Jurupa Valley, California - Barely born and already behind bars! A small puppy was separated from his mother far too early and ended up in an animal shelter where they are now doing everything they can to find him a loving home.

Chowder the dog did not have an easy start in life.

Just a few weeks after his birth, the white German Shepherd was snatched away from his mother far too early.

The one consolation is that the puppy was not abandoned in the wild by his former owners but was brought to an animal shelter run by the Riverside County Department of Animal Services.

Dogs Rescue dog wows new family with his emotional intelligence

Although there had been many bad cases before, the staff were particularly concerned about the young age of the four-legged friend – especially when they saw the puppy sitting alone among the other shelter dogs in the huge-looking kennel!

The animal also had to be isolated as it was suffering from a parasitic infection called Giardia, which occurs when a dog ingests water or food contaminated with feces.

Chowder's placement, however, was classified as urgent because separating a puppy from its mother too early can have a negative impact on the rest of its life and affect its behavior.

The puppy, who is estimated to be around just seven weeks old, therefore had to be adopted as quickly as possible. And what better way to do this than to draw attention to his situation via social media?

At least that's what one of his carers thought, who shared a now-viral video of the pup on Instagram captioned, "Just a small baby, in a big kennel, surrounded by kennels of big dogs."

Fortunately, there could be a happy ending for Chowder as a foster family contacted the organization after seeing the post online and agreed to take the puppy for a while to get to know him better.

"Chowder has been taken on a FOSTER FIRST DATE," the shelter wrote in an update. "We hope the foster adopts!"

If they don't however, the many people inquiring after the dog will surely be interested in giving him a home.