It's been a busy couple of months since Lena came in to rescue. She has quite a tale to tell of her Christmas Day adventure, which you can read about in a few paragraphs.
Lena was spayed a week before Thanksgiving and was doing well. Foster Dad's family came to his house just days after her spay to celebrate Thanksgiving early. Lena did well with meeting the family and would seek out hugs and scratches for attention. She did retreat to a quiet safe spot when the family moved about too fast or were too loud for her.
On Christmas Eve, Foster Dad loaded Lena and the three resident dogs and departed for Worthington to celebrate the holiday with family. We had Lena in a harness and a slip lead as we were both in an unfamiliar location and an unfenced yard for Lena.
On Christmas Day in the late afternoon Lena escaped from another family member while Foster Dad was away for a bit. By the time I arrived home she had been missing for nearly an hour and it was getting dark.
RAGOM, Lost Dog Team, and The Retrievers were quickly notified and plans sprung into action to help find Lena. Foster Dad's nephew, Detective Brandon Peil of the Worthington Police Department, was notified and even more plans to find Lena were quickly activated.
Foster Dad and Bella and my brothers Mike and Scott and their families all set out walking the streets near the area Lena went missing from. Because it was dark, she likely found a quiet spot and hunkered down. More help came from social media posts on Facebook and Lost Dogs.
Foster Dad and Bella hit the streets again at 5 AM hoping to find Lena or at least see her. I walked the entire area for about an hour and then went to get Lost Dog flyers made. From 7 to 8 AM my family and I were busy posting the flyers.
Just after 8 AM a Good Samaritan (Dave Frisch) driving on West Lake Road by Vogt Park saw something bobbing in the open water. He had seen the Facebook posts and immediately called the Worthington Police.
Officer Tyler Olson responded to the call. Detective Peil called my brother Mike, who called me, and we raced to the scene, which was about a mile from where she went missing. Officer Olson and Mike safely pulled Lena out of the water and we brought her home to slowly warm her back up.
She was closely looked at to see if she might have any frost bite and her breathing was monitored in case of water in her lungs leading to pneumonia.
Thankfully Lena was found safely and is no worse for the wear. A truly team effort by the Worthington Police Department, local Worthington residents, and Lena's Foster Dad and his entire family!
Read more about Lena's rescue.
