A woman in Memphis, Tennessee, says she was shocked to discover that a
dog she had briefly cared for had escaped a different foster home,
wandered 11 miles across the city and turned up on her front porch.
Rachel Kauffman says she already had two dogs of her own when she took
in a White Shepherd named Hank from a shelter and looked after him for a
few days before sending him, as planned, to a longer-term foster home.
The story began on Oct. 22, when Tiffany Ford saw Hank's photo online.
Hank was a beautiful white shepherd, but he looked sad, terrified and
pitiful.
Ford got Kauffman involved, and that Saturday, Hank was out of the
shelter and in her home on Cox in Cooper-Young.
The plan was to keep him for a few days, then send Hank to a longer-term
foster while he was treated for heartworms and fattened up a little. A
woman in Middle Tennessee would then formally adopt Hank.
But Rachel noticed that Hank was quickly bonding with her. He stayed by
her side, wherever she went. He took to her dogs and enjoyed their
walks.
"When you get a new dog, they imprint pretty quickly. He would follow me
around a lot, watch what I was doing," said Kauffman, a local vet tech.
"I knew we had a good bond, but at that point, I couldn't predict he
would do what he did."
On Oct. 30, after he'd spent six days with Kauffman, Hank was taken to
another foster in East Memphis' Berclair area to spend the few months it
would take to get him healthy. But on Sunday afternoon, the new foster
locked Hank inside, then stepped out. When she came back, Hank had unlocked the front door and run away.
"It's happened before. My last shepherd could lock and unlock the door,"
Kauffman said. "I've been locked out of my house a few times."
Kauffman and other animal lovers quickly mobilised. They searched the
Berclair area. They posted his photo on social media. Calls came in:
Hank's in High Point. Hank's in Sherwood Forest. Hank's in Orange Mound.
All indications were he was heading west, but Hank remained elusive.
Then, early on Tuesday evening, Nicole Douglas found herself in
Cooper-Young. She looked up and there was Hank, standing in front of the
Memphis Drum Shop just blocks from Kauffman's house.
"I called Rachel, 'Rachel, I'm following Hank!" Douglas said, slowly
driving behind Hank as he trotted down Nelson. When he got to Cox, Hank
turned right. Moments later, he plopped down on Kauffman's porch.
After a journey that searchers estimated at 11 miles, a meandering path
from Berclair in East Memphis to Cooper-Young in Midtown, Hank was home.
Truly, home.
"He traveled 11 miles to get back to me ... I can't fathom how he
travelled that far across town that fast to get back to me," Kauffman
said. "When it's meant to be, it's meant to be."
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