In 2018, Texas Husky Rescue went to pull a dog from the New Braunfels Animal Shelter. When they saw terrified Laika there, too, they couldn't help but pull her as well. She was wily and incredibly smart, opening latches and climbing the chain link enclosures at the shelter. It had taken a team of animal control officers to catch her in a shopping center before bringing her to the shelter.

As is procedure, she was dropped off at the local clinic in Austin to be spayed. Due to circumstances out of anyone's control, she ended up having to spend the weekend there. But she escaped her kennel and chewed through three feet of drywall to get out. She was on the run for nearly nine months. During that time, she had puppies, which Texas Husky Rescue tried to capture upon discovery. They got one, who has since been adopted.

Finally, an amazing trapper caught her, and Texas Husky Rescue's behaviorist worked with her for five months. She was feral and highly intelligent, and she's still a work in progress.

I'm blessed to know and live very close to the woman who fostered her. To nobody's surprise, I adopted Laika and brought her home in February of 2019. I had three huskies already, and I fell in love with her wild spirit the day I met her.

At about three years old, Laika is still wild at heart, but she's learning to be a dog every day. She likes to keep things organized (with shoes properly placed on top of pillows), she bounces around like a flailing fish when she's excited, and she's learning that people are not enemies. She still doesn't go in the backyard without a fifty-foot leash on, but she's losing the flight instinct more and more. Fast movement toward her still scares her but she's improving daily.

When people are looking for new pets, they’re typically looking for friendly, well-socialized dogs who are going to integrate quickly and seamlessly into their family. In the rescue world, scared usually means not adoptable. Not adoptable too-often means euthanized. My friend saved her life by pulling her from the shelter, even if she was on the run for a while after. She’s one of a kind and teaches me things every day—most importantly, how to enjoy the little things.