Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ — Four young puppies and their mother were dumped on Brookfield Road in Wildsville, Louisiana, near Jonesville.

Were it not for the big hearts of a Natchez man and his son, there they would remain.

Walker Mize, son of Tim Mize of Natchez, works for Billy Nelson at Miss-Lou Electric.

“They were there working on the parish water system,” Tim Mize, Walker’s father, said.

On Tuesday, as Mize was driving U.S. 61 South toward his home, he received a call from Walker, telling him about these abandoned puppies.

“There is no doubt he was not going to leave those puppies. I raised my kids better than that,” Mize said.

But Walker was working and in a work truck. “He couldn’t put those dogs in his work truck, which is understandable,” Mize said. “So I went to see about them.”

When Mize made it to the area, he found the puppies where Walker said they would be. He also made a horrifying and heartbreaking discovery. The mother dog was dead. She had been choked to death, the extension cord still wound tightly around her neck.

“If someone will do that to a dog, they will do it to you or your kids or others in your family,” Tim said.

“I’ve been sober for two years. I thank God for that and everything I have. I’ve always been a believer, but I wasn’t always a follower. The only difference between me and those puppies is I have a voice,” he said.

Mize loaded up the puppies and took them home to Natchez.

“I know we don’t need any other dogs. We have a Labradoodle and a French Brittany — a bird dog and an upland dog. They are real pretty, but they are escape artists,” he said.

The dogs frequently escape their yard and their neighbors in Elgin know who they belong to.

Mize said he and his family are going to find the puppies homes on their own. His wife and daughters were worming them and bathing them on Wednesday evening.

“People need to get better. They need to do better. I don’t hate anybody. I hate the sin but not the person. Some people never had the chance and don’t know any better,” he said. “But people have to do better.

“These puppies are the sweetest things ever. They survived last week through that real bitter cold, and I know they were out there that long,” Tim said. “I don’t know how you could drive by that and not stop. I just can’t leave them. As I said, I don’t need any more dogs, but we are going to make it work.

“I’m super proud of my son. He’s a good kid. As I said, they were there working on that water tower, but he did the right thing,” Mize said. “We want these puppies to go somewhere good. I won’t give them to just anybody.”