Star of the Story: Jerry Springer
Pet Parent: Jill
Home State: Georgia
Jill recalls the time in her life when she decided she wanted a dog. She says, “Ten years ago, I decided it was time for a dog. I took survey after survey online to find the perfect match for my life. The surveys said an English Staffordshire Terrier, often called the Nanny Dog in England, was the right fit for me. I thought, Yep – I need looking after.”
Fast forward a year, one Staffy (Avrora) and one stray cat later, Jill began to consider also fostering a rescue – just a foster, nothing more permanent than that. One day while Jill and Avrora were out on their morning walk, a scrawny mutt trotted over and joined them. Avrora didn’t seem bothered and “Scrawny” seemed friendly, so the group walked home together. The scraggly lost dog didn’t have a tag, so Jill decided to keep him safe and off the street until she could get home from work that day and would have the time to figure out what to do next.
Jill went about her day, anxiously awaiting the end of the workday so she could get back home and spend time with Scrawny. Upon arriving home at the end of her day, she made a beeline for the backyard, but Scrawny was nowhere to be found! Where could he have gone? Jill wondered if maybe she just wasn’t supposed to rescue that dog. The next morning - you guessed it - Scrawny was back. She took him straight to the vet for a wellness check and to check for a chip. Unfortunately, no chip. Jill decided to do everything she could to find his owner and reunite them, so she took him back home and put him in the backyard thinking there’s no way he would disappear again.
The following morning Jill went out to find Scrawny was gone again! She didn’t have time to search before leaving for work, so she prayed for his safety and drove off...only to find him following some of her students on their walk to school! Fortunately, he loved a car ride and happily jumped right into Jill’s car. She quickly took him back home and this time, knowing he now had a flea dip and vaccinations, she crated him securely inside. That afternoon, she eagerly followed him around as he checked out the backyard trying to understand how he could have possibly escaped.
It didn’t take long before she realized little Scrawny could completely clear the fence! From that moment on, Scrawny became Jerry Springer, as he could spring over the fence in a second. After many calls to the local police and dog pound, and handfuls of flyers and posters had been created to find Jerry Springer’s original parent, Jill knew he had found his new home and she had to find a way to ensure he would stay secure with her, or at the very least be able to find him quickly anytime he got the itch for an over-the-fence adventure. Her research led her to Link – where she fell in love with the features the Link provided like real-time GPS tracking, activity monitoring, and more. Jill and Jerry Springer are beloved members of our Link family, and we’re still happily keeping tabs on Jill’s escape artist to this day!
If you’re a Link customer and find yourself in need of lost dog assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Link Concierge team. They’re prepared and ready to assist with GPS tracking updates and community outreach to help our Link users bring their pets home to safety.
