My husband and I recently took in a puppymill survivor. This dog is about as feral as a dog can be. She is 3 years old and has spent the majority of her life in a cage. I came to know of her while trying to place the dogs in the rescue organization that I am involved with. She lacks socialization and therefore it had been difficult to place her.

From the first time that I had heard of her, I had already felt that this dog was going to be mine, even though she was in Michigan and I’m in Phoenix. After continuous efforts to find a good home for her, we never did. So long story short, I had her flown to me.

Yesterday my husband and I took our two male dogs along with our new little girl to the mountain preserve where we take the boys on a regular basis (on leash of course). Well, a couple of walkers spooked our little girl and she slipped her collar. She would not come to me since she does not trust me yet. The closer I got the further away she ran. Remember, she’s feral. We are talking about a 7500-acre preserve, and the odds of me catching her would be that of me catching a deer with my bare hands.

There was a 45 minute time period where she was completely out of sight. I knew that the odds of me getting her back were slim to none, but I had to keep going.

All I kept thinking was that there was no way that she was going to be taken out by a coyote or a car. She was meant to be loved and I was her mom now. The universe would not have made it possible for me to have her for only a week and then take her away from me. I kept moving as “The Secret” kept replaying itself in my mind.

Out of nowhere I saw her from atop one of the mountains. She had made it all the way down and had crossed a busy street. I made a beeline for her and as I came near, once again, she ran like mad. Then, out of nowhere, almost like she was pushed, she went into a bush along the road. And that’s when I got her.

We’ll be walking her with a harness now. 🙂