Barrington, Illinois - When these rescue dogs sat together in the kennel, they looked like one big tangle of fur with lots of eyes and noses. How did they get that way, and what do they look like now?

The animals were discovered at the end of October in Barrington, Illinois, by officers from the Cook County Forest Preserves Police Department.

15 dogs in total were running around Penny Road Pond, a pond on the edge of a nature reserve.

While some of the four-legged friends were standing around on their own, others were cuddling up together.

Surprised by the situation, the officers called in another agency: the Cook County Department of Animal and Rabies Control (ARC).

How and when exactly the dogs had found themselves at the pond remained a mystery to the officers, but it was more than easy for them to collect the animals and bring them to safety.

The frightened four-legged friends cuddled up to each other again for comfort, but then it was time for the next stop.

ARC brought the dogs to the South Suburban Humane Society, where the situation was suddenly tense as they needed to be cleaned and medically assessed.

"Intake was pretty much all hands on deck," said Jeremy Manthey, marketing manager for South Suburban Humane Society, in an interview with The Dodo. "Honestly… it was a very bad smell."

Initially, the staff divided the poor creatures into three groups of five.

They were each allowed to spend the first night together in a kennel to recover from their emotional ordeal before any treatment or grooming.

The team didn't get to work until the next day. First, they cut the little dogs' heads free so that they could see and eat properly again.

After that, they were supposed to be clipped – but nothing came of this at first. The poor four-legged friends were far too frightened, so the staff gave them a few days to gain their confidence.

Eventually, they had to sedate their animal patients so that they could remove the felted fur and wash them. Afterwards, the dogs looked as good as new!

Later, some of them were placed with another animal shelter called Tiny N Tall Rescue Inc. Now they will primarily recover with foster families before they can finally be placed with new owners.

"Our foster homes are just giving them ample time to decompress," said Shelby Golonka, the medical director for Tiny N Tall Rescue. "Kind of explore the world on their own and get to learn to be the dog they were meant to be."

Golonka added that some of the dogs are more frightened than others, and the more unsure ones are being kept in foster homes with some of the more confident ones from the group, "so they can kind of lean on each other and find comfort in familiar dogs."