When rescuers at Moberly Animal Shelter pulled multiple terriers from the hoarding environment, they were a little concerned. Luckily, they all look healthy – except for River.
At 7 weeks old, Xiaohe weighed only 2 pounds. The vet said he needed extra care to keep him healthy and thriving, so he was adopted by Lindsay Lenz as a medical foster carer at Just One More Farm. Lenz has performed more than 200 rescues on her farm, and she immediately decided to help nurse River back to health.
“Initially, he was very sick,” Lentz told Dodo. “He has very little energy and sleeps most of the time. I made him his own kennel with heating pads and multiple food options. The first two days I had to tube feed him formula and medication… It was on fire. On the third morning, I was woken up at 7am by the loudest, tiniest howl! Jiang woke up and figured it out!”
A few days after arriving on the farm, River suddenly transformed into a lively puppy, excited to play and explore the world. He’s still very young, though, so Lentz makes sure to keep an eye on him as he leaves the kennel. She feared that he might get lost—a fear that one day came true.
“Three or four days later, I went to the bathroom and came back and found River was gone,” Lentz said. “In the beginning, I wasn’t particularly worried because we had the puppy hiding and falling asleep before, but after 10 or 15 minutes, I really started to worry about him slipping out with my kids and getting lost.”
Lenz ran around the house in a panic, looking for River. She was about to call her husband for help when she heard the slightest yawn.
“I started shooting, and then I went looking,” Lentz said. “It took me a while, but I finally saw the river.”
As it turns out, River wasn’t lost—he’d been taking a blatant nap.
“[He was] Falling asleep curled up on the dog toy box,” Lentz said. “He blended in with all the plush toys… I was shocked at first, then laughed for five full minutes!” I walked past him at least a dozen times while searching. He was really hidden in plain sight! “
What’s more interesting is that Lenz’s dog, Poobie, has been standing nearby, and from her face, she seems to know where River has been, but has no interest in revealing his secret nap location. After all, he obviously didn’t want to be disturbed.
“River didn’t care, and when I found him, he didn’t even look up,” Lenz said. “Instead, he gave me a side-eye, like he was saying, ‘You interrupted my nap!’ That just made me laugh even harder. Since then, I know exactly if River’s missing “Where to look. It’s one of his favorite nap spots!”
River didn’t mean to scare his foster family. He’s just trying to find the perfect nap spot, and despite all the commotion, he’s clearly glad he did.
