I have been volunteering with a national big dog rescue for the past year. They were my first non Chapel Hill friends, and I needed them so much with the move and becoming an empty nest parent (and living primarily solo last year). I help out with most anything, but my heart is around developing their partnership and outreach programming. Oh, and doing writing projects. My first project was editing this Activity Book where all proceeds come back to the rescue. A win/win where children can learn how to interact with large breed dogs and raise money for the rescue. I am currently working on another writing/editing project with them, but felt compelled to share Delilah’s story. Read on below, but she had a grand adventure recently and thankfully is back home with her furever family. I am glad I did not give up on animal rescue after my initial negative experience. It can be a healthy outlet where there is effective leadership, a functioning board of directors, and healthy boundaries. This was something I was not sure existed in the fall of 2022. I am glad I was proven wrong. Read on to learn about Delilah’s Grand Adventure.
My name is Delilah, and I recently went on a grand adventure to the dismay of my parents. You see, I am a 4 year old Newfoundland pup who made my way into rescue 2 years ago. A nice lady fostered me and showed me the good life before getting me to my furever family in New Hampshire.
Now let me tell you about my family. They are the BEST. We lived in a great house where I was the Queen of the castle. I had tons of land to run around and explore. Life was grand. Then we moved to a house my dad called a “rental house” while my parents sold our house. The new house didn’t have a lot of land, so my mom started taking me for walks on snow mobile trails. I loved my walks, except for the bright orange harness my mom made me wear because it is apparently bear hunting season, and I look like a bear. A Newf and a bear are VERY different animals, but I digress.
One day on one of these walks, I smelled a scent brand new to my nose. Now I know my smells. I am, in fact, a dog. I know bear, squirrels, deer, snakes. But on this walk, I smelled something I had never smelled before. I turned off my listening ears and broke free from my leash and ran for that scent. This was the start of my grand adventure. I want to keep most of my grand adventure just for me, but I can share that scent was one of a giant moose who befriended me in the woods for the next 12 days.
My mom was devastated that I got away, and was a little shocked since I had never done this type of crazy thing before (mom clearly doesn’t know about moose). She and her sister looked for me all day. They even contacted the police station. Apparently, everyone in town was looking for me. My human sister in Florida who is good on the computer made an online flyer and shared it with so many people in the United States. There is thing on the internet called Facebook and people can share with their friends, and their friends can share. The rescue my parents adopted me from also shared my story. My flyer even ended up with some true crime podcasters in New Hampshire who have a large NH following (true crime people are also dog people, in case you didn’t know).
But after all of the looking and sharing my story, there were no sightings of me. My dad was starting to get really worried, so he hired a nice man with a thing called a drone which is a fancy camera that flies over the woods to try and spot animals. He called this a “Hail Mary” attempt at finding me, whatever that means. They went out at 5am when it was the coolest time of the day to try and spot any infrared things in forest. Despite the efforts of my dad and this nice man, there were no sightings of me.
Now this part of my grand adventure makes me sad. My dad would take my sleeping bed and one of his worn t-shirts on a walk on the trail where I disappeared every single day trying to leave my scent and his scent on the trail to help me find my way back home. This confirmed that my furever parents truly do love me.
On the 12th day of my grand adventure with no sightings of me, my dad went outside of the house and found me sitting on the front porch. Sadly, I was not able to share my adventures with him, but he and my mom were so happy I was home they forgot to scold me for running away. A quick trip to the vet confirmed I was healthy, and the vet was happy that I had lost a bit of weight since that was a goal from my last check up. That kind of offended me because I consider myself fluffy and big boned. But whatever, all the treats and goodies I am getting will get me back to my fluffy, big boned weight in no time at all.
Me and my new moose friend did have a grand adventure, but the adventure also showed me there are truly wonderful dog people in our crazy world.