Not all who wander are lost, some are just seeking the home where they belonghttps://t.co/scsOJfpskX
— David Farah (@DavidkFarah) February 12, 2023
… Hopefully, a purpose that’s not gonna give everyone around you an aneurysm. ‘Stealing’ this one from TaMara’s bailiwick, so I can gift y’all an unpaywalled link:
It had been 36 hours since Bailey the dog disappeared. Her new owner and the animal shelter where she had lived for more than a year knew that every second that passed dimmed the likelihood that she would be found alive…
… Then, deep into the second night after her disappearance, animal shelter employees were notified that someone was pressing their Ring camera doorbell. They opened up the app, which showed the exterior of the animal shelter and its late-night caller: Bailey.
Her doorbell camera cameo ended a 36-hour search for a dog that did not need to be rescued. Bailey knew where she was going and traveled some 10 miles to get there. But she now faced an obstacle she could not overcome. Without a key or opposable thumbs, she needed someone to let her in.
Bailey first came to the Animal Rescue League of El Paso more than a year ago. After housing her for a few months, another shelter transferred her to the rescue league in the hopes that its higher foot traffic would lead to her adoption.
Despite the boost, Bailey languished at the rescue league for more than a year because of “some quirks that were not easy for people to overcome,” including being hyper, untrained and a bit of an “escape artist,” according to rescue league director Loretta Hyde. “She spent most of her life in a shelter,” Hyde said, adding that Bailey took an obedience course during her time at the rescue league.
Bailey’s quirks bubbled up after she was adopted a few months ago, Hyde added. Her new owner returned her three days later because Bailey escaped from her crate and destroyed a piece of his artwork. About a month later, a second owner adopted her. He already had a feral dog that he had painstakingly trained for a year. After a few visits to make sure the two got along, he brought Bailey into the fold, taking the two dogs with him every day to his job training, teaching and competing in martial arts.
All was going well until around noon on Jan. 29 when Bailey slipped her new owner’s grasp as he tried to fit her for a new harness and bolted, Hyde said. He chased her on foot and then by car, but she eluded both efforts. So he called the shelter, which put out an urgent alert on its Facebook page that night informing its more than 33,000 followers that Bailey was on the loose and asking them to report any sightings.
Monday Morning Open Thread: Strike Out to Find Your PurposePost + Comments (156)