Lost dog Haven found, returned home
BY SHERI TRUSTY • CentralOhio.com
August 11, 2009
The dog that was captured last week after being on the run since September has been reunited with her former foster mother
Haven, who was known as Genoa when she was loose in the Genoa area, is staying with a foster family.
Haven, who was nicknamed "Genoa" while she was lost, is happy to be home, said Molly LaMountain of Whitehouse, her foster mother
It has been a long road for Haven, and it seems she has found a haven of her own. A couple of years ago, she and her mother were confiscated by the courts from their Fulton County home, said LaMountain, who declined to give further information regarding the case. The judge presiding over the case ruled Haven should be adopted
So Haven was placed with LaMountain, an experienced dog foster mother who works with Planned Pethood, an animal rescue group. LaMountain worked with Haven to develop her social skills.
Before coming to Planned Pethood, "she had never been treated kindly," LaMountain said.
A year and a half later, Haven was ready for a permanent home, and she was placed with a Toledo couple for a trial adoption. They took her to a home in Marblehead.
"When they took her for a walk, she spooked, knocked (one of her owners) down and got loose," LaMountain said.
LaMountain spent weeks searching the area and putting out fliers. She placed a trap where Haven had last been seen.
But nothing worked. Haven had simply disappeared.
Then last month, LaMountain received an e-mail saying volunteers were needed to help capture a loose dog. The dog in the photo was hard to recognize
Its fur was matted and it was dirty, but it still had on a leash, just as Haven had when she got loose. LaMountain was sure it was her.
Haven still had her Planned Pethood ID tag, so there was no question. It was Haven. LaMountain had nothing but praise for Haven's rescuers.
"We have been so grateful and thankful to these people for all the help," she said.
LaMountain said she has learned a lesson from Haven's experience. Before Haven's return, she always struggled with understanding why no one was looking for the many dogs that came into her home.
Now she knows that even intense searching doesn't always bring a lost dog home.
"Now, with every single dog I get, I'm going to wonder, did someone lose this dog a year ago?" she said.
Haven spent a couple of nights at the Humane Society of Ottawa County before she was reunited with LaMountain. Haven came to the shelter very frightened but was starting to slowly come around by the time LaMountain picked her up.
By the morning of LaMountain's arrival last week, she had progressed to approaching the shelter workers, and even sniffed their hands.
"You can't just walk up to her and slip a leash on her and take her for a walk," shelter manager Megan Feicht said that morning. "She's too scared."
Haven, however, never tried to bite anyone and was very sweet, Feicht said.
"We hope that they can keep us informed on her progress," she said. "We've asked Planned Pethood to keep us posted and send an e-mail once in a while. She's got a lot of people that love her here."
Haven's transition back to her old home was seamless, LaMountain said. She remembered LaMountain, LaMountain's children, the other dogs and the home.
"She walked in the house and her tail started wagging," LaMountain said. "I don't think it's stopped since. Once she was at my house, it was like she never left."
LaMountain took Haven to the veterinarian last week to have her shots updated. Her next step was to "work on getting her socialized," she said.
Will Haven find a forever home with someone else? LaMountain said it's too early to tell."If she stays here the rest of her life, that's fine," she said. "But if the perfect person comes along, I would let her go."
Source: http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/article/20090811/NEWS01/908110313
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