Coincidence? Fate? Reincarnation? You decide. This is the tale of two different puppies, told by long time animal rescuer, Terra MacLean.
This story has two start dates – one is April 16, 2018, but really it also begins in September 2009. In 2009 a gentleman was walking his dogs, they ran ahead of him on the trail and rounded a corner. When he caught up to his dogs they were sniffing a newborn baby pup laying on the frost in the middle of the trail. Eyes still shut, umbilical cord still attached. The man looked for a mom or den and couldn’t find anything. He even tried mothering it up to a neighbor’s dog that had just had pups, but she rejected the little soul.
He took the pup home and fed it human baby formula. Realizing a new born pup was a large undertaking, he contacted animal rescue (me) and all I could think was “what kind of coyote is this guy bringing me?”. It had been abandoned not once but twice, fed human formula. The chance of it surviving were a million to one, let alone if it did, was it going to grow into a coyote?
The pup grew and he grew AND HE GREW. He turned into 110 lbs of fluffy shepherd mix, an AMAZING dog, a family member, a co-worker, a furry kid, a confidant, and a guardian. His name was Doc and he passed away suddenly in Nov 2017 from an ulcer through a blood vessel at only 9 years old. Devastated doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling we had. It’s hard to lose a family member and friend. Doc helped me raise my kids and went to work with me every day. He will never be forgotten or replaced, and his mysterious entrance into the world was never solved. He was just the newborn puppy found in the frost all by himself.
Fast forward to April 16, 2018. A lady was in her house in Wabasca, Alberta. Her dogs were kicking up a fuss at the door, during our last blizzard from the winter that would never end. She let her dogs out and they shot off her doorstep and across the drive and into the ditch. So she put on her boots and followed them. There in the ditch was a newborn baby puppy, still in its birthing sack. The kind lady bundled up the little darling and rushed her into the house. They quickly went to search for the mom dog and never found her. SCARS was contacted and the pup started her journey to (you guessed it) me.
She was 3 weeks old on Monday, May 7th. She is feisty and strong and growing like a bad weed. I am not one that is much for “fate” or “meant to be” but she is obviously destined to be my dog, and I will cherish this mysterious baby that showed up in the middle of nowhere. She still doesn’t have a name, but we refer to her on occasion as the “wild hyena”.
This little munchkin is far stronger than I can understand, from first being abandoned in the snow and miraculously found, she went several hours without proper formula, just sugar water as no one was prepared until she made her way to the vet and then to me. It is vital for newborns to receive food soon after birth, let alone if her body temperature dipped too far in her first few moments in the snow. Her survival odds were poor at best, but this feisty little bugger I have half a hunch may have abandoned her own mother just so she could demand that humans be at her beck and call and serve her needs. I also think she may ditch me if I don’t feed her when she demands. I rarely have to set an alarm as she would never sleep through a feeding. She has quadrupled in size and shows no signs of slowing down. We are all excited to see what she turns into. Big or small, this ferocious little critter is in her forever home.
[portfolio_slideshow]