NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — An Ohio woman shares her story of how she found her new best friend from Louisiana.
After a heartbreak, Lori Wietfeld never thought she could ever have another dog again after losing her 18-year-old BFF Maggie.
That all changed when she was at a family reunion where I got to spend some time with her cousin’s dog named Mia.
Following the reunion, Wietfeld started looking for dogs locally, but could not find what she wanted.
“I started looking on Petfinders.com and searched available dogs (small, black, terrier mix, female) three times a day in my immediate area with little success. Then I began to broaden my search to include any dog within 500 miles and then eventually to ANYWHERE. I decided to look at any dog, any color, any sex, young or puppy. I completed no less than 5 adoption applications within three days only to be turned away due to the dog not being available.”
“So I just prayed! I prayed that if I was meant to have a dog that the Lord would get him or her to me. I also prayed this dog would be everything I really wanted deep down regardless of sex, size, color, and location.”
Lori’s prayers were finally answered when she came across a dog named ‘Twizzler.’
” I had completely convinced myself that there would be no way they would ever think about adopting to me being that she was in New Orleans and I was in Ohio. Heck, rescue’s in New York wouldn’t even talk to me. I searched for an hour more that day until I finally just said, “what the heck” and sent an adoption application to Cajun Tails. I decided to plead with Cajun Tails in an email to just LOOK at our application and to consider us for Twizzler, that I would do anything necessary to prove we were Twizzler’s family regardless of the distance. To my HUGE surprise.”
Courtney from Cajun Tails Rescue, a foster-based animal rescue organization agreed to do a zoom interview with Lori.
“We exchanged emails that night and then talked on the phone the next day.”
Courtney explained to Lori that Twizzler had butterfly scoliosis and even though she checked out fine, it was something to be aware of.
“That’s when I also learned that Twizzler and her other siblings had been in a kill shelter and 1 day away from being euthanized. As I understand it, Cajun Tails Rescue workers were lucky to be able to even get these puppies out of the shelter,” said Lori.
The next step was getting connected to Twizzler’s foster mom, Daisey.
“Friends couldn’t believe that I was flying from Pittsburgh to New Orleans in one day to adopt a dog. I never thought twice about it, to be honest.”
Once Lori arrived in New Orleans with her husband, they headed to Franco’s to pick up the puppy.
She added “I can’t thank Cajun Tails Rescue, Daisye, her family, and Franco’s team for being truly wonderful people to each other, to me, and to Ruthie Roux. The work you are all doing to bring attention to the animals in the rescue while adding a social benefit to your clients, young and old, is amazing.”
“Ruthie Roux is already living a full life! She makes friends wherever she goes. I believe she is an old soul that is here to teach us all something. I plan to pay attention.”
For more information on how to adopt or foster a pet visit the Cajun Tails Rescue website.
