In the seemingly incessant rain on Tuesday, Tyrona Lopez, First Presbyterian Church secretary and animal lover, noticed a distinctive sound coming from under the church building. Thus began the saga of the “Presbyterian Church Pups.”

When Lopez investigated, she found nine puppies, and a rather scraggly mother dog from the neighborhood. So she and others at the church sprang to action.

“I heard the puppies crying and found the mama, as you see her in the photo,” Lopez said. “She apparently had the pups under the church, and moved them out as water began to accumulate.”

Lopez fed the mother, and then Mike Mevers stopped by the church, and he “found the box and some old clothing to keep (the puppies) warm,” Lopez said.

“We managed to get three pups as the mama hurriedly moved the others back under church,” she said. “Mike left more food, and I went to Tractor Supply to get puppy formula and a bottle. I tried to feed the three without much success.

“The mom found her three in the box and was nursing them later in the day, and this morning she had all nine in the box. She seems docile, and will surely be a loving addition to the right family.”

One could argue that’s only fitting for a “church dog.”

Early on Wednesday morning, church members were awaiting a visit from the Dante’s Hope animal rescue group in Mandeville. (Mevers said they couldn’t immediately get in touch with anybody in Washington Parish.) But if all else fails, a “cat lover” church member said he would take the dogs.

Lopez said she contacted Belinda Martin, who works with the local Magnolia Chapter of the Humane Society of Louisiana, and she managed the rescue by Dante’s Hope.