BLUEFIELD, W.Va. — A Kentucky household who misplaced their canine whereas on an ATV trip in southern West Virginia earlier this month are crediting West Virginians for locating it.
Brooke Hollbrooke, of Fort Thomas, Ky., stated she was holding Teddy, her 8-month-old Australian Labradoodle, whereas driving on the Hatfield-McCoy Pocahontas Trail System in Bluefield when the ATV she was on flipped on its aspect. Teddy ran off earlier than she might notice what occurred.
“As we recovered from things, no one was hurt, but Teddy was gone,” she stated. “My first instinct was that he was under the ATV or that he had been severely injured.”
Teddy disappeared throughout Hollbrooke’s journey to West Virginia over Labor Day weekend on Sept. 2. The household launched an intensive seek for Teddy by posting flyers and knocking on doorways. Hollbrooke, alongside together with her husband and youngsters, needed to head again to Kentucky for the beginning of the brand new college yr. What occurred subsequent shocked her. She stated native residents within the space continued to seek for Teddy and supply updates.
“I kept thinking ‘I’m surprised all these people care about our dog.’ All these people that we met were clearly just strangers before who were helping us with Teddy and said ‘We’re not giving up. That’s not what we do in West Virginia. We’re going to find this dog’,” she recalled.
Teddy had been lacking for a number of days and Hollbrooke was beginning to lose hope that he would by no means be discovered. Surviving off pet food left outdoors houses, Teddy was in a position to get by and was noticed a number of instances however would run off out of concern.
“He was hanging out in the trails and then he would exit to go get food and then travel back. He was traveling over all this brush. It was just unbelievable and amazing that he was able to survive,” she stated.
Hollbrooke stated it wasn’t till 10 days later Teddy was situated in a crawl house of a home miles away from the path he ran away from.
“He still had on his WVU collar, he had his leash attached and he still had his riding goggles around his neck,” she stated.
Sean Campion, Anthony Madonia, J.J. Tindall, and one other Mercer County resident lead the search efforts and had been in contact with the Holbrooks. When Teddy was discovered, they organized to fulfill up midway between West Virginia and Kentucky to reunite the canine along with his household.
“It was such an emotional week thinking he was gone to then being reunited was unbelievable,” she stated.
Hollbrooke stated Teddy is now in good spirits. He’s misplaced some weight, understandably, however the vet discovered no indicators of accidents. She stated she’ll perpetually be grateful for West Virginians who don’t simply “say” they care, they go the additional mile to show it.
“We had people when we were down there searching bringing us pizzas to feed us. It was just beyond support which is just so heartwarming in this day in age to see a community join together really for the good of finding Teddy,” she stated.
