A MIRACLE DOGGY REUNION
This story was on the local news in the South Carolina. It was written up in Reader’s Digest I wanted to save it for you for Christmas, as it is very heart warming and may brighten your busy day.
Indiana and Dakota, as they have been named, were feral dogs running wild in the hills and forests of South Carolina. The puppy, Indiana had been shot in the shoulder by a hunter who may have mistaken her for a coyote. Nevertheless, she continued to survive, running with her mother from possible capture for four months. According to the animal control officer, he had never encountered a pair of dogs that were so intensely bonded to each other, refusing to leave each other even while they were being captured.
Indiana lost her front leg as a result of the gun shot and the following infection. Both mother and daughter were sent to two different shelters. Indiana was rehabilitating in the south and Dakota was sent 1000 miles north in New England. The first family to adopt Dakota returned her within two days stating that “she couldn’t bond with humans, kept them up all night, and wasn’t suitable to live in a home.” They certainly did not give her much time, like I am giving foster/now rescue dog, Ebby! (I can get her Velcro harness on, still working up to a coat as she does not like rain or the cold.)
Nonnie Gerber is a broadcast news journalist. She read Dakota’s bio which said Dakota had been running with her daughter pup, who had been shot. Nonnie assumed that the pup had been killed. Through further investigating she learned about a similar looking dog in South Carolina who had been shot but survived amputation. She instinctively knew that that was Dakota’s daughter, and she made a vow to locate the pup and bring her home. Both dogs were having a really difficult time adjusting to being without each other. Nonnie said that Dakota would go out on the deck and let out these mournful howls, like begging the air to find her daughter. And Indiana kept jumping the fence at the shelter in South Carolina, even on three legs, to search for her mother.
Nonnie wrote that the reunion of mother and daughter was pure magic. “Dakota was ecstatic. She couldn’t stop licking her puppy’s face. The love between them is remarkable. Dakota has lost her reason to howl, and Indiana her need to jump fences. “They play and run around nonstop. They sleep entwined, with each other’s nose resting on the other.” They both roll over for belly rubs, enjoy running on the beach, and greeting other dogs. “Every day I play the same good-morning song and they come running in and dance with me, jumping on their hind legs. These once-feral dogs now jump on my bed, lie on the sofa with me, curl up in my lap, and lick me constantly.” Despite their having lived in the wild, neither Dakota nor Indiana shows any aggression at all. They are just simply sweet, gentle adorable dogs, who now can grow old together.
