Dog ends up 1,600 miles from home in Texas

[Pit Chick]

Dog ends up 1,600 miles from home in Texas

Associated Press

FLOWER MOUND - Snowbirds from the frigid North are a common sight in Texas, but Carla is a different breed altogether.
A trucker found the 11-year-old mixed breed dog in Amarillo a week ago and brought her to a Denton veterinary hospital -- 1,600 miles away from her Castle Rock, Wash. home.
Gail Scott was shocked when the North Texas animal hospital called to say they'd found her dog, who was identified through an implanted microchip.
"How did my dog get to Texas?" she recalls asking.
That really is anyone's guess, though Scott says she believes Carla escaped from her yard the day before Thanksgiving and was picked up by a trucker at a nearby truck stop.
"You know how truckers are," she said. "They see a stray and feel bad for them, and they pick them up."
Scott, who adopted Carla in 1998 from a Washington pound, has asked the animal hospital to put the dog up for adoption.
She said it would be too hard to get Carla back to Washington because it's too cold for her to fly in the cargo area of a plane and too expensive to hire someone to drive her home.
The Flower Mound Human Society is now caring for Carla and looking for a family to adopt her. At least one person has expressed interest.


Can we say go get your dog? It's not too cold in Texas for the dog to ride in the cargo area and she won't be in there that long. The dog can legally be put down at this point, especially since she's older which usually equals less adoptable.

[RICHARD]

Originally posted by Pit Chick
Dog ends up 1,600 miles from home in Texas


"How did my dog get to Texas?" she recalls asking.

THE DOG WAS OBVIOUSLY TRYING TO GET AWAY FROM YOU, YOU TWIT!

[molucass]

She's had the dog for 6 years, and shes not any more important to her than that????
If it were me, I'd be driving down to get my dog!
I can't believe some people.

[joycenalex]

richard is right, the woman is a twit and the dog was looking for a new home. good luck carla

[Tiah]

Oh wow, that pup is in my very own town right now.

[QueenScoopalot]

Just goes to show how much this person cares for her pets! Her name should be circulated on all the D.N.A (do not adopt) lists across the country!

[chrissycat21]

I just hope the dog finds a better home than he had with her. She sure cares a whole lot about her dog!

[Freckles]

I read in another story that Karla's teeth were bad with tartar and coat had mats so a new home should be much better.

[CalliesMom]

If that was my baby, I would go through hell or high water to make it down to get them. It sounds, however, as if the dog would be better off without the woman anyway.

[ramanth]

I hope you find a new and loving home Carla!

[QueenScoopalot]

Update on Karla Sue, the Washington dog stranded in Texas

Saturday, December 11, 2004, The Oregonian
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/orego...7007869150.xml

Gail Scott of Southwest Washington surprises some animal lovers with her
decision after her lost dog survives a 2,000-mile trip

A trucker hauling Christmas trees through Amarillo, Texas, during a blizzard
or an ice storm -- it depends on which version you believe -- saw a little
white dog trotting along the shoulder of the road.

The woman didn't know the dog was 11, its name was Karla Sue or that it had
disappeared eight days earlier from a home in Castle Rock, Wash. -- more than
2,000 miles to the northwest, on the other side of the Rockies. All the woman
knew was the creature was soaking wet, its hair matted in clumps of ice and
snow, and she needed a home.

The trucker set the dog -- she wore no collar or tags -- inside the warm cab
beside two other dogs and a litter of puppies that hadn't yet opened their
eyes. Then they rode across the Texas Panhandle until they came to Denton, a
town north of Dallas, where the trucker stopped for gas.

While the tank filled, the woman glanced across the parking lot and saw a sign
for the Westgate Veterinary Hospital.

"Can you find a home for this dog?" she asked the veterinarians. The mother
dog already on board the truck, protective of its puppies, hadn't let Karla
Sue get to the food and water bowls in the cab.

The vets could see the dog was old from the gray in her muzzle and the tartar
buildup on her teeth, recalled vet technician Lisa Picha, but they could only
guess her breed from her long hair, perky ears, pointy nose, little frame and
fluffy tail. The best guess was part Pomeranian, part spaniel or something
else.

They agreed to help. But they said the dog could stay at the clinic for only a
few days.

Karla Sue sprawled out on her belly while they talked, and then laid her head
on the floor, as if she were home.

The dog lived, until the night before Thanksgiving, with Gail and Bob Scott on
30 acres of rural land in Southwest Washington a few miles from a truck stop
at Exit 57 on Interstate 5.

Gail Scott, a 55-year-old nurse who works with people with developmental
disabilities, had gone to the Humane Society of Cowlitz County in 1998 looking
for a small dog and had chosen Bandit, a border collie, until a Humane Society
volunteer showed her a dog that had just been brought in.

She was named Karla, a mixed-breed, and had come to the pound once before when
her owners were moving and couldn't take her. She was back this time because
her new owner's grandson had developed allergies.

"I'll take her, too," said Gail. Later, owing to Karla's friendly disposition,
Gail added Sue to Karla's name.

