Louise was found in Queens, New York, shaved , bound and gagged, tied to a tree. When our volunteers picked her up she was understandably terrified of everyone and everything.
After some good food, a warm bath, a comfortable bed and lots of affection, Louise started coming around. She slowly started to sit next to her foster parents. She’d nuzzle them, hoping for some affection. You could see that Louise wanted to trust people again. This seemed to be her opportunity.
Louise’s foster parents were becoming VERY attached to her. It was easy to see why. Louise was the perfect dog everyone is searching for.
Then came Louise’s day to be adopted. A fine family came to see her. They spent lots of time with her, played with her, walked her and decided they wanted her. They were wonderful people. So, off she went to her new home.
In the back of her doggie mind, though, was the memory of the bad things people had done to her.
As she was led into her new home, one of the bad memories must have flashed in her mind. She started to pull on the leash. Then she started to buck and twist. The new owners were terrified that she may slip out of her collar. It was on her snugly, but terrified dogs can be very persistent.
Sure enough, she was able to work herself free of her collar. She ran down the street as fast as her legs could carry her. What was in her mind, we’ll never know.
Since Louise was able to shake out of her collar, she ran off with no collar, no leash…no tags. There was nothing to identify Louise or the phone number of her owners…except for the new, red bandana she wore.
Her new owners stood stunned, leash in hand, tags still attached to the empty collar.
Immediately the new owners and two of our volunteers scoured the area for Louise. As night fell and darkness forced an end to the search, Louise was nowhere to be found.
The next day, our volunteers started the search again. They posted hundreds of flyers around town. They squeaked her favorite toy, calling out her name. They questioned anyone they could find. Then there was a glimmer of hope.
A young man was certain he had seen her the night before. His description fit her perfectly. “Was she wearing a red bandana?”, he was asked?
She was. There’s no doubt it was Louise.
The young man pointed to her footprints that were clearly visible in the soft dirt. Our volunteers started to follow the footprints. Their hearts sunk, though, when they saw them go onto two sets of very active railroad tracks.
They carefully walked the tracks for miles, looking on either side for more footprints, hoping that Louise had been able to walk away from the danger of the speeding trains without being hurt…or killed.
There were no more prints. It appeared that Louise was walking on the tracks with trains speeding by every 8-10 minutes.
After almost 10 hours of searching, darkness fell again. No Louise. The search was over. Was Louise still alive?
Exhausted, our volunteers drove home, collapsed on the couch and fell asleep.
Then the phone rang.
Another of our volunteers had received a call from someone who was told that a dog fitting Louise’s description was found miles from where she ran away the day before. No one was getting their hopes up yet, though. Calls like these are common. Louise would have to have run fast and for a long time to be where she was found. It seemed just too far away from where she ran off.
The phone number was called. Our volunteer introduced herself to the woman who answered the phone. Then she asked about the dog they found.
Was she a border collie? They thought she was.
Was she black and white? Yes, she was.
Did she have brown eyes? Yes.
Did she have an all black tail?…..
No, this dog’s tail was black with a white tip.
Our volunteer’s heart immediately sunk. It’s not Louise.
But wait a minute. One more question. Is she wearing a red bandana?
” Well, she was when we found her. But it was pretty dirty so we changed it to a purple bandana.”
LOUISE! It IS Louise!!!
What about that tail, though? Didn’t Louise have an all black tail? Our volunteers raced to a small stack of photos they had of her. The first few photos didn’t show her tail. But then, there it was. In the next photo was that beautiful black tail…with a white tip.
It’s her. They found Louise!
Back in the car and off to the address they were given. They couldn’t be certain it was her until they actually saw her.
The drive was almost 40 minutes, with each minute seeming like forever. Finally, they came to the address they were given. They rang the doorbell, then felt their hearts beating in hopes that their search was over.
The woman who originally answered the phone opened the door.
“Hi, we spoke to you about the missing border collie”, they said.
“Sure, come on in.”
As they walked in the door, there was no sign of Louise. But then, in an instant, she heard their voices, popped around the corner and jumped into their arms.
It was her. Louise had been found!
She couldn’t stop licking and licking and licking her foster parents.
After a long round of retelling her adventures, thank yous and good-byes, Louise was taken back to her original foster home. The people who had adopted her were notified that she had been found. You could hear the thankful sigh of relief. Understandably, since they were quite shaken by the whole episode, they decided to ask us to find Louise another home. They also offered their home to a future abandoned dog which will be found for them.
So, what happened to Louise? Her adventure on several miles of the train tracks left her sore, hungry and a bit bruised. She recuperated at the home of her foster parents. Then, it was Louise’s turn to hit the doggie jackpot.
Two wonderful people from upstate New York saw her photo, read her description and were interested. They called and spoke to our volunteers for quite some time. Louise sounded just like the type of dog they were looking for. They drove several hours to visit with Louise. Within minutes of meeting, it was love all around. They stayed overnight at the home of Louise’s foster parents, slept on the floor next to her and even sung her a lullaby.
The next morning Louise was off to her new permanent home…a 64 acre farm, right on a lake. She has another dog in the house to play with (they get along great!) and acres and acres of land to roam. When she got to her new home, she walked in the front door like she had always belonged there. Well, she did belong there!
It’s always hard for our volunteers to turn dogs over to their new owners. It becomes especially hard when it’s such a superstar dog like Louise. There’s always a tear or two in everyone’s eyes when the dogs leave for their new homes. But then it’s time to move on and get the house ready for the next foster dog.
I wonder if the next one will be shy…or afraid…undernourished…mistreated…
– Louise strikes a beautiful pose for her photo that will be put on the Orphaned Pets adoption page!
“Hey Mom, do you think I look better with my ears up or down?” –
– “Smile right into the camera? You mean like this???”
“Look out, I’m a dangerous, slithering, two legged cheeseburger eater!” –
– There’s that beautiful black tail…with a white tip.
“Hmmm, last week I was tied to a tree. Now I’m on this great bed. I think I’m on to something here.” –
– “What’s that? I’m NOT supposed to be on this bed?”
“But last week I was tied to a tree. I have to rest and recover from that psychological trauma.
This bed probably would be a good place for that!”
