How an abandoned dog with a broken leg on I-80 saved 10,000 furry friends and produced Puppy Bowl MVPs

Amy Heinz of Adel already knows who will win Sunday's big game.

"They recorded it in October in Manhattan," she said. "The only thing I don't know is who the MVP is."

Heinz, of course, is talking about the Puppy Bowl XIV, which airs at 2 p.m. Sunday on Animal Planet.

Amy Heinz is CEO of AHeinz57 Pet Rescue and Transport in DeSoto. For the last six years, her animal rescue has provided several four-legged "athletes" to the big game, which mostly involves puppies being adorable for an hour before that other big game on Sunday.

This year, AHeinz57 took 11 puppies to the event. Most of the dogs the group handles are usually mixed breeds, something people in the animal rescue community sometimes referred to as "Heinz 57s," more for the dog's unknown ancestry than an homage to the trademarked steak sauce.

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Wells Fargo moved Heinz to Iowa for work in 2005. She settled near Adel. She volunteered to transport dogs from foster homes in Iowa to homes and shelters in Minnesota.

In March 2008, Heinz was driving when she saw a red pickup truck stopped on the on-ramp to Interstate 80 at U.S. Highway 169.

Next to the truck was a black dog. Heinz stopped her car; she thought the pickup driver was trying to help the dog.

But when Heinz approached, the truck quickly sped away. The dog chased after the truck nearly running onto the interstate.

Heinz called to the dog, but it would not come to her and eventually ran off.

She noticed the animal was hobbled, running on just three legs. Heinz worried the dog had a broken leg.

Two days later, Heinz spotted the dog sitting on a hill watching cars.

"She was waiting for her owner to return," Heinz said.

Heinz searched for the dog for days. Once she spied it sleeping under a bridge in a heavy rainstorm. She approached, but the dog ran again.

Heinz went to a convenience store and bought some dog food and a bowl and brought a blanket to the spot under the bridge where she saw the dog.

Heinz worried the dog wouldn't survive long with an injured leg.

She called the Animal Rescue League in Des Moines asking for help. The ARL provided a live trap and volunteers to help watch for the dog.

After some troubles with local authorities removing the live trap, she put some leftover Easter ham in the trap.

That night, after more than a week fending for itself despite being injured, the dog climbed into the trap.

Heinz and her son collected the dog and took it home. The next morning, Heinz took the dog to vet. The dog, a female, had a fractured knee on her left rear leg, as well as foot and hip injuries.

A donor helped pay for the dog's medical care.

On the way home from the vet, Heinz passed a sign for Grace Church. She decided to name the dog Grace.

Grace joined Heinz's other four dogs and inspired her to another mission: Opening her own dog rescue.

Since 2008, she has built a network of more than 700 volunteers who have helped foster more than 10,000 surrendered and homeless dogs.

The volunteers care for the animals who are either adopted to permanent homes or transferred to shelters that do not euthanize.

Grace, the dog that started it all, died in 2013, but her legacy continues.

Since then, the shelter has developed a national profile, receiving donations from across the country and increasing interest in volunteering.

AHeinz57 is building a new shelter in DeSoto funded by a $1.8-million capital campaign. The new building will provide spay and neuter clinics to reduce pet overpopulation in areas west of the metro as well as have new programs for schoolchildren.

In 2012, Heinz got a call from an Animal Planet producer who had seen one of AHeinz57's dogs online and wonder if the shelter had any puppies.

"I was like, 'Who are you, and what do you really want?'" Heinz recalled.

But it began a six-year relationship with the Puppy Bowl for AHeniz57.

The shelter sent three puppies the first year. One was named Puppy Bowl MVP.

The next year, AHeinz57 was asked back, and again one of their pups earned MVP.

For the 10th anniversary of the Puppy Bowl in 2014, one of the AHeinz57 puppies played the part of Rudy, a dog who always dreamed of playing the Puppy Bowl.

Taking dogs to the Puppy Bowl involves driving them to New York City, which usually takes volunteers about two days.

"It's a trick to find a hotel room that will take that many dogs," Heinz said.

The dogs are treated like all-stars by Animal Planet producers and staff, Heinz said.

The production crew has experienced animal handlers and a play area for the dogs to hang out, eat and take care of nature's call when they're not on-screen.

Sometimes puppies become camera shy.

"This year, we had two hound dog pups that just froze when they got out on stage," Heinz said. "Sometimes that happens."

The Puppy Bowl is divided into four quarters, with the smallest dogs playing first and the largest playing last.

The Animal Planet crew films all kinds of scenarios, only some of which make the final production.

The two AHeniz57 hounds who froze on camera were filmed sitting next to each other as if they were game commentators.

"Whether they use that or not, we won't know until it airs," Heinz said.

There's another mystery for the AHeinz57 pups.

"One of our puppies was filmed with an MVP jersey, but so were two other dogs," she said. "So we're waiting to see if we have another MVP in our midst."

Of course, Heinz and her legion of volunteers, who tend to the animals that humans have carelessly discarded, are always MVPs.

How to help

To make a donation to AHeinz57 Pet Rescue and Transport, visit http://www.aheinz57build.org/donate.html or send a donation to AHeinz57 P.O. Box 188 De Soto, IA 50069.

Daniel P. Finney, Register Metro Voice columnist, is a Drake University alumnus who grew up in Winterset and east Des Moines. Reach him at dafinney@dmreg.com. More from Finney: DesMoinesRegister.com/Finney.