Dog Walked For Months Looking For Her Favorite Human Who Lives Dozens Of Miles Away

Zelda, this beautiful pooch, walked for months looking for her foster mom

Ayoub

• Published in Animal Stories
• June 21, 2020

Seneca Krueger is a psychotherapist and dog foster mom whose specialty is helping rescued dogs learn to trust people again. Last year, after picking up her foster dog Zelda, she immediately know that helping the dog wasn't going to be easy despite her 30 years of experience.

Krueger began tether training Zelda after noticing that she seemed calmest when on a leash, and slowly the nervous dog began to get more comfortable. Zelda would eventually begin to open up after two months of living with Krueger and the sweet dog even started wagging her tail.

The dog also began to bark and play at four months. However, she still had a hard time dealing with unexpected noises whenever they had visitors over.

A dog's journey in healing and overcoming trauma is always a unique story, and Zelda's story is no exception.

“She came with anti-anxiety medications,” Krueger told The Dodo. “Zelda paced. All day long she was either pacing or hiding.”

“When I was home, she was attached to me,” Krueger said. “Over the course of two weeks of tether training, I had also weaned her off of her anti-anxiety medications, and the pacing had decreased. She was even willing to come out of hiding on her own for brief periods of time.”

Krueger knew all along that she would eventually have to let Zelda go after helping her as she possibly could:

“As Zelda began to gain a little more confidence, I decided it was time for her to find her forever home,” Krueger said. “This is what you are supposed to do as a dog foster; help them adjust and then happily say goodbye as they go and live their best lives.”  

Krueger realized after driving Zelda to her new home 40 miles away that parting with her was more difficult than she anticipated:

“I had to pull over to the side of the road because I couldn’t see through my tears,” Krueger said. “For the first time in my 12 years of dog fostering, I felt like I had given away my dog.”

Ten days later, Krueger received a call that Zelda had gone missing after slipping through her new owner's leash. Krueger jumped in her car as soon as she hung up the phone and started looking for her.

START (Search, Track, and Retrieval Team), an all-volunteer dog search team also decided to join Krueger after getting word of Zelda’s disappearance. Feeding stations and trail cams were set up by the team all around the area, and that's when sightings of Zelda began pouring in.

For Krueger, giving up on her search was out of the question, especially after temperatures dropped below zero.

“The coldest days were the days I spent the most time searching because I was desperate to get Zelda warm and safe,” Krueger said. “[I] spent hours out in the freezing cold, following dog tracks through ravines, frozen swamps and fields.”

Krueger got word two months later that someone spotted Zelda in Minneapolis, which is just between her foster home and her new home. That's when Krueger realized that Zelda was hoping to reunite with her.

Krueger was excited to reclaim her dog after she was surrendered back by her adopters to Wags and Whiskers Animal Rescue, the organization where they adopted her from.

“She was mine again, and I was more determined than ever to find her,” Krueger said.

Krueger began to put out feeding stations around her house after receiving news that Zelda was spotted in the area surrounding her home. She also began dumping dirty laundry on the front lawn, hoping that Zelda would be able to smell her way back to her.

She got also contacted by a couple that informed her that they had been feeding a nervous dog who looked similar to Zelda. Krueger didn't want to build her hopes up despite the seemingly good news.

“Although I really wanted this dog to be my Zelda, I knew that if there was a lost, scared dog out there on the streets, we had to help it," Krueger said. "Even if it wasn’t the dog that I knew and loved, and missed so much."

The couple eventually managed to trap Zelda, then they called Krueger early in the morning to give her the good news. Upon arrival, Krueger noticed that Zelda barely resembled her old self, but as soon as the manager of START arrived, it was confirmed that it was indeed her after a quick scan of the dog's chip.

Zelda finally found her home after being lost for three months!

“It was a miracle, and what else do you do in the face of a miracle? I sobbed," Krueger said. "I apologized to Zelda for not recognizing her. I touched her for the first time in 97 days. I assured her that she was going home forever and that I never stopped looking for her.”

Zelda couldn't be happier to be reunited with her mom again and she has been adjusting well to her new life.

"She has become my Velcro dog, and is never more than a few feet away from me at all times," Krueger said. "My other dogs are happy to have her back as well and groom her a lot."

Zelda finally found her forever home, and she's very grateful for that.

"I never could have imagined that the whole time I was searching for Zelda, she was searching for me, too," Krueger added. "Zelda is officially my dog. But let’s be honest, it’s not like I had a choice. She is very persistent."

Ayoub