A rescue dog won the heart of a shelter worker after he walked more than three miles to find her house. They barely knew each other, but the canine was still able to sniff out her scent.
Ted, a German Shepherd-Akita cross, was around two years old when he first arrived at the Northwest Territories SPCA in Yellowknife, Canada. The new and unfamiliar environment scared the shy canine.
Abbey Boyd, one of the shelter’s employees, saw how agitated Ted was and decided to take him out for a walk to soothe his nerves. However, the pooch refused to come with her — or anybody else, for that matter.
Abbey did not give up on Ted, though. Sometime later, she came back to his kennel and gave him a few cheesy bacon strips, which the dog loved.
After handing over the treats, Abbey pulled aside one maintenance worker and requested him to build a bigger enclosure for Ted. She thought that giving the dog more space would make him feel better.
That was the last she saw of Ted during that shift. The SPCA worker went straight home after work as she had to get up early for her other job at the airport. When Abbey got back three hours later, a dog was sitting in front of her house, barking at her.
Abbey was unsure of how to approach the strange animal at first, but then she mustered the courage to walk by him so she could get inside. The pooch skittered down the stairs of her deck as she passed by, but he stayed where he was.
When Abbey coaxed the canine to come nearer, she noticed a small cut on his nose that looked a lot like Ted’s. So she called the Northwest Territories SPCA, and the other employees told her that Ted had managed to escape the property.
Realizing that the canine sitting in front of her was none other than Ted, Abbey was astonished. The Northwest Territories SPCA is in an industrial area approximately 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) away from her house.
To reach her, Ted most likely walked past the Yellowknife airport and went through several neighborhoods. Given the abundance of smells the dog must have detected, it was mind-boggling to think of how he accurately identified Abbey’s house.
The dog went back to the shelter as Abbey’s apartment had a no-pet policy. Since that incident, however, she has been able to take Ted out for walks.
The pooch didn’t have to stay at the SPCA for much longer, though. Abbey had been planning to move to a pet-friendly house, and she decided that she wanted Ted to be there with her.
