Miracles DO happen

Do you know who this is? No? Maybe this will give you a hint:

http://secretbc.blogspot.com/2012/10/secret-search-rescue-dog-not-quite-but.html

http://secretbc.blogspot.com/2012/10/long-week-lots-of-walking-still-no-lucy.html

http://secretbc.blogspot.com/2012/10/throwing-in-towel.html

Now that you are all caught up -- Can you BELIEVE IT?! Yes, the dog in the picture is Lucy, the Alaskan Klee Kai that went missing on 9/30/12. Over NINE MONTHS ago.

Lucy has now been in my possession for just over 24 hours and I can still hardly believe it. I got a phone call yesterday afternoon from the shelter worker who was helping me look for Lucy last fall. In the e-mail report that went out the day before listing the incoming dogs, she noticed that a "small/mini husky" was listed as being brought in as a stray on the 4th of July. Wondering if it could possibly be true, she went to the shelter on Friday to see for herself and sure enough it was Lucy. She called me right away.

Apparently she was brought in by a couple who claims to have found her running along Hwy 16 near Tomah. The story that was shared with me was that people at the shelter had reason to believe that these people may have had Lucy for a while and felt guilty about keeping her. There are several weird things about the story -- namely that Lucy smells freshly bathed, her nails have been trimmed and she was wearing the collar she originally was wearing when she went missing -- but minus a leash ring. It is obvious that she has been living with someone all of this time and I find it hard to believe that they would continue to use a broken/dysfunctional collar for nine months. I have a feeling that they cleaned her up and put her old collar on before bringing her into the shelter. True or not, I do not know, but it's the most plausible thing I can come up with right now.

When Lucy originally went missing we went through a huge ordeal with the shelter over who was the legal owner of this dog. The person who lost Lucy was in breech of contract multiple times over, so her breeder was taking possession of her at that point. Because this person never fulfilled her contractual obligations, Lucy was never signed over to her and the dog still belongs to the breeder. The breeder faxed over proof of ownership and informed the shelter that Lucy was to be turned over to me if found. Of course they didn't even remember Lucy when she showed up again, nor did they actually bother to scan her microchip, which is why we didn't get a phone call immediately letting us know she was there. It is that, the fact that they already showed they are completely inept at keeping her contained safely, and a multitude of other reasons that I ended up just claiming her as my own to get her out of there. She is safe now and that's what matters. I am in contact with Lucy's breeder and another breeder in my state regarding what to do next and where Lucy will get to live.

And no, she can't live here.  ;o)  As much fun as I believe it would be to have another Klee Kai in the house (Kaiser is a-okay with this plan as well!), I cannot have another dog. I do think that Lucy would make an excellent agility prospect, though, just for how stinking fast the little squirt is. She would have a long road of training ahead of her, though, as she's kind of just a naughty blank slate right now. lol  We know that her previous owner didn't do a whole lot with her and I have no idea what she's been doing for the last nine months, but she doesn't respond to any basic training commands.

She is an amazingly good-natured dog, though. Lucy is absolutely the friendliest Klee Kai I have ever met! She is a total love and is actually laying on my lap at the computer as I type this. She's a bit of a naughty, snarky bitch, though, which is posing a slight problem with Secret right now. They got into a fight last night over antlers, but the bad news is that after I separated them Lucy went right back after Secret with no provocation! That's the kind of thing that will get someone really hurt, so I've been doing a lot of managing since then. I'm giving Lucy freedom in short spurts in the house. Secret is okay with her until she's not, and then she starts growling, which sets Lucy off barking at her. And this would be a very good example of why the next dog must be a boy; I cannot have two strong-willed and opinionated females in this house (besides myself, of course)!

So.... That is our update. Lucy is safe and with me until we figure out what to do next. I can still hardly believe it happened. What an amazing story she must have; if only they could talk!