The community in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, noticed a very skittish collie-like dog hanging around a local park this week. She was all alone in the chilly weather and she also wouldn’t let anyone near her.
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Worried for theoor dog, people contacted Janine Guido, founder of Speranza Animal Rescue, a well-known animal rescue organization based in the town.
“She was staying in the same spot — as if waiting for her family to return. But they never did,” Guido told The Dodo. Guido was relying on the community’s help to find and save the dog. People reported sightings to her to help Guido track the dog down.
But it wasn’t easy.
“On the first and second day I went out I was able to hand-feed her,” Guido said. “However, if I went to loop her with the leash she would back up.”
Janine Guido
Guido got so close — only to then have the dog, whom she called Carla, get spooked and dart away into the woods.
Speranza’s Facebook page, meanwhile, helped spread the story so that locals could help locate the scared dog. “Ever wonder what a dog dumped by her owners does?” Speranza Animal Rescue wrote on Facebook. “Sits and watches. Waiting for her family to come back.”
“The park was a highly populated area,” Guido explained. “And she kept getting spooked with all the people around. Eventually after others had tracked her through the woods she relocated.”
On Wednesday, after two days of searching, there were no signs of her. And people started to worry.
Then a call came on Thursday morning, very early, that Carla was spotted sleeping under a back porch. Guido was on her way.
“I almost had her but she got spooked yet again,” Guido said.
Carla ran off.
When, a few hours later, Guido started streaming a live video on Speranza Animal Rescue’s Facebook page, no one knew what to expect.
With the camera pointed out the driver’s side of the car as it drives down a road, Guide explained the struggle she’d experienced in the past few hours.
After Carla dashed off, Guido had gotten another call a few hours later saying she was seen again. And the video suddenly pivots to the passenger seat — where Carla is sitting.
“We got her! I’m so excited,” Guido said in the live video. “Your new life has begun. You’re safe now and we love you.”
Guido told The Dodo just how she finally got a hold of this skittish and scared dog. “I was able to have her follow me on to a porch,” she said. “And the two other women blocked both entrances, so she could not escape. I leashed her and the rest is history.”
At the vet, Guido discovered that Carla was 10 years old, had no microchip and was about 15 to 20 pounds underweight.
“No neighbors recognize her. No lost reports with police,” Guido said. “Sadly, we believe she was dumped and that’s why she was staying in that same spot.”
Carla was exhausted after spending days on her own outside. “She could not keep her eyes open,” Guido said.
Guido swiftly arranged a foster home so that Carla could immediately have a safe, warm and calm place to rest and recover. Carla arrived there Thursday evening.
When she’s ready, she’ll be up for adoption.
“She’s so sweet, just so scared,” Guido said. “But once she was in my car it was like she knew she was safe.”
