Leadville-Lake County Animal Shelter/Courtesy photo
A dog that survived more than two months living in the woods near a popular recreation area in the Colorado Rocky Mountains is now in the care of the local animal shelter, where she is up for adoption.
Leadville-Lake County Animal Shelter manager Caitlin Kuczko said that Two Socks, a 1.5-year-old German shepard mix, was first spotted by the hosts of the Baby Doe Camp at Turquoise Lake near Leadville on May 20. The camp is located at an elevation of 9,900 feet.
“We don’t know how long she was out there before that because no one was camping at the lake before that because the campgrounds were still closed,” Kuczko said. “The camp hosts started putting out food for her.”
For weeks, the camp hosts and campers at the campground left food out for the dog, which they named Two Socks, presumably due to the slightly white coloration of the fur on her two front feet, Kuczko said.
In July, Kuczko said some campers came to the animal shelter to report that the dog was still at the campground and would approach people for food “but would not get close, would get spooked and run off.”
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Soon, the animal shelter was working with Summit Lost Pet Rescue volunteers based in Leadville to safely catch Two Socks and bring the pet back to civilization, where she could receive proper care, Kuczko said.
On Saturday, July 20, Kuczko said she and Summit Lost Pet Rescue volunteers set up a dog trap and camera near where Two Socks was known to be staying.
Over the next several days, Kuczko said she put food on the trigger plate in the back of the trap but kept the door, which shuts when the dog steps on the trigger plate, zip tied open so that Two Socks could get used to eating in the trap. She also requested that the camp hosts and campers stop feeding the dog so it would go after the food in the trap.
Then, on Thursday, July 25, volunteers swapped the animal shelter’s trap out for a newer trap from Summit Lost Pet Rescue due to concerns that Two Socks might push her way out of the old trap, Kuczko said.
With the dog having been out in the wild for so long, Kuczko said, it was decided, “We’re just going to get her tonight.”
For several hours, Kuczko and the volunteers sat in the rain until, a little after 10 p.m., Two Socks wandered into the trap and triggered the mechanism, securing her in the crate.
“We thought it might take her a few nights to get used to the new trap,” Kuczko said. “But she didn’t really seem to care.”
Before midnight that night, Two Socks was in the care of the animal shelter. The dog is “pretty petite,” weighing about 43 pounds, but didn’t show any signs of illness, parasites or worms, Kuczko said.
“I’m amazed she didn’t get giardia,” Kuczko said, noting that Two Socks had presumably been drinking from puddles while living in the wild for more than two months.
The rescuers never learned where exactly Two Socks had been living in the woods, Kuczko said. She added that when Two Socks was rescued she “wreaked” and “was one of the smelliest dogs I’ve ever had the pleasure of interacting with.”
Two Socks had been microchipped, allowing the animal shelter to track down her previous owners, who Kuczko said have presented “multiple stories that are not matching up.”
The previous owners said the dog had gone missing in early March, presenting the “possibility that she had been out there since March,” Kuczko said. But she said the previous owners also said that the dog had been rehomed in April, which the animal shelter has been unable to verify.
Legally, Two Socks now belongs to the animal shelter because she wasn’t claimed by an owner within five days, Kuczko said. Still getting used to the domesticated lifestyle, Two Socks has started letting Kuczko pet her and has been socializing with other dogs.
The animal shelter is currently working to get the shy dog a proper grooming and will receive behavioral support through participation in dog play groups, Kuczko said. She noted that donations to the Leadville-Lake County Animal Shelter help support rehabilitation and rescues like this, including treats for Two Socks.
“We want to focus more on her future and less on her past. We’re working with her to see that the world isn’t so scary” Kuczko said. “We’ve had a few adoption interests, but we want her to go to a home with a confident and playful dog so she can observe behavior to learn that everything is not so scary.”
This story is from Summit Daily.
