Dog Walks 30 Miles To Get Rejected By Owner

[Monroe]

Sad story with a happy ending ... I still marvel at how a dog or cat can travel miles to get back home and this poor dog had arthritis to boot ... she got lucky this time with a new home.

 

Dog That Walked 30 Miles To Get Rejected By Owner Now Getting 5-Star Treatment And New Home

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/03/dog-walks-30-miles_n_5641670.html

 

08-04-2014

 

Ma Kettle is an arthritic senior Lab who walked 30 miles to try to get home -- only to be rejected by her former family once she arrived.

 

The dog had seen a country song's amount of sadness already. Ma Kettle's previous owner -- who called her Lady -- died in 2012, leaving her homeless. She was adopted out of the Chautauqua County Animal Shelter, in Kansas, but then given away again for not getting along with a new puppy.

 

She escaped her third home, and walked back to the family with the puppy, but the journey ended with her being sent back to the shelter.

 

Her life has since become a fairy tale. Ma Kettle's story went viral, catching the attention of an animal-loving heiress -- who has now whisked the dog off in a private plane to Odessa, Florida -- about half an hour from Tampa -- where she'll live in an 11,000 square foot home on 100-odd acres, with a whole menagerie of furry rescue companions.

 

The doggie's name is now Lady again, and her new owner is Helen Rosburg, also known as the author Helen Rich, a tattooed, art-collecting legatee to the Wrigley chewing gum fortune, and who according to TBO.com dispatched an assistant to collect the pup:

 

The story resonated online and with Rosburg, who had recently lost her senior black Labrador, Granny, said her assistant, Barbara DiCioccio.

 

Rosburg, 65, contacted her staff to rescue the dog from the Chautauqua County Animal Shelter in Sedan, Kansas. At 4 p.m. Thursday, her assistants Chet Ragsdale and Barbara DiCioccio boarded a jet to Kansas to pick up the dog; they returned about 10 p.m.

 

“We don’t mess around here,” DiCioccio said. “We get things done.”

 

We've reached out to see how Lady is enjoying the new surroundings; meantime, we gather from this Facebook post that Rosburg is pretty darn excited to have her:

 

Post by Helen Rich.

 

A volunteer at the animal shelter, who asked us not to use his name, told HuffPost that this grey-faced girl -- whose last long trek toward family ended so badly -- seemed enthusiastic, still, about her new journey.

 

"She got on the jet without problems," he said. "She just walked up, wagging her tail fast and happy."

 

... another link:

 

Odessa heiress elevates dog from pound to palace

 

http://tbo.com/lifestyle/odessa-heiress-elevates-dog-from-pound-to-palace-20140731/

 

TAMPA — Facebook is full of stories about pets with troubles - cats that need a home, dogs facing euthanasia. Some end with a new family or a heartfelt reunion; many don’t.

 

This story has a happy ending, thanks to an animal-loving heiress from Odessa.

 

Helen Rich, formerly Helen Rosburg until earlier this year, heir to the Wrigley chewing gum fortune, was away in Hawaii when she saw a Facebook post about Lady, a black Labrador retriever facing old age who couldn’t find a permanent home in Kansas.

 

The Pet Rescue Examiner, a publication that features stories about animals that need rescuing, posted a story by freelance writer Cheryl Hanna about Lady. According to Hanna’s story, Lady’s owner died in 2012 and a family in Sedan, Kansas, adopted her. But when the family took on smaller dogs and Lady couldn’t adjust, she was placed in a shelter.

 

A woman from Independence, Kansas, adopted the dog. But Lady escaped from her new home and walked 30 miles to her former family with the small dogs - who declined to take her back, according to the Pet Rescue Examiner.

 

The story resonated online and with Rich, who had recently lost her senior black Labrador, Granny, said her assistant, Barbara DiCioccio.

 

Rich, 65, contacted her staff to rescue the dog from the Chautauqua County Animal Shelter in Sedan, Kansas. At 4 p.m. Thursday, her assistants Chet Ragsdale and Barbara DiCioccio boarded a jet to Kansas to pick up the dog; they returned about 10 p.m..

 

“We don’t mess around here,” DiCioccio said. “We get things done.”

 

Lady will have a spot in Rosburg’s 11,000-square-foot, three-story Odessa home with five other dogs and a number of cats, DiCioccio said.

 

“The dog will be right there where she is,” DiCioccio said. “We already have a bed for her.”

 

Rich, the great-granddaughter of William J. Wrigley, founder of the famous chewing gum company in 1891, has a history of helping animals in need.

 

She’s the founder of On the Wings of Angels Rescue and has 70 rescue dogs, cats, cattle, horses, goats, rabbits, pigs and exotic birds in custom-designed quarters on a large tract of land in Odessa.

 

“That’s the reason I like working for her,” DiCioccio said. “I see all the good she does.”

...

Edited August 5, 2014 by monroe