Nalla

Letter to the editor: Lost dog found with help of community
September 28, 2009 05:23 am

To the editor:

A beautiful Sunday on Stacy Boulevard at an event turned out to be our nightmare as our young rescue dog, Nalla, became abruptly frightened, twisted out of her harness and took off running down the middle of Route 133. We tried to catch her and an hour later we were confronted by our worst fears. A police officer called to tell us she had been hit by a car. Concerned witnesses tried to help her when she ran under a bush yelping, but she was too scared and ran into the woods and vanished.
By nightfall, we still had not found her. We placed her dog blankets and towels in several locations hoping she would come back and stay on one of the blankets. At nightfall, we set up her crate next to our car at the back of The Heights, where she was last seen, and stayed through the night, praying that she might wander back and find her crate.

Leslie, the owner of The Manor Inn, kindly offered us a room for the night that overlooked the tree line and into the marsh, where Nalla had vanished.
A young woman, who did not know me, let me take her bike to ride through the area because I was too tired to run anymore.
A man who saw Nalla get hit by a car found a way to reach me, gave me cold water, dog treats to help catch Nalla and details of how she was hit and what he believed her condition to be. So many kind people in the community spent hours helping us look for Nalla.

Just before daybreak, we went back to the Inn, where my sister had stayed. We were looking out over the marsh, when, suddenly, we spotted Nalla. We took off running through the woods and into the marsh with our other dog, Calvin, who put his nose to the ground and within minutes led us straight to Nalla. The veterinarian checked her out and she was scraped up, frightened, but, otherwise, OK.

We cannot thank everyone enough for their kindness in helping us find her, especially Leslie, who owns The Manor, for giving us the room overlooking the marsh; the young woman who so willing gave her bike to a stranger; and the man who found a way to reach us to let us know Nalla's condition after being hit.

Not knowing Nalla's history before she was rescued and never experiencing her panic like she did that day, we purchased new equipment with the help of our friends at Animal Krackers, so she should not be able to twist and pull free again.

Our sincere thank you to our friends and strangers who helped us search many hours for Nalla. We are so grateful for all your help and to have her back.

Sheila Wilson, Scott & Fiona Noring
Gloucester
Source: http://www.gloucestertimes.com/puopinion/local_story_271005449.html
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