The desperate puppy who melted a nation’s heart by chasing after the owners who dumped her in a trailer park has a new home – and a bright future ahead of her.
Now renamed Phoenix – because she has risen from the ashes – the black German Shepherd has already experienced a 2,700-mile cross-country road trip as she is given a chance to start fresh.
And hopes are high that she is going to make it as a therapy dog to support those in hospitals and hospices, once she is properly trained.
Video taken by DailyMail.com shows the moment the three-month-old pup arrived at her new home, desperately jumping on her new owner in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday after traveling five days across the country from Fresno, California.
‘We already have a potential adopter for her if, for any reason, she can’t stay with us,’ her new guardian Meredith Gintzig-Hayes, 33, told DailyMail.com. ‘But if it falls through, she’ll be with me – I can’t ever put her in a situation that feels abandonment again.’
‘As cliché as it sounds, I was adopted at two days old and I’ve struggled with abandonment, even though I had a family that loved me unconditionally,’ Gintzig-Hayes said.
‘But you always have that sense, and so when I saw the video my soul literally connected to her through it.
‘I knew that I had to save her no matter what.’
Security cameras caught Phoenix desperately chasing after her callous owners’ white Nissan Sentra after they dropped her in the Country Living Mobile Home Park in Fresno, California, shortly after 10am on April 25.
She was captured looking around in confusion before watching the vehicle speed away, and then desperately tried to chase the car down the street.
But as the security gates shut, Phoenix paused, turned and ran back into the trailer park where a worker coaxed her into the office.
‘The video of Phoenix was heart wrenching,’ Gintzig-Hayes said. ‘But I hear about such things every day in the line of work I do.
‘The difference is that you can actually see it happen in this case.’
The trailer park’s assistant manager Patricia Garvey told DailyMail.com she was ‘horrified’ when she saw the video of Phoenix being dumped.
‘I was worried that the dog was going to get hit by a car.’
DailyMail.com has learned that the owners may have tried to take 10 lb. Phoenix to the Fresno Animal Center – but it was closed that day.
A person wearing a red sweatshirt was seen carrying a black German Shepherd dog with a pink collar to the center.
A center worker took the photo and told DailyMail.com, ‘I took a picture of the dog so I could send to various rescue centers and shelters in the area to see if there as any interest.
‘I obviously had no idea he was going to abandon it just minutes later. He told me he had found the dog, and that it wasn’t his. I didn’t believe him.’
Nor does Gintzig-Hayes, who said there is ‘no way’ a dog would chase after a car if they had only met the person an hour before.
‘They’re probably just trying to say they were doing the right thing. But she wouldn’t have chased after the car like that if that was true.
‘If anyone is looking to rehome their dog, I’d advise them to go to a shelter and ask for a list of rescues that might specialize in the breed of dog they have and reach out to them.
‘Even if they’re full they will have a network who can try to find a forever home for the dog, giving it an opportunity to live. It takes a lot of stress out of the situation and could prevent them being euthanized.’
Under California law it is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine to abandon an animal willfully.
A complaint has been filed with police over Phoenix’s case.
Once Garvey had the dog at the mobile home park she had to decide what to do with her. She initially tried the park’s residents to make sure Phoenix didn’t belong to one of them.
When that proved fruitless it was time to contact various animal welfare organizations to see if any would accept her.
Eventually Fresno Animal Center – the very place the previous owners may have tried to drop her – agreed to take her in.
Once the dog’s plight had been shown on DailyMail.com, Gintzig-Hayes, who runs an organization called Regional Deployed K9 Inc and Equine Rescue, sprung into action.
‘I immediately reached out to the rescue coordinator, and I made it happen so now she will either be with us forever,’ she said.
Gintzig-Hayes, an EMT who began taking in rescue animals in 2017 and started her non-profit three years later, says she often works with shelters in California because many of them euthanize abandoned animals quickly.
The EMT even rehomed one black shepherd called Wiggles to White Lotus actress Jennifer Coolidge last year.
‘I save dogs from California because they don’t have a fighting chance,’ she said. ‘They have two to 10 days if they’re lucky.
‘California is swamped with German Shepherds, pitbulls, everything and because I focus on Shepherds it’s a really good way to make a difference out there.
‘Here in Carolina, we get them at least two weeks and that gives us time to find a rescue and line everything up.’
Black dogs, in particular, often get forgotten about in shelters, she added. Many people believe that is because they do not photograph as well as lighter-colored animals and potential owners looking to adopt online often pass them over.
But now Phoenix is happily settling into her new home, playing with her new siblings and cuddling up to Gintzig-Hayes and her wife, having her tattered pink collar replaced with a brand new one.
She will undergo basic training with Gintzig-Hayes, who is hoping she will end up working as a therapy dog in the future.
But exactly what kind of work Phoenix will do is unknown. Gintzig-Hayes is setting up a program later this year to train service dogs, who will then be donated to veterans and first responders.
Gintzig-Hayes trained two of her other rescue dogs to be working dogs after being told of a rising need for canines on search and rescue teams in Raleigh and the surrounding areas.
‘I decided that it was best to do it myself. And do it with rescue dogs so that people can see that there is no difference between when you get a dog from a breeder and when you get from a shelter. They can be trained to work and do the same things.
‘I think they’re some of the best dogs you’ll ever find. Phoenix is so playful, she just wants to play all the time and we’re hoping she fits in well with my other rescue, Rogue.’
Rogue was rescued from California, from a litter which saw two of her siblings put down in a shelter before Gintzig-Hayes could save them.
The pair are settling into the rough and tumble, with the little pup copying everything her new older sister does.
Phoenix is settling in extremely well to her new home and has bonded with all of her new siblings as well as running around in an acre of land.
The pup spent her first night in her home cozied up in a phoenix blanket, sleeping next to Meredith and her wife Kylie.
Both described her as a ‘wild child’ and told DailyMail.com she had refused to leave a small plush monkey toy, as well as putting her best paw forward to learn some tricks and get treats.
She was coaxed inside their home with the promise of food, and quickly attached herself to Rogue as her shadow.
Gintzig-Hayes added: ‘Her true colors of being a wild child have begun to show through, she’s started to decompress from such a traumatic experience.
‘Phoenix is fitting in well with the other dogs here and has begun to show confidence by beginning to explore our yard, which is about an acre, while the other fur babies are out playing.
‘And of course, we humans, both myself and Kylie, have already fallen in love with her. In fact, Phoenix slept on Kylie’s neck and head last night, so she seems to have taken to her a bit more than to me!
‘We both have a hard time imagining her anywhere but here for the rest of her life and we will be extremely picky about any potential adoptions if we can even bear to let her go after her training.’
