Hi, I’m Camilo and this girls name is Gaita. One day, I received a phone call from mother saying that she found a dog on her way home from work. She was sniffing around all the kids as if she was looking for someone in particular. My mom gave my sister and I her location so we can go and pick her up. When we got there, my mom had borrowed a leash that we could use.
Gaita became euphoric when she realized she was coming with us. When we brought her home, it was a bit chaotic since we already have two cats so we had to grow accustom to her company. We devised a plan. First, we were going to find her owners (thinking she was lost) and if that wasn’t possible, then we would find her a new, loving home like we have in the past.
The days went by but no one contacted us in search for Gaita. We even tried making a video to attract people’s attention but still, nothing. Along the way, she became very energetic and noisy since she wasn’t used to a closed environment so my sister’s boyfriend had shared with us that his father just bought a ranch far from the city with acres of land to run and play.
He said that we could take her to visit so long as we helped out on the ranch for a few days. I immediately agreed but I also had to have a good idea of where she would be living. It was time. We made the trip and when we arrived, I knew this was the perfect place for her to live.
It was huge and alongside it, there was a river where you can swim in peace which left me feeling very happy. We would be staying close while she stayed on the ranch. It was a long night because the next morning, I didn’t know if we would find her there, waiting for us. Even though we left her tied up, we knew she loved to escape so it made us start to worry.
The next day, we arrived at the ranch only to find her collar on the ground. She escaped in an area she hardly knew. With a little hope, my sister’s boyfriend and I jumped into the car and began searching for her. We called her name, went all over the city, and just as I feared, we didn’t find her.
We returned to the ranch to give the bad news but I didn’t want anyone to see the tears in my eyes so I took my car and left. I thought to myself, did we really do all this for nothing? Is this how it ends? Right when I was going to accept the fact that we’ve lost her, I saw her in the distance walking towards me.
She looked dirty with sticky bush leaves attached to her as if she was searching all night. I could tell by her reaction. First, she was hesitant like she was making sure it was me in front of her, then when I called her name, she immediately ran to me. We were very happy to see each other and after I wiped my tears, we headed back to the ranch.
The days went by and I knew this was her new home. We would take a swim in the river, play for hours and she would end up exhausted. Everything was going wonderful until the day to say our goodbyes had arrived. I knew she had to stay but I was worried she was going to take it as abandonment since we grew so fond of each other.
We said our goodbyes and left. To witness her standing there, watching the car drive off was so hard but I knew there was no better pace for her to be and that we would come back and see her waiting for us.
Unfortunately, my sister’s relationship ended later on and I thought I was never going to see Gaita again. Our goodbye truly was the last goodbye we would ever have and she would still be waiting for our return. It’s been a while since I got the news but we were always told that she would go down to the river, run around and that she became very fond of my sister’s ex’s father.
We were so happy because we knew she was going to be just fine. It motivated us a lot being that this wasn’t the first animal we rescued and we hope it won’t be the last. However, this experience is the one that affected me the most.
