Jango
Adoption Date: May 25, 2007
Scamp and Shilo were brothers, surrendered together. Shilo figured out right away being
that being friendly would get him adopted. All too soon, Scamp was alone and afraid. He seemed to be one of those dogs that just didn’t fit in. Scamp spent his first 3 days in the shelter huddled at the back of his kennel, scared, growling at anyone who stopped to look. He didn’t eat, he didn’t drink. Finally, on the 4th day, Scamp approached the front of his kennel and slightly wagged his tail. It was then that we began to work with him trying to find the little guy behind the hauntingly white eyes.
Joel spotted Scamp on the internet and knew he had to meet this dog. Part of Scamp’s listing read: “… he will be a devoted companion to the right person or family.” On his second trip down from Minneapolis, Joel took Scamp home - in the back of a BMW. Scamp was truly a “Cinderella” dog!
As it turned out, Joel loved to hike and decided Scamp, now named Jango, should be his hiking buddy. The two set out to hike all of the state parks in Minnesota going to one or more each weekend - hiking 4 to 17 miles each time! Summer turned to fall, but still they hiked together every weekend, once even seeing a moose!One October afternoon they hiked about 13 miles into the Savanah Portage SP with a plan to be out by 10 p.m. when the park closed. It was getting close to nightfall.
Joel writes, “We usually hike a bit into the night due to the forest life changing and, well, it’s kind of scary-thrilling to us city folk and in some parks you can hear the wolves howling at night. I ended up thinking I was on a particular low maintenance trail and that we would get to a certain point after dark and then connect with a groomed trail that would lead us out and back to the car. Well, that didn’t happen… Jango knew something was wrong and just followed me instead of leading as he usually does. In the push to get back and it now being dark (full moon, but not high enough yet to help - I had 2 flashlights), I had forgotten about a key point of entry that would have lead us back. Instead, I ended up in a small open area thinking I was going the right way, but then suddenly realized I wasn’t. Every place that looked like the right spot was not. I accepted that we were not getting out. Unfortunately, I was hot and sweaty and the temps were dropping fast. We curled up behind a pile of branches against thick brush... We heard wolves howling in the area, not real close, but not far away either. Thankfully, Jango did not return the howls. I had to hold Jango against me to keep warm. I shivered uncontrollably most of the night. It would have been nice to have made a fire, but I knew it was not allowed because of the high fire hazard warning.
At one point, when the moon was high, we tried to get out again, but were unsuccessful and returned to the original place of being lost. Water was low, as we were almost done hiking - or so I had thought. We had food, but neither of us was hungry during the night. Eventually, what seemed like the longest night of my life finally broke into daylight and I began to look for a way back out to the main trail. I found where I had turned incorrectly. We still had a long four miles to hike out. We finally made it out, went back to the hotel and checked out. I was glad to get home. Later I found out that the temperature had dropped to 36 degrees.
Jango and I have really bonded quite well. We have covered a lot of ground hiking. People are captivated by his appearance - mostly his white eyes. Some guess that he has wolf / coyote in him and such. Many have never heard of a Blue Heeler. It's fun. He is always Mr. Cool about it and usually ignores the people or kind of hides behind me - but he always lets them pet him. He and I are great buddies. -your friend - Joel"
Director's Note: Most of this story was taken directly from an email that Joel sent us. Joel is a remarkable example of someone who is willing to take the time and patience to bring out the best in a dog overlooked because of his shyness and lack of socialization. In many shelters Jango would not have made the adoption floor. That he did is a credit to our very dedicated staff. Still, what Joel has accomplished in rehabilitating Jango has made all of us here at the shelter very proud. And we feel he is a fine example of the strength of character needed to truly save a shelter dog.