Baby’s Story

Written by Estelle Meldau, Founder of Woodrock Animal Rescue

Professional photography by Marique Photography 

On a busy Monday afternoon, in the middle of peak traffic, a tiny white blind and deaf puppy arrived at Woodrock Animal Rescue. Her future was uncertain. A family had believed they could give this little soul a home, but she soon realised the challenges were more than she could manage.

From the moment she arrived, she captured every heart. We tried every name imaginable, but nothing suited her quite like Baby. She was, and always would be, everyone’s little Baby.

When Lauri Momberg heard of Baby’s situation, she came without hesitation. She saw beyond Baby’s disabilities. Baby was introduced to life in a real home. She met other dogs. She spent time with a child. Learning the rules of the land.

And Baby didn’t just cope. She flourished. Her confidence blossomed. Her cheeky personality shone brighter every day. She proved that being blind and deaf would never define who she was. Just two weeks later, we knew she was ready to begin the next chapter of her life.

More than 50 applications came flooding in. Each came from a place of kindness, but one stood out from the very beginning – Angus de Jager. Sometimes your heart simply knows.

The day Baby left was rather emotional for the foster mom, Lauri, and family. We knew she’d found exactly where she belonged.

Today, as we watch this beautiful video (https://www.facebook.com/reel/1204297505158199), we see the ending every animal rescuer dreams of: a happy animal, safe, adored and completely at home, sharing her days with her little friend with the same condition. This is what rescue is all about. Not the disability. Not the challenges. Not the fear. But believing that every life deserves its chance.

Sweet Baby, your story reminds us that sometimes the smallest souls leave the biggest footprints on our hearts. Little darling, you were always meant for this happily ever after.

Angus, Baby’s new daddy, shares...

Four years ago, we adopted Jill, a special needs doggie who’s completely blind and completely deaf. I thought I was rescuing a dog with special needs, and what I actually received was an angel from heaven who taught me how special, and how deep, unconditional love can be.

Imagine that – learning it from an animal who cannot communicate in the usual ways. She cannot see, and she cannot hear your voice. She knows the world only through smell, through touch and taste, and yet there’s never been a moment when she hasn’t known exactly how much she’s loved or shown it back tenfold.

I’ve posted about Jill on Facebook ever since, and it turns out that was the thread that led us to Baby. Someone who’d been following Jill’s story tagged me on Baby’s advert. I read it once and I already knew what I was looking at. Where some people saw two disabilities, I saw Jill as a puppy.

I sent Estelle a WhatsApp on the 15^th of June 2026, and from that moment this little girl was already ours in my mind, even though the process still had to run its course.

We drove through to Johannesburg to meet her twice. Lauri, Estelle’s daughter, who was caring for her, was absolutely awesome. She did everything possible to help us connect with Baby and made sure we had proper time with her, not a rushed introduction. She sent me photographs and videos every single day, so that the bond was already forming long before Baby came home, and so that we would be ready to receive her when she did. Lauri also did our home inspection, and she went to real trouble to satisfy herself that this little girl would be safe with us. Looking back, that care is exactly what you’d want from the people letting her go.

Baby is the happiest little animal I’ve ever met, and she has so much love to give. She and Jill formed an unbelievable bond, and you could see from day one how much these two special needs girls love each other. Two dogs who cannot see or hear one another, and they found each other anyway. Watching them lie together is the part I didn’t expect and wouldn’t trade for anything.

Baby spends a great deal of her time with me and with my daughter Angelique, and she has discovered that Angelique’s neck makes an excellent travel pillow while Angelique is studying. She sleeps on shoulders. She sleeps in dressing gowns. She’s quietly trained all of us to sit still for far longer than we used to.

If Baby’s story does one thing, I hope it’s this. Please don’t scroll past the special-needs ones. There’s nothing broken about these little souls. They love without hesitation and without conditions, they forgive instantly, and they trust you with a completeness that’ll humble you. Jill’s been the greatest teacher of my life, and Baby, at the very start of hers, is already showing every sign of following in her footsteps. Both of them arrived in the smallest possible packages, carrying more love than I knew a heart that size could hold.

Give one of them a chance. They’ll give you everything they have.