LOST in Forth Worth ~ The Miraculous Story of Betty and her Angels whom brought her HOME 
It all began Saturday the 21st, 2012
Mary, Mike, their daughter Filleigh Kay and special dog "Betty" had traveled from the east coast of North Carolina to the bustling City of Fort Worth, Texas to compete in the Mustang Magic Trainers Challenge held in conjunction with the Fort Worth Stock Show. Mary & her Mustang "Magic Carpet Ride" (MCR) had made the Finals of the competition and were preparing to preform their freestyle that afternoon for over 3000 spectators. It was around 4:30 pm Sat as Mary and MCR made their way to the horse trailer to get changed into their "Show clothes"
Betty (the Fiest .. which resembles a Jack Russell) had been hanging out in the horse trailer for the day. Mike let Betty out for a few minutes to use the bathroom and Mary slipped MCR on the trailer to keep her safe from the crowd while Mary changed clothes.
Now, this in not uncommon at all for Betty to be loose to use the bathroom. She knows exactly who her family is and she always stays close to the horse trailer. She is social though and will let people pet her if they are close by. A few minutes passed and Mike called to Betty with no answer.. this was quite odd as she NEVER goes far...
Immediately
Mike and Mary start calling and looking.. no Betty. There were three young men tossing a rope about 20 yards away. Mike approached them and asked, "Have you seen a little dog running around?" They replied that YES they had.. said, "Those folks (as they pointed to an empty parking spot) just threw her in their horse trailer and took off! "
Mike thought to himself... I JUST saw that horse trailer pulling away .. there were kids piled up in the bed sitting on the toolbox.. there is no way they took my dog... who would do such a thing? .. Mary overheard the conversation as well and immediately took off on foot after the horse trailer . As she rounded the corner of the parking lot she saw the two horse trailer with lettering all over the sides ease out on the highway and begin to gain speed. She took off at a dead run for a moment.. thinking somehow her two legs would catch the trailer.. needless to say this didn't last long and she wheeled around to grab the attention of the first "Official" person she spotted.
A gentlemen with a "Fort Worth Stock Show" (FWSS) badge was spotted and Mary told him in a panicked voice, "We MUST catch that trailer.. they have our dog!" He replied.."Well, I do not do any chasing, but I'll get the police.. they'll catch them"... It took about 5 minutes and a policeman showed up... Mary described the trailer as best she could.. a small steel white tag a-long with lettering all over it... The Policeman said not to worry, he would track them down and off he went. Mary turned to see Mike and Filleigh Kay approaching her. What a sinking feeling they shared in that moment.. Mary's performance was to start momentarily and a decision had to be made as to what to do in that very moment in time.
Should they take of in their truck to look for the trailer as well?....and forfeit the Show? ... and disappoint all the spectators as well as the Mustang Heritage Foundation that was counting on them?... or do they trust that the Police WOULD in deed find the horse trailer and their special dog Betty and press forward to full fill their obligations to show?
It was a difficult decision, but the latter was the ultimate one they made. Mary told herself.. over and over again ... that the Police WOULD find this trailer.. and what are the chances she and Mike would have any luck finding it in Fort Worth at this point any way.. they had no way of telling which direction it went and no one seemed to even know the folks that owned it.... so Mary did everything she could to pull herself together.. she stepped aboard Miss Magic Carpet Ride .. and went into that arena under the standing room only crowd and did what she had come to do... Show the partnership she and MCR had cultivated the last 4 months. As Mary walked around the rail warming MCR up she spotted some familiar faces... she told a small handful of special people her situation and asked them to pray and did her best to hand it over to their prayers and God's hand. Mary attempted to do this...but Betty never left her mind. She tried to think of how this could have been worse.. to put things into perspective and the ONLY thing she could fathom.. was it would have been MUCH worse had it been Filleigh Kay, their daughter.. THAT would have been unimaginable.. and that horrid thought was the only thing that allowed Mary to think.. Yes, this could be worse.. at least it was not Filleigh Kay.. and again she tried to re-focus on the task at hand.
The performances came and went... Mary was the 8th to go and her heart never even picked up as she entered the arena to perform... in that moment she had not a care in the world as to how this would end up... had MCR gone bucking across the arena and left Mary on the ground.. well at least she could have hopped up and taken off to look for Betty.... it certainly put life in perspective for Mary... the safety of our loved ones is more important than ANY type of competition...
