New York Post A dog who went missing from her new home found herself in a familiar place.
Bailey, who is thought to be 3 years old, went missing from her home in Texas on Jan. 29 — but was found two days later at her former shelter.
“URGENT- This beautiful girl- Bailey- has gotten loose in the area of Mesa and Sunland Park, on the west side,” a Facebook post by The Animal Rescue League of El Paso shared at the time. “She is very friendly. If you spot her or find her, please call.”
But no one had to search for or rescue the dog — she rescued herself.
The rescue dog seemingly walked 10 miles, retracing her steps back to the shelter — and even rang the doorbell to let people know she returned.
After some reported sightings of Bailey, shelter founder Loretta Hyde realized the dog must’ve been coming back to the shelter.
“I go, ‘You know what? That dog is on her way back to the shelter,’” Hyde told USA Today. “I said, ‘You watch. She will end up at the shelter. Mark my words.”
“I’ll be darn, at 1:42 in the morning she’s ringing the doorbell like, ‘I’m home,’” Hyde shared.
The staff at the shelter received an alert from the Ring doorbell and saw Bailey on camera waiting to be let inside.
One of the shelter workers said her name through the camera, and “she went boom, right up to the camera.”
“‘I’m here, let me in, where are you?’” Hyde imagined Bailey thinking.
She said Bailey’s appearance at the shelter gave everyone goosebumps.
Staff used to the shelter to let the dog inside, feed her and put her to bed.
“She slept so hard the whole night,” Hyde said. “The next morning she was like, ‘You can serve my breakfast over there. I’ll get it in a minute. I’m still resting.’ So three days without food and water, I mean, she was making up for her rest.”
Before Bailey showed up at the rescue shelter, her owner had called Hyde to report she was missing.
The pooch was later reunited with her new family, which Hyde described as “such a happy ending for all of us.”
Bailey’s human ordered her a GPS collar so they can stick close together.
“He’s learned his lesson as well as she learned hers,” Hyde told Today.com.
Hyde said this proves that “dogs are smarter than we give them credit for.”
“She knew exactly how to get back to the shelter,” she admired, adding that the pup had to have crossed multiple busy intersections in order to get there.
This article was originally posted by The New York Post.
