founder of Green Dogs Unleashed, a Virginia-based rescue group dedicated to special-needs animals.

"I immediately offered help and set the wheels in motion to get her," says Proctor, who coordinated a caravan of volunteers to bring Leeloo from North Carolina to her new foster home, with Beth Dunlap Marcus in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"I live on a farm and have six dogs living with me," says Marcus. "I couldn't let her or her puppies be euthanized."

Leeloo went into labor on Dec. 23. The first five deliveries went easily.

"By all accounts it was pretty textbook. She had one baby on the 23rd, and then four more early morning on Christmas Eve," says Proctor.

Proctor and Marcus thought that Leeloo was done. But on Christmas morning, the new mom didn't seem to be feeling well. Marcus took her temperature and found she was running a high fever. A Google search told Marcus that there might be another puppy stuck inside Leeloo.

She was rushed to Sara Salman's emergency veterinary clinic where an X-ray showed three more puppies, one of which was blocking the others from getting out.

Salmon operated quickly, but two of the puppies were already dead. The third, however, lived.

"The last little one, completely against all odds, had a heartbeat and was breathing," says Proctor. "By only God's grace, this little tiny miracle girl arose from her mom."

"She's a little cutie," says Salmon, who credits the birth less to the divine than to humans: those who let Leeloo's body deteriorate, and those who are doing their best to undo that damage.

"She should be 10 pounds more," Salmon says of Leeloo, who is between 20 and 30 percent underweight. "I'm grateful for organizations like Green Dogs."

Leeloo and her final pup rejoined the others not much later. The whole family is home with Marcus now.

"The rest is history! They are all so fat and healthy," says Marcus, who'll be taking care of the gorgeous gang for a few more weeks until the lucky little ones are ready for solid food. Then they'll go to another foster home for a few more weeks, and the pups will be spayed and neutered to make them ready for permanent homes of their own.

Leeloo will eventually get a new home, too.

"Through all of this, she has remained by far, one of the sweetest and most forgiving souls I have ever met," says Proctor. "Now it is time for us to give back to her. We will stop at nothing to find her only the absolute most amazing forever home."

Cheers’ life has hardly begun, and already she’s suffered so much. Someone tied a rope around her neck so tightly that she could scarcely eat or breathe. Her circulation was cut off so badly that her head swelled to immense proportions. But thankfully she was rescued, and now is making a full recovery!

Two good Samaritans in Georgia came across this cute little girl, who was struggling to survive. They didn’t know what was wrong with her, but they gave her some food. It was when they saw her choking on the tiny bites that they realized a rope was tied so tightly around her neck that they could barely see it.

She was brought into Fulton County Animal Services and is now being treated and recovering with Second Chance Rescue NYC Dogs. Her eyes were infected and full of pus, and due to her injuries, it was decided that it would be best for her to stay at the veterinarian’s office to recover. Now she is doing much better! Soon she will be ready for a home

A rescue group from Central Florida was alerted to a dog that had been mercilessly dumped in a field so beaten up and bloody, it was almost impossible to tell if the dog was actually still alive or not. After an exhaustive rescue effort, this dog thought to once have been used as bait for a dog fighting ring, now has a second chance at life.

The dog’s original name was Jonah, and when he arrived at the vet clinic he was brought to, medical staff knew time was of the essence. He was immediately admitted, and they performing the emergency surgery needed to save his life at once.

After the surgeries were complete, Jonah, or as he is known now, Champion, hung around the animal hospital to kind of recuperate and be a bit more closely monitored for any complications that may have shown up post-surgery.

Once medical staff was satisfied that he was mostly out of the woods so to speak, he was then sent on to Me and My Shadow Dog Rescue. That’s where he met up with the rescue group president Julie Galante, who gave him his seemingly better fitting name of Champion. Julie believes that after everything he went through being a bait dog and surviving and still having a sweet even if timid disposition, that more than qualifies him for his new title.