Gail carried both dogs home, where they joined her "elderly gentleman," a
border collie mix named Oreo that she'd found wandering the streets of
Longview, Wash. The three shared five fenced-in acres surrounding Gail's house
until Bandit had to be put down after developing seizures and attacking the
others. A new dog took Bandit's place when Gail inherited her mother's chow
mix, Ace.

The three dogs vied for Gail's attention with a goose named Gabby, who thinks
Gail is her mother; two ducks and two goats. Only Karla Sue slept inside, on a
pillow in the utility room by the washer and dryer. Only Karla Sue had a food
bowl that was full at all hours. And only Karla Sue managed to wiggle under
the fence.

Loud noises terrify her. Gunshots, fireworks and thunder all send her fleeing.
More than once Gail has found Karla Sue on the country road by the house. More
than once, neighbors have toted her home.

The night before Thanksgiving, though, was different.

Karla Sue was outside in the yard around 8 p.m. when Gail heard a thump and
thought someone had knocked. It turned out to be Ace pawing the door. Gail
then heard the noises, sounds like fireworks or gunshots from hunters.

A few minutes later she realized Karla Sue had vanished.

Gail's son and daughter-in-law, who live across the road, helped search. They
drove a loop around the property, and when they saw no sign of Karla Sue, they
began to worry.

Thanksgiving came and went. Gail feared that someone had picked up Karla Sue
or, worse, that she'd been struck by a car and killed.

Eight days later, on Dec. 2, a veterinary hospital in Denton, Texas, called to
say a microchip implanted in Karla Sue had identified her as being from
Washington. Gail was relieved to learn Karla Sue was alive and safe. But Gail
would find that getting Karla Sue home involved much more than closing the
distance between Washington and Texas.

Because the veterinary hospital could not keep Karla Sue, an emergency e-mail
was sent to more than 200 dog rescue groups in the Dallas-Forth Worth area,
looking for a temporary home for a dog they nicknamed "Raggedy Ann."

The Flower Mound Humane Society, which runs a program devoted to finding homes
for "senior" dogs, agreed to take her. "She had an especially sad story," said
Stacy Smith, the society's president. "Here's this spunky little girl covered
in ice trotting down the highway in an ice storm. It touched our hearts."

But Smith wasn't certain the best home was back in Washington. When Smith
first saw Karla Sue, the dog's teeth were "just nasty," she thought, and her
fur so matted she would need radical grooming. Testing found Karla Sue had
gingivitis, anemia and a benign lump on her back, all of which made Smith
hesitant to send her home.

"From what I can piece together, it was not a terrible home, but honestly, I
think we can do better," Smith said. "She needs to be somebody's lap dog."

Gail said that she would not put Karla Sue in the frigid cargo hold of an
airplane -- that seemed harsh and risky. Neither would she take off from work
and leave home at Christmastime -- not with grandchildren near -- to drive
"over the passes" to Texas and back. And neither would she spend who-only-knew
how much to have Karla Sue shipped home by ground, especially when it was
unclear old Karla Sue could endure another long journey.

"I know some people are not happy with me, but it's not about me, it's about
her," Gail said. "What's important is whether or not she's safe and in a good
place."

To complicate matters, the Dallas Morning News ran a story Wednesday on Karla
Sue, and by noon the Flower Mound Humane Society had 50 offers from callers
willing to either adopt Karla Sue or pay to send her home. The offers
continued, coming from Illinois, Alabama, Washington, California and New York.
Seattle businessmen in Texas for work said they would gladly take Karla Sue
home. A produce truck driver offered a ride on his run. Karla Sue was
scheduled to make a live appearance this morning at an adoption promotion at a
Petsmart in Lewisville, Texas, "because the public wants to see her," Smith
said. "She's become an overnight celebrity."

Karla Sue's celebrity, however, has put Gail in a hard spot, triggering some
straight-up Texas sentiment about what's best for a dog. Some callers have
voiced concerns about Gail's unwillingness to travel to Flower Mound and fetch
Karla Sue.

Gail thinks they may not understand.

"When I found out she was alive, that was happier news than I ever expected,"
Gail said. "Whether I get her back or she gets adopted by someone out there,
it's a Cinderella doggie story. She'll live the rest of her life on a silk
pillow somewhere."

Smith and Gail spoke on the phone Thursday night. If the Humane Society finds
Karla Sue a good home in Flower Mound, especially if she gets placed with a
senior adult, Gail said she would be content.

Before the hoopla is over, Smith estimates, they'll have at least 100 adoption
offers. Volunteers will screen the applicants, check veterinary records and
make home visits before making a final decision. Nothing will happen for at
least a week, when Karla Sue's antibiotics have run their course to treat her
gingivitis.

Karla Sue seems no worse for the wear in her journey -- a trip that may well
have begun when a driver picked her up "lost" on Interstate 5 in Washington.
She's the kind of dog who likes people and is always happy, another reason
Gail knows she'll be OK in a new home. "She's adaptable," Gail said.

That makes Karla Sue quite different from her old Castle Rock yardmate, Gabby
the goose. Gail was the first living thing Gabby saw when she cracked her
eggshell -- an indelible moment in a goose's life. As far as Gabby knows, Gail
is her mother, and Washington her home.

If the goose, however, had somehow wound up on the shoulder of a snowy road in
Amarillo, this would be a whole different story.