Where’s Waldo?
In a happy, new home
Waldo has finally been found.
Waldo has finally been found.
In hindsight, the literary version of the children’s books asking the question “Where’s Waldo?” may have been an easier task than the real-life quest. In the mind-boggling, frustratingly-detailed illustrations in which the bespectacled hide-and-seek artist, adorned in a red-and-white striped sweater and toboggan, attempts to elude detection, the search may stretch minutes into hours.
For Lynzee Trimble, the search — not so much to find Waldo but to cap- ture him — was days that stretched into weeks.
“He’s been hanging around here at the Olde Feed Barn for a couple of weeks, and I’ve pretty much just been feeding him hotdogs every day,” said Trimble, who works at the restaurant located at U.S. 59 and I-40.
But a dog on the loose and unaccustomed to navigating traffic characteristic of a major highway intersection is a recipe for a doggie disaster. And parking lots for a restaurant and adjacent truck stop aren’t much better.
“Especially seein’ as how we have people that speed through our parking lot all the time,” Trimble interjected. “He’s almost been hit at least once out here, ’cause people don’t pay attention.”
But this is a doggone heart-warming story.
As Waldo — a moniker Trimble gave the German Shepherd; the dog didn’t offer an alternative — became more comfortable with his surroundings and Trimble gained a modicum of the pooch’s trust, the dog’s days on the lam were numbered.
“A lady came up with a little crate and put it out. We put some food in it, and he went in, and we just kinda closed the door,” Trimble said it took about 30 minutes to lure Fido, er, Waldo into the crate, but admitted the dog was not as appreciative of his loss of freedom as his captors would have liked. “He wasn’t too happy about it (being confined in the grate). He wasn’t too happy about being put in ‘jail’.”
Trimble believes her handouts at the Olde Feed Barn may have been Waldo’s only source of food while he was left to his own devices.
“He, honestly, looked in pretty bad shape. He had a pretty bad walk. I believe he was abused. He had an injured ear,” Trimble said early this week. “I’m hoping he finds a good home, ’cause he deserves it. He’s a sweetheart.”
With Waldo no longer on the run, Sallisaw Animal Care Facility took custody of the wayward bowser. But his stay as a ward of the city was short-lived.
“We had a lady out here that was interested in him already,” Trimble said.
That lady was Amy Sue, who helped Trimble and Aubrey Rich corral the canine.
By midweek, Waldo had a new forever home.
