When Mitchell County Animal Rescue, Inc. employees responded to a report on July 5 about a fearful dog found beside a highway, they assumed she’d gotten away from fireworks the night before. They had no idea they would be confronted with a dog that had been listed on their “lost” board for almost a month.
The night before, several Good Samaritans watching a neighborhood fireworks display observed the shadow of an animal run around their car and then hide underneath it. Marilyn Williams, one of the Good Samaritans, said, “We believed she was a fox.”
They quickly discovered that the animal was, in fact, a dog, and that her eyes indicated that she required assistance. “She seemed terrified,” Williams added.
The terrified puppy initially refused to move from beneath the car. However, the pair persisted, and ultimately the dog ran out and hopped straight into their vehicle through the driver’s side door, safe and well.
Williams and her husband took her in for the night, where they fed her, gave her water, and cleaned up a little cut on her face. The adorable dog remained completely calm throughout.
“She was quite calm and timid,” Williams remarked. “She never barked at me. She never said anything.”
Following a restful night’s sleep, the couple contacted Mitchell Region Animal Sanctuary and brought the calm puppy in, hoping to reunite her with her owners.
As soon as officials at the shelter saw her, they recognized her as Fiona, a senior dog who went missing a month earlier on a family vacation. She was even on one of the “lost” posters that was attached to their front door.
Workers confirmed Fiona’s identity by scanning her for a microchip before calling her mother to inform her of the good news. Fiona, who had been as quiet at the shelter as she had been at Williams’ house, perked up for the first time when her mother entered.
“When Fiona heard her, she got very happy,” a shelter worker said.