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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsMan On Road Trip Gets Out Of Car -- And Comes Back To Find A Dog In The Front Seat
I asked him what our new dogs name was."By Caitlin Jill Anders
On his way home to Missouri after a fishing trip in Arkansas, a man named Bill stopped at a rest stop to throw away some trash and use the bathroom. He wasnt planning on being very long, and so he left the car running with the door open and when he returned, he was shocked to find a dog sitting in the front passenger seat.
The poor dog was just skin and bones, and Bill quickly offered her a Rice Krispie Treat, the only food he had on him at the time. Watching her devouring the snack and cowering in his car, Bill knew the dog had been looking for someone to help her, and decided he had to oblige. She seemed so eager, and there was no way he could turn that sweet face away.
He and his wife have a tendency to take in stray animals in need and the poor dog had absolutely no signs of an owner or a family, and so he texted her a picture of his new traveling buddy, and she was in immediate agreement with his decision to keep the dog.
I asked him what our new dogs name was, Angela Shaver told The Dodo. We decided to call her River because of where she found him.
Shaver and her son came out to greet their new dog as soon as the pair of travelers arrived home, but River refused to get out of the car. She wasnt scared of her new family, but seemed to feel safe in the car, as it was probably one of the first places she had ever been shown kindness and love.
Eventually, Bill carried River out of the car, and she was introduced to her new dog siblings one by one so she wouldnt be too overwhelmed. The family already had three rescue dogs and one rescue cat, and were more than happy to add another one to the pack.
Once they all decided she was OK, he [Bill] brought her in for a bath, Shaver said. She was covered in mud, blood and ticks. After she was dried off and some ticks picked off, she got a good meal. Bill made her a bed on the floor in our room next to the space heater. She slept there all night.
River woke up in her new home the next morning and cautiously began to explore. She ran around outside with her new siblings but never strayed too far from her parents, slowly easing herself into her new life. Her family noticed right away that she appeared to be housebroken, meaning she may have had a family at one point in her life before shed ended up as a stray.
We had one accident in the house the first night, Shaver said. But it was near the door. She had to go, but didnt know how to tell us.
Rivers new family took her to the vet to get checked over, and discovered that she had tapeworms, heartworms and wounds on her neck and face that looked as if they were from some sort of fight. The vet gave her medication and got her all cleaned up, and River remained calm and sweet throughout it all. After whatever shed been through, it seemed she was just grateful to finally be safe.
River is now settling in extremely well with her new family, and is already beginning to thrive. There are still some things shes unsure of, such as playing with toys and roughhousing with her siblings, but shes taking it all one day at a time, and her family loves watching her confidence grow with every new day.
She runs in the yard and chases nothing with Winston, sits for cookies with Ginger and hogs the bed with Butters, Shaver said. The cat was very unpleased for the first few days, but is finally coming around.
When River hopped into that car, she chose her new life, and both she and her family could not be more overjoyed with that decision.
https://www.thedodo.com/close-to-home/stray-dog-sees-open-car-door-and-hops-in
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)world!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
thegoose
(3,115 posts)barbtries
(28,811 posts)that animals know somehow that a particular person will help them. i used to have a friend I called Dr Doolittle. Birds flew into her house. Strays showed up at her doorstep. This happened all the time.
catbyte
(34,440 posts)was one of their stops. Either that, or a "Suckers Live Here" sign in our yard in kittyese because in the almost 30 years we had our house, we must have rescued and kept or re-homed close to 100 cats and kittens. And one doggo, lol. It's a good thing we had a large, 3-bedroom house because at one time, we were the guardians of 24 cats who were permanent residents. It was a lot of work, but it was fun. I'm down to two now, and they're still rescues.
barbtries
(28,811 posts)the aminals knew where to go.
Control-Z
(15,682 posts)I really needed this today.
SWBTATTReg
(22,156 posts)It's disturbing to me that so many animals are abandoned w/ such reckless disregard for the health and well being of these animals. My heart goes out to River and her new family, and I wish them the best, all of them.
donkeypoofed
(2,187 posts)I loved that story! Thank you.
Habibi
(3,598 posts)I'm going to start crying as I read them. But I click anyway, and I cry anyway, and thank you for posting. So happy for River.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)I always click on all catbytes threads. She never disappoints!
bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)In a time of darkness is always welcome and appreciated.
