It’s always a joyful occasion when a rescue dog gets a new home and leaves the shelter, never to return; however, one pup in Texas bucked this usual process by showing up at her former shelter in the dead of night.
A family adopted Bailey, a husky mix, last month from the American Rescue League of El Paso (ARLEP). After Bailey was adopted at her new home, she ran away, according to the founder of ARLEP, Loretta Hyde, per USA Today.
The shelter asked people in the neighborhood to keep an eye out for her. Some people saw Bailey but were not able to stop and catch her.
On January 31, Bailey somehow rang the doorbell at the shelter, which was 10 miles away from her new home.
Hyde told USA Today, “I’ll be darn, at 1:42 in the morning she’s ringing the doorbell like, ‘I’m home’ … the Ring camera kept going off and off and off … and you’ll see in the video that she’s running out there, sitting, waiting for somebody to come.”
One of the shelter’s workers called out to her, saying, “Bailey,” and Bailey jumped up to the camera.
The incident gave the staff goosebumps, according to Hyde, per USA Today.
They welcomed Bailey in, fed her, and gave her a blanket, sending her to bed.
Bailey had gone three days without food or water by the time she arrived at the shelter. Hyde stated that she needed some extra rest upon getting there.
“She slept so hard the whole night,” Hyde told USA Today.
Bailey was then reunited with her owner and was returned safely back home.
Hyde told USA Today that she sees this story as a reminder that “dogs are smarter than we give them credit for.”
Hyde said she is still impressed that Bailey “knew exactly how to get back to the shelter.” Not only did she figure out the way back, but she had to cross multiple busy intersections to get there.
Hyde is glad that, luckily, everything turned out okay and there was a “happy ending.”
