It’s an incredible story, worthy of a children’s tale. That of a dog who wanders for days looking for her mistress, a resident of Côtes-d’Armor who came for treatment in the Landes, and of the latter, who is worried about the disappearance of the animal since the Dax hospital, helpless.
On the afternoon of Sunday October 6, while walking in the forest with her dog Iris, near the gîte she rents in Pontonx-sur-l’Adour, Jeanine, 59, fractured her tibia. following a heavy fall.
When the firefighters come to pick her up, she is forced to leave Iris on the side of the road. The Breton woman then paid very little attention to the state of her leg. “I was especially worried about my dog. » If this calf raiser is so worried, it is because she knows the character of the animal better than anyone. “I adopted her through the SPA two and a half years ago. She had spent the first seven years of her life locked in a kennel and had never really had contact with humans before I took her in. »
Despite her reluctance, Iris is entrusted to a local resident until Jeanine’s son comes to pick her up two days later. The story could have ended like this, but that was without taking into account Iris’s self-sacrifice. Unable to bear the separation from her owner, the Khortals griffon dog fled from Pontonx on Sunday evening. Her disappearance was reported a few days later and a Facebook group was immediately created by Jeanine’s niece to help “find Iris”. Quickly, many Internet users mobilized to locate it.
“I had never seen that”
From her hospital room, Jeanine witnesses this “tremendous outpouring of solidarity” with emotion. “I had never seen that before,” says the Breton woman. His phone is flooded with messages and calls. Some people tell him they have seen Iris or offer to help him; others are content to communicate a few words of support. “It’s thanks to the kindness of the Landais people that I managed to hold on,” she says with emotion. His sister and niece, who came from Marseille, as well as a friend who lives in the region, put themselves in battle order to try to find the trace of the animal.
As the dog is afraid of humans, her capture is not possible. So, through her niece, Jeanine sends the message not to try to approach Iris. From then on, on Facebook, a succession of reporting messages retraced his impressive journey.
“On the evening of her escape, she was seen near Dax hospital. It’s a breed of hunting dog, I think she followed the firefighters’ trail to try to find me,” explains the woman. After passing through town, it seems to go in circles, in the forest paths between Hinx, Candresse and Narrosse. “She must have gotten lost trying to turn around. »
A moving reunion
A few days after the start of Iris’s journey, a young couple spotted her on the side of a road between Candresse and Hinx. Aware of the animal’s temperament, Roxane and Nicolas try to put her at ease, without scaring her. “We encountered her several days, at several different points,” comments the thirty-year-old. We quickly understood that it was going around Hinx, avoiding the main roads. » They are the ones who suggest to Jeanine that she go to the town when she leaves the hospital.
There is no doubt that the stay in the Landes will not have been easy for this dog from Brittany.
Isabelle Louvier / SO
This is what she did on Tuesday October 15, taking care to leave cloths marked with her scent around the places where the dog had been seen. The next morning, while Jeanine was enjoying a little respite on the terrace of the gîte she rented in Hinx, Iris suddenly reappears. “It was a shock, I couldn’t help but cry,” says the woman, still overwhelmed by this reunion, shared on social networks and celebrated by the many Internet users who were involved, directly or indirectly. far away, in search of the female dog.
“I think I will never be able to thank the Landais enough for their help,” she emphasizes. What is certain is that Jeanine and Iris will long remember their time in the department and this treatment which, although not relaxing, will have brought them a little closer together.