JudyM
(29,270 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)calimary
(81,443 posts)Dem2theMax
(9,653 posts)River has his head on his new Daddy's shoulder! That doggy knows he is safe.
I swear animals know who to go to when they need help. Thank goodness that man decided to leave his car door open that day.
Catbyte, keep posting. You are saving the sanity of DU'ers everywhere!
pazzyanne
(6,556 posts)There are too many of the other kind out there. I need to know there are still kind, caring people out there. It renews my faith in human kind.
mountain grammy
(26,646 posts)Karadeniz
(22,564 posts)onecent
(6,096 posts)You are DEFINITELY A HERO to our wonderful animals.!!!
Botany
(70,572 posts)Most be dusty around here.
Delphinus
(11,840 posts)so grateful for her new family! Bless them all!
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I'm so happy for Rivers and so grateful to her wonderful parents!
tblue37
(65,483 posts)Mosby
(16,344 posts)Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)River sure knew what she was doing, choosing this particular car to hop into! Great ending for all. What a sweet face.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)And since one of them is small and could be easily accidentally killed. Dogs, esp rescues, can be unpredictable.
My two got along great for several years, then suddenly the bigger one (who I had first) started attacking the smaller one. I could never leave them unattended or together alone. They were both rescues. I tried everything. I read books, I talked to our vet several times, I took her to an animal behaviorist several times, and put her on drugs (at the rec. of the behaviorist). I'd already spent a lot of hours training them to walk on leash, and lots of commands. Nothing worked.
Things can get complicated when you have multiple dogs, esp food protective ones or territorial.
dlk
(11,575 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Try that here in Albuquerque and you'll have no car.
catbyte
(34,440 posts)JDC
(10,132 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,626 posts)with the rest of us. We need feel-good posts more than ever lately!
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Our son once discovered a young kitten meowing at his feet in an ice storm in the middle of the night at a gas station on an Alabama highway. He was passing through on his way to Georgia, but the attendant thought the kitten must be from a neglected cat in the neighborhood behind the station, so into the car Oscar went and on to his new home.
catbyte
(34,440 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Imagining those parents who did not raise their children to abandon their pets. Hope most never know.
I love the pictures, including the one of all their little guys looking up at the camera.
mysteryowl
(7,396 posts)Animals know who to go to. Somehow they can sense it.
Doitnow
(1,103 posts)scents indicating whether they are happy. Just guessing, but animals know lots more than we do in areas only known to them, especially scents since they have depended on them for eons. Who knows, the dog may even have "known" each of the animals before even meeting them and figured the car's owner would be a good bet.
mysteryowl
(7,396 posts)I will still hold out for some magic in this too and animals have a 6th sense. My animals KNOW when I am coming home even when it is not a regular time.
seta1950
(933 posts)What a sweet dog and a fantastic family
luvallpeeps
(935 posts)samplegirl
(11,493 posts)Animal lovers are the best! I have a friend who just took in 2 cats both of them 3 legged.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,894 posts)Some years ago a cat showed up in my driveway, starving and flea-ridden. She'd apparently decided we were her last best hope, and we wound up taking her in. We already had two other cats, which she didn't know because they were indoor cats, and it was clear if she'd have known, she'd have found a different family.
We lived in a basic suburban neighborhood, with five or six homes per acre, so it's not as though she'd have had to go far to find another family. But I'm glad she chose us.
Eventually we realized she was an older cat, probably at least twelve or thirteen when she came to us, and I always wondered how she came to be on the streets. It was obvious she'd been a well loved pet before she came to us, and that she had lived with large dogs because of certain behaviors and how interested she was in any dogs she saw.
Right now I have no cats in my life, and I do enough travelling that it would be irresponsible to have so much as a potted plant to care for. But someday.
I've already told my son that if I ever need to be put into a nursing home, to find one that has resident cats, because no matter how senile I might become, I would never stop loving cats.
I'd be okay with dogs and parrots, also.
Sugarcoated
(7,728 posts)Smackdown2019
(1,190 posts)Was that rest stop near Hayti? Bunch of Republicans in that area, it had to be low life Republicans to abandon that dog!
LiberalFighter
(51,060 posts)Sucha NastyWoman
(2,749 posts)Rich in dogs and rich in love and rich in humanity