Owners spot pup in place they lost her
Kristen Duwe/Times Record News
Friday, February 18, 2011
It was miraculous timing and the unmatched loyalty of man's best friend that allowed Lanham Lyne and his wife to find their family dog in the exact place they last saw her one month earlier.
Lyne, former mayor of Wichita Falls and current Republican member of the Texas Legislature, and the two family dogs, Ella and Nash, were making their way back to Wichita Falls from Austin about 9 p.m. Jan. 19. Lyne pulled into a rest area between Stephenville and Hico to give the dogs some time to stretch their legs, drink some water and "do their thing," he said.
A few minutes later, Ella and Nash took off running to explore a nearby creek bed. Lyne was able to retrieve Nash, but Ella, a Chihuahua and terrier mix, was nowhere in sight.
"We don't know if something caught her eye or what," said Lyne's wife, Sharla.
Lyne searched the area for more than an hour and called his wife to break the news. She immediately made the journey to the rest area and arrived around 1:30 a.m. They stayed all night at the rest area in hopes of seeing Ella.
Realizing the first winter storm was about to bring ice and snow accumulation, Sharla Lyne spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon searching, talking to nearby residents, placing newspaper ads and contacting the Humane Society. When the sun started going down, she headed home.
"I knew I had to leave and come back home before it got dark," she said. "I cried all the way from Stephenville to Wichita Falls."
Over the following weeks, Lanham and his wife repeatedly stopped at the rest area, hoping for a glimpse of Ella. As the second winter storm blew through and wind chills dropped into single-digits, hope for a reunion faded.
Sharla tried to maintain faith that Ella was with caring people who took her in, fearing what the alternatives were, she said.
"There was a lot of crying and mourning and grieving," Lanham Lyne said. "We gave up hope on ever finding her."
As Sharla was on her way to Austin on Monday, 26 days after Ella went missing, she started saying a prayer as she approached the same rest area.
"I wasn't ready to give up yet," she said.
A black object caught her eye. That "object" was Ella, sitting on the other side of a fence which surrounds the rest area.
"She never moved," Sharla said. "She sat there looking at me."
Not wanting to scare Ella off, Sharla inched closer to her and called her name. She was greeted by a wagging tail. Sharla tried to find an opening to the fence, but Ella laid down and cried each time she tried to walk away. Sharla then simply began digging under the fence, pulling up grass and dirt until Ella was able to crawl under it.
"The dog was a little bit confused about where she was but she knew the voice," Lanham said.
"I felt like I was in a movie," Sharla said. "She jumped in my arms and that's pretty much where she stayed for a while," Sharla said.
Lanham and Sharla Lyne still cannot believe how a small dog survived on its own in such cold temperatures.
"She's real skinny, but other than that, she's in good health and survived these two extreme cold spells. I don't know how," Lanham said.
Ella was always an inside pet and "I don't know how she survived the zero degree temperatures that we had," Sharla said.
After being home for a few days, Ella is still trying to adjust.
"Other than being really weak and thin, she appears to be OK," Sharla said. "She's getting a little stronger everyday."
Ella is still a "little skittish, which is to be understood," Lanham said.
Lanham and Sharla find it hard to think of the situation as anything less than a miracle.
"It was a godsend," Sharla said. "There's just no other way you can look at it."
"I'm still on a cloud," Lanham said. "It's just great"
"She was sitting at the fence at the exact time I showed up," Sharla said. "It's just one of those given miracles in life."
Source: http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2011/feb/18/lost-dog-found-after-a-month/?partner=yahoo_feeds
Printer-friendly version here
No comments:
Post a Comment