As Mary entered the arena to show she reminded herself that she owed it to these spectators...she owed it to the Mustang Heritage Foundation..she OWED it to THIS HORSE to go in there and exemplify the partnership they had strived to build together. So they entered the ring and as the Music started to play they picked up a trot and began. MCR was an ANGEL... she was incredibly relaxed, as was Mary...seeing as her priorities were very much "In order" due to the events of the day... the performance could not have gone better and as they exited the ring Mary thought to herself.. "ok...what is the next step towards getting Betty, can we leave yet?" .. Well the awards had to be presented and the adoption must take place.. they simply could NOT leave before that was complete...
The Awards were phenomenal .. Mary was awarded a special gift due to her recent AFTH Win aboard Lindsay's Faith from ACTHA, the MHF as well as some SPECIAL friends (whom were the very friends Mary had asked to pray for Betty) Mary was so thankful for their
generosity
and to see those familiar faces was uplifting as her thoughts were still with Betty.
The auction started
immediately
and MCR was 10th in line.... Thanks to all 3000 and some people respecting Mary's wished to adopt this special Mustang...and in addition to the announcer only giving folks a few seconds to even try and bid.. MCR was bought by the Jordan family and they
immediately
took off with MCR to their horse trailer.
Mary loaded MCR up.. gave her some water and quickly changed out of her show "Genie" outfit in attempt to be able to talk to people regarding Betty without being stopped to talk about the competition.. Mary wanted to speak to anyone who wanted to talk "Mustangs" and did not want anyone to "take offense" if she was short with them.. so it made the most since to attempt to go under cover so to speak.. so off Mike and Mary went to find who it was that had taken their Betty. (Thankfully some close friends had Filleigh Kay safely taken care of as Mike and Mary took off..obviously Filleigh Kay's safety is more important than ANYTHING. Thank YOU to Erin Watkins, Shawn Sanders, and Johnny and Roxie Davis for that!!!)
Mike told Mary he had received a call from the police during the show... they had no luck finding the trailer.. nothing at all... so on to plan B.... find the names of these people.
Mary and Mike went to the show office for the rodeo because the 3 guys roping had told Mike they thought these folks might have ridden with a group in the grand entry.... Well, the rodeo was still going on and no one was available that would have any information until it concluded.. So Mike and Mary waited.... in the meantime they asked everyone that walked past if they knew who owned the trailer...nothing... but they did recall some writing on the side of the trailer... after much waiting a very kind lady came down and spoke with them. She finally concluded from their description that this group that they rode with was with the "***" riding club...and yes they had ridden in the grand entry as a club. Thankful for that tidbit of information they headed to the checkout office to attempt to find the actual names of these members of this group .. well no such luck.. the office was closed that would have that info and they were told to check back in the morning... It seemed to be a dead end for the night.
The last thing Mike and Mary wanted to do was to stop looking for Betty for the night..but it was approaching midnight and it seemed there was going to be no way of locating these people until the morning. They reasoned through the situation and attempted to convince themselves that if these people took Betty.. they must have liked her and they would still have her in the morning... Betty never left their minds as the went to sleep.
Promptly the next morning they headed back to the office. As it turns out the people that took Betty checked in as a group.. not individuals, so their names were not easy to locate individually....at least Mike and Mary knew what group they were with at that point.... they began to load up as they had to check out that morning.. A nice gentlemen that helped Mike and Mary load up their things proved instrumental in their search. He was very familiar with this group and he said he thought they all boarded at a farm together! ..plus he knew exactly where that farm was!....He gave Mike and Mary exact directions and they set out to find the barn around mid morning.
It was about 20 minutes from the facility and down a long dirt road. As Mike and Mary turned in they spotted that two horse trailer! With a small sigh of relief they looked all over for Betty.. No Betty..the owners obviously had not left her at the boarding farm.
