Matthew Glatz drove nearly 1,200 miles to the Larimer Humane Society to pick up Amelia — an emaciated dog he had found on a remote trail in the Poudre Canyon in January.
Now, the 3-year-old mix is happy and healthy after undergoing surgery to remove embedded porcupine quills, being treated for heartworm and adding 12 pounds to her skeletal frame.
The duo is headed home to Maine after Glatz officially adopted Amelia on Monday, April 1.
“When I found her in the woods, I said, ‘If you come with me, I’ll take care of you,’ ” Glatz said when reached by phone on Saturday in Tennessee with Amelia riding shotgun in his pickup truck.
“I’m just holding up my end of the bargain. It’s as simple as that.”
Amelia’s story is anything but simple.
On Jan. 17, Glatz was visiting friends in Fort Collins on a ski trip that would take him from his home on the East Coast to California and stopped for a hike in the Poudre Canyon. While on a trail three hours west of Fort Collins, he spotted the small dog.
She was wary and so skinny that every rib on her torso showed. She weighed just 34 pounds, having lost 30 percent of her body weight.
“She approached me on a trail,” said Glatz. “She was a little aggressive. We ended up giving each other a foot at a time.”
Eventually, the duo met face to face and Amelia trusted Glatz enough to go with him. When they reached his pickup truck, he immediately offered her some dog food.
“I fed her and she laid down, put her head in my lap and fell asleep,” Glatz recalled.
He drove to Fort Collins where, upon the advice of his friends, took Amelia to the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. There, veterinarians handled her immediate medical needs and scanned her for a microchip, which they found, and then called the Larimer Humane Society.
Animal specialists at the Humane Society went to work, tracking down Amelia’s owners, who Kara Pappas, spokeswoman for the Humane Society, said live in Southern Colorado.
“Their circumstances had changed, and they were no longer able to care for her,” Pappas said, noting that they agreed to surrender her to the shelter.
It is unclear how Amelia got from Southern Colorado to the Poudre Canyon, but her former owners told animal control officers that she had been missing for six to eight months, according to Pappas.
The little dog had been fending for herself for months, some of which saw bitter cold temperatures.
“She was simply weak,” described Pappas. “She was malnourished. She was in a state of shock, having lived off the land.”
While animal control officers were contacting Amelia’s prior owners, veterinarians with the Humane Society were giving her a more thorough medical examination, including blood work. She was diagnosed with heartworm — a condition that is treatable, but if left untreated, can be fatal.
Her treatment took more than two months.
During that time, Amelia was placed in a foster home, where the family as well as animal care specialists worked to bring her weight back up to a healthy level. And they discovered that a wound on her right cheek was actually pieces of porcupine quills that had begun to breakdown under her skin and migrate across her cheek.
It took an extensive surgery to remove them, followed by more healing. But with proper medical care, Amelia began to thrive.
“To find herself surrounded by people, with food in her belly and a warm roof over her head, with people taking care of her, she has completely blossomed into the dog she was meant to be,” Pappas said.
After dropping Amelia off in January, Glatz continued on his cross-country trip. Within the first week, he called the Humane Society to check on Amelia and, when he found out she would eventually be up for adoption, he committed to taking her home. Those caring for Amelia sent him updates and photos.
Monday, when she was healthy enough — energetic and weighing 46 pounds — Glatz arrived at the shelter in Loveland after a nearly 1,200-mile drive to pick up Amelia. She bid farewell to her foster family and again bonded with the man who had rescued her three months earlier in rural Larimer County.
“By the time they left (Monday), it seemed like they were meant to be, they were like life-long buddies,” Pappas described. “She was excited to go with him. She walked right up to his truck, and he had a dog bed in there, and she got right up there and kissed his face.
“It was a sweet moment.”
And several days later, on Saturday, as they were driving through Tennessee, Glatz said Amelia was content in the front seat of his truck.
“She’s fine,” he said. “She’s sleeping right next to me.”
Pamela Johnson: 970-699-5405, johnsonp@reporter-herald.com
