Dog News

Partially Blind Dog Returns Home after Two Years

by Melanie

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3.29.13 Blind Dog Returns
Calvin and Maggie with Carrot

 

When the Sloan family gave away their dog Carrot two years ago, they had no idea they would ever see her again.  But a fortunate accident reunited the family.

Carrot, blind in one eye, was a rescue dog adopted by the Sloans.  After a year, Kristen felt she was too much to care for in a house with two young children and another wild dog.  Kristen Sloan made the painful decision to give Carrot away.

“I was with her at a park and a guy stopped me and said, ‘She’s so cute,’ and I said, ‘Hey, do you want her?’” Sloan said.  “I told him that we couldn’t take care of her the way she needs to be taken care of.”

She spoke to her husband Rob, and after explaining the upsetting news with her children, Kristen made arrangements with the man and drove Carrot to his house, 15 minutes away.

Two years later, Kristen received a phone call she never expected.

“I got a phone call from a pet clinic saying that two women had found Carrot walking down the street and brought her into the clinic,” she said.  “When I called the women, it turns out they found her two blocks from our home.”

Carrot’s microchip still had the Sloans listed as her owners.  After thinking about the mistake she made by giving Carrot up, Kristen realized the dog was meant to be theirs and went to pick her up.

“The kids were already asleep and then one woke up and Carrot jumped on the bed and wagged her tail,” she said. “I think she recognized the kids.”

Six-year-old Maggie and eight-year-old Calvin were overjoyed.  They had not forgotten Carrot, and frequently asked why she had left.

“They both started crying,” Kristen said.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen them so excited before, even at Christmas time.”

Carrot was “skin and bones” when she was found, but it is unclear if she became so due to neglect or because of an extended amount of time being a runaway.  Kristen is stunned that she was so determined to get back to her home, and that she remembered the way.

“The path has busy roads and train yards and she’s blind in one eye,” she said.  “It’s amazing with that or with the traffic that she wasn’t hurt.”

No matter what may have happened or how she got back, Kristen says this time Carrot is with them for good.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Kristen said.  “She is a lesson on us making a mistake and for a second chance to make it right by her.”