WTF Fun Fact 13243 – Missing Dog Returns To Shelter

A dog that went missing from its new home in Texas walked 10 miles to her former shelter and rang the doorbell. The story was reported by the Animal Rescue League of El Paso. The shelter has doorbell camera footage of the dog named Bailey returning to the shelter two days after she went missing in late January 2023.

Missing dog returns “home”

Loretta Hyde, founder of Animal Rescue League of El Paso, told USA Today (cited below) that “A family had adopted the friendly husky mix from the Animal Rescue League of El Paso last month. At some point soon after, Bailey got loose and ended up running away.”

The shelter put the call out on Facebook for local residents to keep an eye out for Bailey. While there were a few sightings, no one was able to catch her.

Luckily, Bailey knew the way back to safety. She just didn’t seem to know the way back to her new home.

After spending two days missing, the El Paso shelter doorbell camera activated and alerted workers to a 1am visitor on January 31. It was Bailey – and she had walked 10 miles to get to where she thought was “home.”

She was safe and unharmed, but very hungry after going a few days without food.

“I’ll be darn, at 1:42 in the morning she’s ringing the doorbell like, ‘I’m home,‘” Hyde told USA Today. “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 one of the shelter’s workers was able to talk to the dog through the camera. She called Bailey’s name and the pup “booped” the camera.

Return to sender

Bailey took a day to sleep off her big adventure and make up for lost calories at the shelter.

It appears Bailey went missing under innocent circumstances. Her new owner had been up for days searching for her and had even stayed out all night when she first went missing. They contacted the shelter immediately for help.

Bailey was happily reunited with her new family after getting a checkup, and everyone was grateful for the happy ending.  WTF fun facts

Source: “Animal Rescue League of El Paso” — Facebook
“Bailey the dog was lost in El Paso. Then she found her old shelter and rang the bell” — USA Today