Three endangered African painted dog pups nursed by a surrogate golden retriever mom were formally introduced to the public by Potawatomi Zoo on December 13.The zoo in South Bend, Indiana, said the dogs – currently called Blue, Red, and Orange – were born on September 28 and have “had a challenging start to life.”“Unfortunately, their mom didn’t raise the [original litter of eight] puppies properly when they were born, so the zoo made the difficult decision to hand-raise the litter of pups,” Potawatomi Zoo said. “Because it’s so important for painted dogs to be raised in a canine social structure, Indiana Council for Animal Welfare helped us find a surrogate dog, a golden retriever mom named Kassy. She immediately accepted the painted dog puppies and cared for them for the first critical month of their lives. She’s a hero in our eyes.”Footage shows the pups throughout various stages of their development. They are now 11 weeks old, the zoo said. Credit: Potawatomi Zoo via Storyful