Scout the dog couldn’t have been happier Tuesday morning, running around Mike Phillips’ yard with his other three dogs. Robby and Mike, along with some of Robby’s farm hands, brought gate panels to block the entrances around the hay bales.
She nipped at their heels, rolled over on her back and jumped up and down in the grass. She obviously has more energy than Maddy, 13, Jett, 4, and Jessee, 7 — all brown labs. Scout is much smaller, too, some sort of pit bull mix, without a care in the world.
“She follows me wherever I go,” Jennifer Phillips said, while watching the dogs run around in the yard. “She’s so worried that she’s going to get dumped.”
Scout has a good reason. Just a few weeks ago Scout lived the life of an abandoned dog near the intersection of U.S. 169 and 54.
Mike first noticed Scout in October, where she was hiding in Robby Nelson’s soy bean field, tucked away from the weather and the world. Robby and Mike began leaving her food, which she ate, but wouldn’t trust them enough to get near.
“She wouldn’t get within 50 yards of you,” Robby said. He then put up a “hay bale fort” to protect her from the elements. It eventually became her makeshift home, whenever she wasn’t scavenging for food in Iola.
“We were hoping she would get under cover when we had those zero (degree) days in January,” Robby said.
While the cold could have been deadly for Scout, Robby and the Phillipses knew it would be their chance to entice her closer. Still, it took some time. People from around the community, include Larry Macha and the volunteers at ACARF, would leave food for her whenever they could.
“She was far from starving, she had an army of people feeding her,” Mike said. “I would drive by and see cans of food and bags of dog food. She was pretty much waiting for me every day.”
At that point, the three knew Scout would survive the winter. She had the shelter and food she needed, barring any incident on the highway, but according to Robby, she was very “roadsmart,” living near to so many major roads without being hit.
When the weather warmed up, however, they knew she would want to move on and stay on her own. They needed to try and rescue her.
“So we came up with a plan,” Robby said.
They blocked her in, planning to leave her in the confined pen until she became more accustomed to it. Her manner seemed calm, however, so they decided to act. Robby brought in a kennel and they got her inside, then brought her to the Phillipses’ home off of Miller Road east of U.S. 169.
“We determined she wasn’t going to be too aggressive,” Robby said. “She either earned our trust, or just decided to give up.”
Jennifer brought her back to their home, and the dog immediately jumped in her lap. By 6 p.m., Jennifer said she “was part of the family.”
“They sent me the photo (of Scout laying on her new bed with the other dogs), and all I said was ‘you’ve got to be kidding,’” Robby said.
Now, Mike said Scout is already running with the pack, so to speak. They are working on training her, and she is already housetrained — leading them to think she was owned by someone at some point. He said she is a little rough around the edges, but that is expected with any new dog.
As for the name? They thought naming her after a Girl Scout was appropriate.
“We named her that because she was living on her own, outside, like a Girl Scout,” Jennifer said.
Mike said the rescue was not their effort alone, but a concerted effort on the part of numerous animal lovers in Allen County.
“There’s a lot of soft hearts out there I guess,” Mike said. “They are just animal lovers.”
“It’s about doing the right thing,” Robby responded. “Those animals depend on you.”
Mike said after four months of caring for Scout in the field, he knew he would be taking her home. She may not have known they were forming an attachment, but she certainly does now.
They are taking her for her first veterinary visit soon, to get her shots and to have her spayed. Mike said she may need to get adjusted to that, but they’ll take the challenges as they come. Considering where she was a few weeks ago, a vaccination shot is small beans.
After four months, community gives stray dog a home
