Woman tells how she rescued unwanted dog: ‘Her story is worth sharing'
'She just looked lost, like she was looking for somebody,' said Bounds, who lives in Laurel, Mississippi. 'She didn't know where to go or what to do.'
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It was a rainy day, Bounds said, and she didn't want to leave the damp and frightened-looking female dog in the parking lot. Bounds tried to offer her treats, but as soon as she got close, the dog took off.
'She just looked at me terrified and ran away,' Bounds said.
Bounds, a longtime volunteer with the Least of These Animal Rescue, had helped rescue several dogs in the past, and she decided to put her experience to work.
When Bounds got home that day in April 2023, she started searching on social media to see if anybody was looking for a lost dog that matched the dog's profile. She saw a few other posts from people who also saw the wandering dog and were asking about an owner.
'I kind of knew then nobody was looking for her,' Bounds said.
She decided to try to catch the skittish dog - which turned out to be tougher than expected. Every morning around 8 a.m., Bounds would drive around looking for the stray pup. She could usually find her near a bank office, by restaurants or sleeping in hedges. Bounds would leave food for her, and she also tried luring her in by introducing her to her 9-year-old miniature Australian shepherd named Delta Dawn.
'I was trying to feed her to build up trust,' she said.
After almost two weeks of visiting and feeding the dog, she approached Bounds in a Walmart parking lot.
'She let me get close; she ate out of my hand,' said Bounds, who has two daughters, ages 15 and 5.
As Bounds went to her car to drive home, 'lo and behold, she just jumped right in, after 13 days of chasing her around.'
Bounds took the pup straight to the vet. They scanned her for a microchip, and to Bounds's relief, she had one. But when she contacted the previous owner, Bounds said she was heartbroken by their reaction.
'They said she went missing in February of 2023, and they did not want her back,' said Bounds, noting that the dog's records showed she was a mixed retriever named Lucy, and she was about 8 years old at the time. 'It was devastating.'
Bounds was especially baffled, she said, because Lucy was well-trained and gentle.
'She was wonderful with kids and other dogs,' Bounds said. 'I just couldn't understand.'
Given that Lucy became lost in February, Bounds concluded she had been on the streets for about three months. Bounds noticed the wear on Lucy's body.
'Her paws and belly were worn from living on concrete for three months,' Bounds said.
Bounds fostered Lucy for a few months, and although others offered to adopt her, Bounds couldn't let her go.
'I could tell she was very, very bonded to me,' she said.
So Bounds adopted her, and almost two years later, Lucy - now 10 - is thriving.
'She is the happiest little golden girl,' Bounds said.
While it's been almost two years since Lucy first came into Bounds's life, she recently decided to share her pup's rescue story on social media, with the aim of spreading awareness about the overpopulation of stray dogs in Mississippi and elsewhere in the country.
'I feel like people should know that this happens all the time down here,' Bounds said. 'If you can't commit to a pet when you get it, don't get it.'
'I thought her story is worth sharing, so I put it on the internet and people have loved it,' she added.
Bounds' TikTok video has more than 663,000 views and thousands of comments.
'How some people could just abandon their aging puppy is beyond me,' someone commented. 'Thank you for loving her in her senior years.'
'Thank you for your diligence and compassion. Lucy deserved you,' someone else wrote.
Bounds said she is blown away by the response to her post, and hopes it inspires others.
'If you see an animal in need of help,' she said, 'be the person to help.'
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