The first person they found at the barn did not know the names of the folks that owned the trailer...but after waiting around a man showed up that DID! He told Mike and Mary the person's name and even had his number! He called it and asked if they had picked up a little dog from the show....He handed the phone to Mary and she heard the voice of the man's son...he said..."Yes we had her, we picked her up from the show....but we have to find her.. she's gone..she got out of our yard last night!" .. Mary did not even ask why they took Betty..she simply said.."We would like to help you look, can I have an address?".. The young man handed the phone to his Dad and he gave Mary the address. When Mary got back in the truck she told Mike that these folks had taken Betty..but she had escaped. Mike's heart went from joy to have found her.. to pure sickness to hear she was gone.. He knew she would not stay close to that place where she was taken. All he could visualize is Betty running full speed with her nose on the ground.. searching for her family's scent.. a scent that was well over 30 miles away.
Mike and Mary headed to the address given.
It was an older neighborhood. Every yard had a tall privacy fence and the address Betty was taken to was in the very back corner. An old man walked out to the street as Mary and Mike pulled up. Mary still did not ask him "Why?" she just focused on constructive questions to hopefully result in getting Betty home. The man told her at first that they had planned to take her back to the horse show that next day... then a few minutes later he said they had planned to take her to the Shelter...and maybe they should look there. He said he had put Betty in their backyard when they got home the day prior. Mary asked if she could go look and he said ok.... Mary walked in the backyard and wove through the old cars as she visualized Betty trapped and afraid... there were two other dogs.. one with a long matted coat that watched Mary as she walked around... Mary climbed up on an old junk car to peer over the privacy fence to see where Betty may have gone.. The
neighborhood
seemed endless.. house after house after house.... the old man said " I heard her late last night whining and scratching.. she must have gotten out then.. I wonder if those ropers from the horse show came out and stole her in the middle of the night?" ... Mary thought to herself that was the most
ridiculous
assumption she'd heard... what were this Man's true intentions? .... Granted Betty did not have tags on.. she has a thick muscular neck and unless a collar is attached super tight she slips it off... she did have a make-shift home-ad collar on ..she it wasn't like she had nothing... and she was at a horse show.. where the grounds are practically entirely fenced in.. and she is a good looking, well cared for dog.. Nothing about Betty screams "stray" ... and IF this Man truly thought she was lost... would it not make much more since to take her to the show office?... Not load her in a trailer.. after petting her less than 5 minutes and take her 30 minutes AWAY from where she was found???? It just did not add up.. and now these odd stories too? Mary felt very uncomfortable, but questioning the man did not seem to be the way to get Betty back.. so she stuck to the plan of only using constructive words and asked where the closest shelter was. He told her and off they went again.
The shelter was jam packed with dogs.. many small dogs... but No Betty.. at the shelter Mary was told she should check back twice a day and look for Betty... she was not allowed to call...there were simply to many dogs for them to identify. Mary explained that she and Mike would have to return to NC.. they had over 20 animals to care for their too.. she left her information and Betty's description and began to think she might need to fly back to look again for herself if Betty was not found soon....
The hours were ticking by and Mike and Mary knew they simply HAD to head home that night.. they had already postponed leaving by a day.. Mike had work that he HAD to get back too and their farm was dependent on them.... They wanted to do one last thing before they left so they went to Office Depot to make Reward flyers. Mike, Mary and Filleigh Kay (and MCR in the horse trailer) headed back to the neighborhood with flyers in hand.. they started at the house she escaped from... They were kids on the streets all around...but very few adults... The first kid they spotted was playing basketball and Mary asked "Have you seen a small dog" the kid replied with... "How much is the Reward???" It made Mike and Mary's stomach turn to hear such heartless words... "A LOT, Mary said in a harsh tone.. but only for her SAFE return" He nodded his head and turned around to shoot another hoop.
Mike and Mary took a deep breath and attempted to shake the thoughts of Betty surrounded by such heartless people and pressed forward. The drove until dusk.. stopping everyone they saw.. Some folks did not speak english.. some seemed sincere that they would look....many did not.. as they began to cover tracks they had already traveled they spotted flyers of Betty in the ditches and over the road.... they stopped to pick them up .. fighting back the tears ... and pressed onward... praying to reach people that would care and try to help... There were some kids that claimed to have seen Betty. Two little girls that appeared to be around 12 claimed to have seen her in their yard at 2 am.. and two little boys around 8 or 9 yrs old said they saw her early that morning running full steam ahead down the road... That certainly rang true for Mike.. he had seen that vision all day...
