From Homeless to Hero: Shelter Dog Starting New Job as Search & Rescue Canine
By: Homa Bash
Updated: January 23, 2013
From the streets of Breckenridge to the mountains of Georgia.
Meet Touchdown, a chocolate Labrador who was discovered wandering the streets in Stephens County last December.
"The dog was well-cared for, but they just couldn't contain him, he would chew board and get out," explained Kathy O'Shields, President of the Stephens Co. Humane Society.
"And he was found running the streets," added Quana Campbell, with the Humane Society.
Taken in by the Stephens County Animal Shelter, the pup's photo was posted onto the Humane Society's popular Facebook page -- and seen by a woman a thousand miles away.
It was love at first sight.
"She had had a dog that looked similar to Touchdown and he had passed away," said Campbell. "When she saw his picture, she just said, 'That's the one I want.'"
Touchdown's new owner also happens to be a search and rescue worker in Atlanta, Georgia.
Not only is she flying in to Dallas on Friday to adopt the four-year-old Lab, she is planning to train him to become a true life-saver with the Central Georgia Canine Search and Rescue Team.
"He's very smart, he's an excellent dog, and his chance to be a part of something like this is a shot in a million for us," said O'Shields.
Touchdown's new owner will fly into Dallas on Friday to take him to his new home in Atlanta and he will get to work right away -- he is heading up to the mountains on Saturday for helicopter training.
He had been at the shelter for just over a month and in such a short time, he's gone from homeless to hero.
Meet Touchdown, a chocolate Labrador who was discovered wandering the streets in Stephens County last December.
"The dog was well-cared for, but they just couldn't contain him, he would chew board and get out," explained Kathy O'Shields, President of the Stephens Co. Humane Society.
"And he was found running the streets," added Quana Campbell, with the Humane Society.
Taken in by the Stephens County Animal Shelter, the pup's photo was posted onto the Humane Society's popular Facebook page -- and seen by a woman a thousand miles away.
It was love at first sight.
"She had had a dog that looked similar to Touchdown and he had passed away," said Campbell. "When she saw his picture, she just said, 'That's the one I want.'"
Touchdown's new owner also happens to be a search and rescue worker in Atlanta, Georgia.
Not only is she flying in to Dallas on Friday to adopt the four-year-old Lab, she is planning to train him to become a true life-saver with the Central Georgia Canine Search and Rescue Team.
"He's very smart, he's an excellent dog, and his chance to be a part of something like this is a shot in a million for us," said O'Shields.
Touchdown's new owner will fly into Dallas on Friday to take him to his new home in Atlanta and he will get to work right away -- he is heading up to the mountains on Saturday for helicopter training.
He had been at the shelter for just over a month and in such a short time, he's gone from homeless to hero.
