First-year CVM student, Kimberley Bruce, has an strange-but-true story about a dog she adopted when she was working at a vet clinic in Eastern Oregon.
Humphrey the dog arrived at the clinic severely malnourished and clearly abused. “He absolutely melted my heart when I saw him,” says Bruce. “He looked horrible; too weak to stand with sores covering his body and an infestation of mites. I paid special attention to him on my shifts but it wasn’t until I really started working with him that I noticed he had only three legs.”
Through many long weeks of recovery, Bruce and Humphrey developed a bond and eventually she was able to adopt him from his foster home. “Despite being so badly treated Humphrey was the best dog you could possibly ask for,” says Bruce. “We did everything together and he was an absolute joy to everyone he met.”
One day, returning to her Jeep after shopping, Bruce found a grungy man peering in the window at Humphrey. He yelled, “That’s my roommate’s dog, Tigger!” Bruce felt very uncomfortable and asked him to leave, which he did.
Years passed. Humphrey was living with a friend in Corvallis while Bruce studied in Australia. Bruce missed her dog a lot and when she returned to the states, she immediately went to Corvallis for a visit. There she was told “one of the most interesting stories I have ever heard,” says Bruce.
Her friend, Sara, had taken Humphrey to Willamette park to play Chuck-It when a man came running out of the woods yelling, “Tigger! Tigger!” The man told Sara he used to live in Eastern Oregon and had Humphrey since he was a puppy. He went on to tell her about how he used to beg for food to feed him but it was never enough. He pulled out his wallet and showed her photos of Humphrey’s supposed mother and father, and went on about Humphrey’s brothers and sisters. Remembering what Bruce had told her about the Jeep incident, Sara was afraid this man might want to take Humphrey so she called the dog over close to her and left as soon as she could.
“When I heard about this I was blown away,” says Bruce. “How on earth does one dog travel seven hours from Eastern Oregon, have three different owners, and run into his original owner in Corvallis three years later? It’s just an incredible story.”
