This Rejected Dog's 30-Mile Journey to Find a New Family Will Bring On All the Happy Tears

Lady escaped a shelter trying to find her original owners, but they didn't want to take her back

By Jenna Mullins Aug 07, 2014 5:48 PMTags
Lady, Adopted DogFacebook

This is basically a pet rags-to-riches story that puts every Disney movie to shame and reading it has made our day 40 times better.

This is Lady, an elderly dog who was put into an animal shelter after her owner died in 2012. She was soon adopted and living happily with another family...until they got a smaller dog that did not get along with Lady. And thus, this sweet pooch got the boot and was sent back to a shelter.

Lady was adopted out again, but she missed her previous family so much that she escaped her new home and walked almost 30 miles (while battling arthritis) back to Sedan, Kan. in hopes of finding them again.

And find them, she did. But they didn't want her back, which is a straight-up crime because look at that adorable face! How could anyone say no to that?

Chautauqua County Animal Shelter volunteer Cindy Barclay Powell came to the rescue by posting Lady's photo to Facebook to find her yet another home, somewhere that would hopefully become her forever home, as she doesn't have many years left.

Thankfully, someone saw her story on Facebook and was so desperate to adopt her that she sent her assistants in a private jet to go get her immediately.

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That woman was Helen Rich, an heir to the Wrigley gum fortune. She lives on a 120-acre farm and already has seven rescue dogs, as well as a non-profit organization called On the Wings of Angels, which helps shelter dogs find homes.

"Because I know rescues so well, I knew a lot of people would be scrambling to get a celebrity dog [but] she would wait and wait and wait and wait," Helen told Today.com. "And who knows who she'd wind up with, and if it's the right place? So, I said, ‘Chet, get a jet, and go get my dog!'"

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And Chet did just that. Finally, Lady has a forever home. After what was probably the most comfortable plane ride ever. But if anyone desreves to be pampered, it's Lady.

"I've had to survive and endure and walk a long, long way like her," said Helen, who has had two battles with breast cancer. "She endured. I endured. Her story resonated with me."

(H/T Buzzfeed)