Dog’s disappearance had North Carolina shelter worried sick. Now, she has a new home
A dog’s disappearance had a North Carolina shelter worried sick — then came an emotional reunion.
Red Riding Hood the dog was out on a morning walk in late August when a truck made a loud noise. She got scared, “backed out of her harness and took off,” according to the organization Friends for Animals-Humane Society of Burke County.
“We are frantically searching for her,” the shelter wrote Aug. 25 in a Facebook post.
It wasn’t until about three weeks later on Sept. 16 that the shelter received the update it had been hoping for. A couple found Red Riding Hood and kept her safe until the shelter arrived, Director Chastity Chapman said in a phone interview.
“We were just over the moon,” Patsy Smith, shelter manager, told McClatchy News. “We were so joyous because everyone had worried themselves sick about her.”
There was concern about how Red Riding Hood, a shy 3-year-old dog who didn’t like to go outside if it was wet, would fare in the elements. But when she returned to the shelter, she reportedly wasn’t as skittish.
The shelter said the missing dog was found roughly a half-mile from the shelter, dirty and in need of a “spa day.” She had lost less than 1 pound — and shelter workers think she may have survived off cat food.
The reunion with Red Riding Hood wasn’t the shelter’s only heartwarming update.
The shelter later shared the “bittersweet” news that Red Riding Hood was leaving again because she was getting a new home. It took to social media to share a photo from her adoption.
“Our hearts are full...” the shelter wrote Sept. 20. “We are thrilled for this precious girl that she is going to be so loved as she so deserves! We will miss you sweet girl!”
Friends for Animals-Humane Society of Burke County is in Morganton, roughly 75 miles northwest of Charlotte.
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