After a happy holiday spent in Montana, a North Dakota family ran into trouble in Havre on their way home.
Shandra Jaquith and her family spent Christmas in Kalispell and on the way back to Williston, N.D., they stopped for dinner in Havre.
Jaquith let their dog out to use the bathroom, but the beloved bloodhound named Lou slipped out of her collar and ran away.
They spent the night in Havre searching for Lou but couldn’t catch her.
The family had to return home to North Dakota because Jaquith had to work later that day.
Jaquith then got in contact with Kimberly Federspiel, who is the president of the Havre Animal Shelter. Kimberly is also the wife of Havre Animal Control officer Pete Federspiel.
Jaquith has two daughters who were completely devastated that Lou was not home with them.
“First off, we were really upset that she was gone in the first place. But, my heart just broke because I was worried that we were never going to catch her or that she would get hit by a car. I thought this was going to end poorly,” she said.
The entire community of Havre came together and many people in Havre would feed and see Lou from time to time, but every time she was approached, she would run away again.
“There was so many people looking out for her and just, you know, giving me updates if they’d see her. I was five hours away, there was nothing I could do. But everybody, you know kept an eye on her and made sure, putting food out for her so she wasn’t hungry. I mean everybody helped so much and I just appreciate everybody,” Jaquith added.
After a week and a half Lou was found on Friday and was reunited with her family that weekend.
Jaquith wanted to give a huge thank you to Kimberly and Pete for helping catch Lou as well as taking care of her until she could drive back to Havre. She also wanted to thank Andrea Stidham, a Havre resident, for her quick thinking and catching Lou.
Story by Kasey Herman, MTN News
