Washington Woman Quits Job, Takes 57 Days To Find Her Lost Katie Dog

Ca.

The Living Force
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When persistence pays, via networking.

A dog-smitten Washington woman quit her job as a postal carrier & spent 57 days searching vith her husband for their beloved lost border collie Katie. They finally found Katie thanks to the help of a community of strangers in a small town in another state.

Katie managed to escape from a hotel room in July during a trip to Montana vith owners Carole & Verne King. Though the dog loves peopel, she’s also skittish, & was lost in a strange place near the vast open space of Glacier National Park — so the Kings knew they faced a challenge.

They reached out on social media, posted hundreds of flyers in the small town of Kalispell, tirelessly fielded calls, & drove & walked for miles, yelling Katie’s name & whistling, KCRA-TV reported.


Carole finally spotted her a week ago in the shade of a tree vith the help of strangers who pointed Katie out. “I just bear-hugged her,” she told the Daily Inter Lake newspaper. “People are stopping in their vehicles, getting out and hugging us. I think the whole neighborhood knew that we found her.”

When King took the dog to a vet clinic, “the doctor walked up to her and she said, ‘Is this the famous Katie?’ And her eyes welled up with tears,” King said. “That touched me.”

Katie had lost 12 pounds, was severely dehydrated & on the brink of starvation — but she’s expected to completely recover.

“I never gave up. I never lost hope,” King told the newspaper. “I think what I got out of this was the kindness of strangers.”

More details:


September 18, 2019 at 5:00 am

After 57 days, a Washington woman’s exhaustive search for her missing border collie ended in tears of happiness when the pair were reunited in a Kalispell subdivision on Sunday. Carole King, of Deer Park, Washington, had traveled to Flathead County for a four-day getaway with her husband when the unthinkable happened. They arrived the night of July 20 and left their 7-year-old border collie, Katie, in their hotel room while they went out for dinner. When the couple returned to My Place Hotel in Kalispell, Katie was nowhere to be found.

“It was devastating. I got sick to my stomach,” King said.

She frantically searched the room for any signs of her beloved companion before racing to the front desk clerk in hopes that Katie was still in the building.

“I said to the clerk, ‘please tell me you have my dog.’ The clerk says no, she left about 4, 4 and a half hours ago,” King said. When the automatic doors opened, Katie had gone right out.

King and her husband searched the hotel grounds, calling for Katie until the wee hours of the morning to no avail. King suspected that the thunder from an evening storm caused Katie to panic, open their hotel room door and flee. The clerk helped get the word out on social media with a post in a local missing pets Facebook group and assisted King in creating a flier.

As the days turned into weeks, word about Katie spread like wildfire online, spurring the creation of multiple Facebook groups of users who offered words of encouragement and shared information about recent sightings in hopes of bringing Katie home. King posted at least 500 fliers around the county, searched into the night and setup a few game cameras in spots where Katie had been spotted.

She described Katie as a high maintenance border collie
who was friendly toward people, but also very skittish and wouldn’t approach them, adding to the challenge of tracking her down.

“I never gave up. I never lost hope,”
said King, who quit her job as a postal worker to continue her search for Katie.

Complete strangers helped keep her spirits up throughout the lengthy search, sending encouraging texts and Facebook posts — and even dropped off food for her.

“I think what I got out of this was the kindness of strangers,” she said.

It was that very community that eventually brought Katie home.

Early on Sunday morning, Sept. 15
, King got a call from a gentlemen in the Country Estates neighborhood, just north of Glacier High School, that a dog matching Katie’s description was in his yard. Just the day before, King and her friend Jan Leland, of Kalispell, posted fliers in that very neighborhood. She called Leland for help and rushed out the door, but by the time they arrived, the dog had already gone.

Not easily deterred,
the pair walked the neighborhood, scanning the area with binoculars in hopes of spotting Katie. They encountered a couple walking and asked if they’d seen a border collie. They hadn’t, but the man did see a black dog heading north. King handed the couple a flier and was about to continue on her way when the woman addressed her.

“As the lady was walking back, she points over to the tree where it’s real dark and says, ’Is that your dog?’” King said. “And I turn and it’s Katie.”

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After some initial excitement, the group went quiet and King called out to her beloved dog, “Katie. Katie girl!”

She trotted over and they were reunited at last.

“I just bear-hugged her, I wasn’t going to let her go,” King recalled. “Tears were flying, we were screaming, everybody is high-fiving, hugging each other. People are stopping in their vehicles, getting out and hugging us. I think the whole neighborhood knew that we found her.”

King took Katie to a local emergency vet clinic to assess her condition and learned that she had lost 12 pounds, was severely dehydrated and in starvation mode.

“The doctor walked up to her and she said is this the famous Katie? And her eyes welled up with tears,” King said. “That touched me.”

Katie received fluids and orders for a special diet of two tablespoons of food every two hours to help retrain her stomach. She’s skin and bones, King said, but in good spirits and is expected to make a full recovery.

“I really want to thank the Flathead community,” King said. “It was just amazing, the teamwork that was put out to find a strangers dog.”

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I know it's supposed to be an uplifting story, but reading this I just think, did that woman had nothing better to do? Has she no bills to pay to just quits her job for her dog? Is her life so easy or carefree that she could afford to do that? I mean if it was for a child or a family member I would completely understand, but a pet? And spending 57 days, almost two months in misery over...a dog? Couldn't she pour all that energy into her family? Maybe she has no kids/ strong family ties and her dog has become her baby, but it's still mind-boggling to me. I can't relate, but good for her.
 
I think Diana it is part of her extend family.

She, (like others on this forum if the same situation occurred), would perhaps do the same.

Bonding with our 2D friends becomes internally rewarding as spiritually uplifting (due to the love and protection they can and do provide). During good, and bad times.

In the words of Saint Francis of Assisi:

quote-god-requires-that-we-assist-the-animals-when-they-need-our-help-each-being-human-or-francis-of-assisi-84-87-22.jpg


I do not mean to preach to you, just something to pounder. Good luck!
 
I know it's supposed to be an uplifting story, but reading this I just think, did that woman had nothing better to do? Has she no bills to pay to just quits her job for her dog? Is her life so easy or carefree that she could afford to do that? I mean if it was for a child or a family member I would completely understand, but a pet? And spending 57 days, almost two months in misery over...a dog? Couldn't she pour all that energy into her family? Maybe she has no kids/ strong family ties and her dog has become her baby, but it's still mind-boggling to me. I can't relate, but good for her.
I understand your point and my first thought was I wonder how much time I could give if I lost one of my dogs. Saying that i can understand why the lady searched for the pet and having a dog is no different than a member of the family. My own dogs mean absolutely everything to me. A story with a happy ending but your entitled to your point of view. :-)
 
Complete strangers helped keep her spirits up throughout the lengthy search, sending encouraging texts and Facebook posts — and even dropped off food for her.

“I think what I got out of this was the kindness of strangers,” she said.

Some interesting lessons learned:
Never give up. Finding out strangers can sometimes be kind people.

When things get rough this will be comforting to know.

She may actually get back her job as a postal worker... 👍
 
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