OCALA, FL (352today.com) – On the morning of Monday, Sept. 11, Alyssa Snyder found a dog wandering her front yard. Snyder named her Lucky. On her way to bring Lucky to the Ocala vet office where Snyder works, her car wrecked, and Lucky vanished in the chaos. But community members quickly teamed up to search for her, and Lucky was found again the following Tuesday, Sept. 12.
Snyder is a self-described “dog person,” so when she first found Lucky, she sympathized with the owner who was missing their pet.
“She jumped in my car, and I pulled her out,” Snyder recounted. “I was like, ‘Go back home.’ Someone’s probably looking for her.”
Assuming Lucky would make her way back home, Snyder went to work at the Maricamp Animal Hospital.
When she came back to the house on her lunch break, though, the dog was still sitting by her front door. Snyder decided to take Lucky to her workplace to see if she had a microchip to scan. That drive back to work is when Snyder’s car flipped on Baseline Road in Ocala – with the dog inside.
“When I wrecked, they put me in the ambulance, and I’m like, ‘Where’s the dog? Where’s the dog?'”
According to Snyder, Lucky had run away into a nearby cattle field during the accident. Several animal control trucks patrolled the area, but they couldn’t find Lucky.
Someone who reached out to Snyder on Facebook after the wreck asked if she had any photos of the dog. She did, and Facebook users quickly began sharing the images in local online groups.
Fortunately, the good news came soon after. “The next day, [the Facebook user] called me, and she was like, ‘They found the dog! She’s at the church.'”
On Sept. 12, Snyder and her cousin hurried to Church @ The Springs in Ocala, where she was finally reunited with Lucky.
“She literally was obsessed with me,” said Snyder. “She jumped in my arms and was licking my face. I don’t know if she had a trauma bond with me, but she was attached to me.”
Lucky was already in rough shape before the accident. By the time they reunited, she was starving and covered in fleas and ticks, but she was still thrilled to go back home with Snyder.
“I put down food for her, and she was eating it,” Snyder added excitedly. “I walked into the kitchen, and I look down, and she’s right by my feet.”
Snyder ended up taking Lucky to the vet soon after, and it turned out she didn’t have a microchip. Unfortunately, she also had a lot of health issues Snyder couldn’t care for. Thankfully, she found a local business owner who was looking for a new pet and was willing to foot Lucky’s medical bills.
Snyder has been asking the new owners for near constant updates, and she said Lucky is doing well with her new family.
“That is my dog at heart,” Snyder said. “I know they’ll take good care of her.”
She said the new owners might decide to change Lucky’s name. Even if they do, she will always be one very Lucky dog.