After feeling the neighborhood had been looked over as much as possible Mike and Mary knew they had to head to NC. As they made their way out of Fort Worth they were silent.... Mike just drove.. and drove... what else could he do? Thank the good Lord it was not Filleigh Kay, that's all they could think of.
Mary fired up the laptop and as she got on Facebook she saw folks already were aware of Betty's status.. "Lost" .. Mary began posting flyers and attempting to contact every social networking site she could to find Betty.. She was just certain Betty was ok.. she could feel it.... but she knew it would be a true challenge to locate her.. in a City like Fort Worth.... a small dog with no tags and no micro chip.. just Betty... but the Faith that began to pour from all the wonderful people via the internet began to give Mary hope..and helped her remember to hold fast to her Faith.. no matter how impossible a task finding Betty appeared to be...so Mary and Mike pressed onward.. Mike drove.. Mary typed... the kind words of others gradually began to replace to awful visions of "lost" Betty flyers in the ditches of that neighborhood....
Then the floodgates opened.. as Mary's tears came and Mike's solemn "empty" emotions set it.. the "Angels" began to Flood them... they came from everywhere.. Angels started sharing the lost flyers... started sharing with their friends and other networking sites... Mary's "home" page on fb was nothing but BETTY.. from sooo many people.. not just Mary... the floodgates of Angels continued to pour in... and pour and pour... all over Fort Worth... all over the Shelters ....All over that neighborhood....
That following day Mary received messages of people that were headed to the shelters.. and to the neighborhood to post flyers and to look for Betty....The Angels seemed to grow
exponentially
as the day pressed on.. multiple postings on line.. so many that Craigs List started kicking the new posts back as spam as so many of the same type listing were posted!... It continued throughout the day.. and night.
Mary called to police at the Stock Show to update them that Betty was still missing. She asked if she should put a figure on the Flyer as to how much of a Reward would be offered. He said he was not at liberty to say, but he warned Mary to "Be careful" .. He said ," You do not want someone calling you up saying ,' How much is your little dog worth to you?' " The thought of that sent chills down Mary's spine. After researching pet rescues around Fort Worth it was beginning to feel like a real possibility that someone might have actually done this for a the reward.... no way of really knowing, but the thought was terrifying to them.
Mike and Mary drove straight through, from Fort Worth to eastern NC.. they had to.. they had stayed as long as they could.. they had no time to stop to sleep for long. After looking for Betty all Sunday and driving all Sunday night and Monday they arrived at home Monday night around 10 pm.
Mary and Filleigh Kay hugged her 4 dogs that stayed at home tight and went inside to crash as Mike sat outside... not able to come inside yet as the hourse was flooded with Betty memories.. he finally did and somehow managed to drift of to sleep beside a pillow covered in short white Betty hairs.
The next morning 11 am eastern time Mary was still asleep... she had slept hard as a rock since they got in and did not even know it was so late. Mike had headed to work early that morning and taken the phone that was the # all the flyers had. At 11 am he threw the sliding glass door open saying "Someone Found her!!" Mary jumped up from a dead sleep and could not even think straight.. Mike handed her the phone and #'s of who to call as he had to head back to work.
Turns out TONS of people.. Angels.. had been posting "Lost" flyers for Betty all over the place. A gentlemen named Gary Renyolds had spent all day Monday looking, determined to find Betty and had seen a "Found dog" flyer and called on it.... at first it did not seem like Betty..but following a Strong feeling to press onward, he realized at was Betty!.. Also a young girl had spotted the lost as well as found flyers and called Mike and Mary's number with the number on the found flyer.... When Mike had called the Found flyer # he asked if Betty had a makeshift haystring collar and the kind man that had picked her up said yes she did!.. Mary called him as well and the man would not accept any form of reward... nor would Mr. Renyolds.. or the young girl that called.. they all just said they wanted Betty to find her home!
Amy Spivey, a professional photographer and animal lover in the Fort Worth area.. along with Any's Wonderful husband and Madeliene LeClerc, a Mustang trainer and animal lover in the Fort Worth area (soon to move to CA) were so kind as to go pick up Betty.
