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Local Fire coordinator Matt Abbot adopts puppy weeks after rescuing his mom
Local resident and electrical business owner of Daily Electric LLC in Mendenhall, Chris May, was shocked to discover that his beloved dog had quite the surprise to share this past Mother’s Day with his family. To their dismay, a third son, born during the latter of 2022, was not the only new addition the family would be celebrating this holiday. This Mother’s Day would be shared with the family’s beloved dog, a German Shepherd named Chase May.
For this particular weekend, Chris had relocated Chase from his Mendenhall residence to his office located on South Main. He did not notice much had changed as he made his daily routine check-ins before preparing to get ready to attend Sunday morning worship until Chase almost knocked him to his knees after he unlocked the office door. Unsure if his business had been burglarized or damaged by an unknown storm the Saturday night prior, he had a magnitude of possibilities run through his mind as he came upon the scene. Chase eagerly and quickly lead him to the back corner of the office’s building where he stores his electrical supplies and materials. Thinking she had destroyed his company property out of spite, his frustration quickly turned to joy as he discovered she had delivered her first litter on Mother’s Day, two females and four males. All six puppies were alive and well. It was a proud moment, and he knew that all that was needed now was time and patience for the puppies to develop and grow. Chris brought Chase and the new puppies back home to meet the family.
Chase and her pups stayed in Chris’ oldest son’s, Heath’s bedroom. Sunday, June 4th, when the puppies turned exactly 3 weeks old, Chase went outside and never returned. It was getting late when Heath notified his Hanna who was already half asleep after putting her toddler and infant to bed for the evening. Hanna thought maybe Chase just needed some time to herself after experiencing the life changing demands motherhood often brings. Chase had been the best new mom during the last three weeks. Hanna reassured Heath as well as herself not to worry about Chase. As a new mom myself, I hoped she would not be gone too long because we knew her puppies relied on her everything down to their survival. The following Monday afternoon is when panic started to set in as she was still missing and her puppies needed to eat. I knew we were approaching a major problem, and I was unsure how and if we were even going to able to solve it. I thought how in the world am I going to tend to not only care for my new, demanding infant but six newborn puppies that were abruptly orphaned? So, I reached out to Officer Billy Seghini to find out about our county’s new local dog pound to get information. Michael Andrews promptly returned my call with news that they did not have Chase but assured me that he would call if that changed. Then, I contacted the city of Mendenhall. Ms. Michelle Berry initiated the search and provided photos to Mendenhall’s Fire and Rescue.
My son, Heath and nephew Odis, along with their friends spent endless hours both riding and walking around the neighborhood and surrounding areas trying to find her as well. Mentally, I prepared myself for how I would handle my children’s grief regarding the worst case scenario of possibilities with Chase and/or any of her puppies. By Thursday, I was to the point where all that was left was literally living on a prayer. Time was not on our side but I had given it to God, prayed and knew I had done all I could do. I continued to feed the puppies Walmart bought milk and hoped they would live, one day at a time.
At 9:45 p.m., as I was cutting off the lights and locking our doors, I noticed a vehicle parked in front of our home. Outside was fire coordinator Matt Abbott with Chase in the passenger seat. I breathed a sigh of relief and then reunited her with her puppies. Mendenhall Fire and Rescue spent approximately 72 hours searching for Chase until she was finally found. We are forever grateful. Originally they thought she was expecting puppies, then learned she had recently had puppies so this made their search and rescue more intense. Hanna promised Matt that he could have a puppy once they were 8 weeks old and weaned off their mother for good. So, a little over a month later he was contacted and he picked a new puppy from Chase’s litter to add to his family. Now all is happy and well.
A special thank you goes out to the tireless efforts from everyday hero’s such as Matt Abbott.
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