Bess is a gorgeous black dog who was found wandering the streets of Tennessee at a very advanced stage of pregnancy. The dog seemed so depressed that Tracey and Jon Stewart could not resist rescuing her and bringing her to their local animal hospital for treatment.

Veterinarians immediately saw that Bess was already in labor and that she was experiencing painful complications. The smallest puppy in the litter of twelve was blocking the birth canal, and the baby had only received a small amount of oxygen in three hours.

Veterinarians told Jon and Tracey that since there were so many puppies, not all of them would survive, but the couple refused to accept this. They took home Bess and all twelve of her puppies, including the littlest one, who they had named Burrdie. The Stewarts took all the furniture out of their living room and dining room to set up a doggy day care of sorts, and they recruited friends and family to help nurse Bess and her babies back to health.

Against all odds, every one of the puppies survived. Though the Stewarts initially thought about keeping all the puppies, things really got crazy in their home when all twelve of them started being able to get up and run around. It was hard for the Stewarts to put the dogs up for adoption, but Bess and her puppies all ended up in the homes of their friends and family members.

When the puppies’ birthday came around, the Stewarts decided to throw a big party reuniting all of them. They wondered if Bess would remember her puppies, and if they would remember her!

Watch their emotional reunion in the video below, and SHARE this story so your friends and family can see this as well!