Michigan Dog Going Home After Surviving Two Winters on His Own
Don't you just love stories like this with happy endings?
Meet Elroy. Elroy certainly has not had an easy life. Elroy was taken in as a stray in Kentucky. Things started to look up for him when he was later transferred to Michigan and was adopted.
Elroy was pretty skittish at the beginning of his new life with his forever family in Delton, Michigan. His owners weren't sure if he had ever had a real home in his entire life. Just as Elroy was starting to warm up to his new family, he found his way through a gate that had been accidentally left unlatched.
Elroy's family posted his photos to social media asking for help locating the lost dog. Many well-intended people attempted to capture Elroy, but he always managed to allude. With each rescue attempt, Elroy moved farther and farther from his home in Delton. Skittish dogs go into survival mode rather quickly and will run from anyone who tries to approach them. Elroy ended up over 60 miles away in Bloomingdale.
Once in Bloomingdale, he was spotted hanging around a large salvage yard. The owners of the salvage yard reached out to Elroy's family and a large feeding station and cameras were set up to keep an eye on him.
The owners tried everything they could think of to recapture the scared pooch but Elroy managed to escape capture each time. Feeling like they were out of options, the owners decided for Elroy's safety to discontinue efforts to capture him fearing he would run into busy nearby roads and get hurt.
That's when the owners were told to reach out to Mary Humphrey. Mary has successfully reunited many an owner with their wayward pooches. Mary met with Elroy's owner on Saturday, February 26, 2022, at the salvage yard Elroy had made his home. She put a different type of trap out to capture Elroy then the waiting and watching began.
Elroy was spotted checking out the trap several times and finally entered the trap in the early morning hours of Monday, February 28, 2022. Elroy settled into the cage pretty quickly.
Mary says while he was fearful when she approached him he did not growl or act aggressively. Elroy was pretty dirty but in otherwise good condition.
Mary says that many tears were shed upon the joyous reunion. She also noted that dogs are incredibly resilient for owners not to give up on bringing them home. Now for the first time in almost two years, Elroy will be sleeping indoors and will be safe and warm with his family.