She Rescued Me

I still remember the last time I saw Kasey. She was standing by the door in the kitchen as our family prepared to leave for a quick trip out of state to see family for New Year's. I told her I'd be back soon and I loved her.

When we got home, Kasey wasn't there. We'd gotten a call just a few hours after arriving at my sister's house that Kasey had been hit by a car. It was an awful accident. Our friends who were watching her hadn't secured her lead, and well, she'd gotten out in the road.

I think I must've cried for three days. My daughters were devastated, too.

Kasey was a special dog. She was a black Pumi. When she joined our family, Pumik were not part of the AKC yet. They were extremely rare in the US. But the first time I saw one, I wanted one. They're so adorable and so smart. We had Kase flown in from Europe. It wasn't cheap, and since I was a teacher at the time, I'd had to save a long time to be able to get her here, but I never regretted it. Kase was my baby. She followed me everywhere.

When she passed away, I didn't think I'd ever have another Pumi, and I certainly didn't think I'd ever have a black female Pumi.

And then I heard about Lyric.

Three years had passed since Kase's untimely death. I was still a member of the Pumi Facebook group, though it was hard to look at pictures of everyone else's beautiful dogs. One day, while I was scrolling through social media, I saw a picture of a dog that looked a lot like Kase.

I also noticed that the posting was from "Pumi Rescue." That caught my attention.

This dog needed a new home.

I knew immediately I needed to call and see if she was still available.

I talked to the woman who had her for about an hour, and by the end of the call, I knew this dog was meant to be mine. We arranged for her to fly from California to Texas the next week.

I was told she was skittish, and I needed to be careful with her. She was afraid of almost everything and extremely fast. I intended to take every precaution possible to make sure Lyric was safe.

The day after we got her, I had taken her outside to use the bathroom, and the leash literally fell off of her harness. There was a split second of panic when I realized she was loose--and so did she. She darted off and disappeared.

We looked everywhere for her. I did all of the things a person is supposed to do when their dog is missing. We hired a tracker. We posted pictures and flyers everywhere. Within a few days, everyone in our community knew to keep an eye out for Lyric.

On day five, we got a call that she'd been spotted. Then, a few more days passed before she was seen again. After that, I was getting calls left and right about where she was--but no one could catch her. We asked them not to chase her, but people wanted to help so badly, they tried to grab her, and she'd run off.

We knew we'd have to trap her, so we called a local rescue organization that traps dogs, and they were able to help. On day eleven, Lyric was spotted about ten times. My husband finally picked up her trail, and we followed her at a distance, just to see where she went.

Lyric had done a three mile loop all around our community, which is mostly rural, and ended up back within a quarter mile of our house. I prayed that this would all be over soon, and she'd just come back home.

On day twelve, we set up a trap in a neighbor's yard after Lyric was spotted while one of our neighbors was on a run. Later that afternoon, she got hungry enough to go into the trap--we'd caught her!

Twelve days and a couple of thousand dollars later, and Lyric was back home. It was unbelievable, but we'd caught her! I knew she was meant to be my dog, and I never gave up faith that we'd bring her home.

It's been two months since Lyric came back home, and I can tell you, she is the best dog a person could ever hope for. She's so sweet--and smart! She never has accidents in the house or chews on anything but her toys. We don't let her go outside without a couple of leashes on her, just in case, but I'm pretty sure our Houdini dog will not be leaving us again any time soon.

Having Lyric here doesn't make me miss Kasey any less, but it did help to fill a hole in my heart that had been there ever since my sweet girl crossed over the Rainbow Bridge.

All dogs are special, but when you meet the one that's just meant to be with you, you will hear it in the song your heart sings--the perfect lyrics to the perfect melody.