Turns out Betty had ran almost 15 miles.. all in less than 12 hours. She had escaped from the yard where she was put after she was taken from the show and then ran... full speed...nose to the ground Mike is certain...until she could not run anymore. She crossed two MAJOR interstates (including I20 for those that are familiar with Fort Worth) .....She finally stopped and curled up and went to sleep...
......... at a Church, just before 12 noon ...... on Sunday.
The kind husband and wife spotted her and scooped Betty up and took her home with them.
At this very same moment in time Mike and Mary had just managed to find the barn where the trailer was at and were locating the Number of the man that took Betty from the Show.
The kind husband and wife that had saved Betty meet Amy at a store close to their home to hand Betty over. They said Betty had run from them once, but they made her a dog house in the backyard and she had seemed ok after that. They had named her Spot..and had no intentions of taking her to the Shelter...they planned to keep her if they could not find her owners.
A storm brewed on the horizon as Amy drove Betty to her home. Betty is terrified of thunder and sat shivering in Amy's lap as the storm passed over. Had she still been in that yard, she would have surely been gone again!
After much consultation with dog trainer friend, Rebecca Ryan, whom reassured Mary that Betty would be ok on the plane... Mike and Mary scheduled a flight for Betty to come home to NC on Tursday. Betty is very thunder-phobic... so a flight was not Mike and Mary's ideal choice....but it was even more frightening to think of her riding with someone in a vehicle and needing to get out to use the bathroom.. and maybe take off!.. Rebecca assured Mary she had flown many thunder-phobic dogs with no issues. Mike and Mary were un-easy, but they felt it was the safest decision. Betty was scheduled to fly out from Fort Worth Thursday at noon. Lay over in Atlanta, then arrive in Wilmington, NC 7 pm.
Amy Spivey and Madeliene LeClerc took exceptional care of Betty. They took her to the vet for health papers that she had to have to fly. They got her a collar and tags, they got her a safe "flight approved" kennel and took her safely to the airport. All the while posting pictures and reassuring Mike and Mary that she was safe and sound. That first picture Amy posted brought the most phenomenal feeling across Mike and Mary. Betty was sporting that happy dog look, with her ears back and a big, panting smile. Mike and Mary will never forget the feeling that picture created.
Thursday at 7 pm Mike, Mary and Filleigh Kay waited at the airport for Betty's plane to arrive. There was bad weather in Atlanta and her second flight was delayed.... They waited and wondered what Betty was thinking. They knew she was scared, but it would not be much longer now...not much longer.
Only about an hour after schedule, Betty's plane arrived. They Delta crewman came walking towards Mike, Mary and Filleigh Kay toting a kennel at his side. As he sat it down Betty began whirling in circles whimpering as Mike and Mary scrambled to untie the zip ties that held her door safely shut. Betty had pulled her water and food bowls off the door and was scrambling to get out. As the gate flew open she shot out and ran circles around Mike whining and jumping and licking him and Mary. Filleigh Kay squealed in delight and said "Betty" and patted her leg with her hand (sign meaning "Dog)
Betty was thin.. not so much her belly because Amy had feed her well for the past day and a half.. but her shoulders and hips were notably smaller. She is a very muscular dog... resembles a halter type QH.. but it was apparent during the 15 mile hard run she had run out of Fat to burn and her body had began to burn muscle. Thank the lord she had muscle to burn! Her pads were sore, but not as badly as one would expect. Amy had her healing up nicely already.
Mike scooped her up in his arms and walked out of the airport to the truck.. to go Home.
Betty curled up in Mike's lap and slept hard all the way home.... as the truck turned down the drive way through the woods to the farm Betty lifted her head. She stood up and looked out the window letting out a soft whimper as the truck bounced down the dirt road between the horse pastures to the house.
They other 4 dogs surrounded Betty as she hopped down from the truck. Tails wagged and they sniffed her all over. Betty took off to her special spot in the woods and stayed there well over 5 minutes (her potty spot!) She came trotting back up and curled up on a square bale of hay and drifted off to sleep as Mike and Mary feed horses for the night.
When it was time to go in she followed Mike to the house, claimed her spot on her couch once again... and has been sleeping ever since.. yes, even now (today is Friday at noon)
Miracles DO in fact occur.... when Angels on earth allow God to use them as His Hands and Heart.
This is the first picture Amy posted of Betty after picking her up ;-)
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