Lost During Irene, A Dog Comes Home

VPR/Betty Smith

Jeff and Lynda Spurr with Juju, who returned home five hours after being swept away by flood waters from Tropical Storm Irene.

(Host)  As people who were affected by last month's flood have been tallying up their losses, there have been a few blessings to count, as well.

For one southern Vermont family, that includes the survival, against all odds, of a beloved family pet.

VPR's Betty Smith has that story. 

(Smith) Jeff and Lynda Spurr live on Route 106 in Weathersfield, right next to their automotive repair business, Spurr's Garage. It's a busy place, and the Spurrs' 11-year-old Saint Bernard, Juju, is the official greeter.

But today she's home again, sitting at their feet. Jeff Spurr recalls what happened.

(Spurr) "We were out in it trying to help my parents. They got flooded out so we had gone to get them and we came back and were unable to drive home so we parked our car down below the washout, and walked home, got our things and headed back to the van."

(Smith)  Juju went with them and as they came to the washout, the unthinkable happened. Juju fell over the edge of the broken pavement and into the water below.

VPR/Betty Smith

The sinkhole where the Spurrs' dog Juju fell into the Black River and was swept away.

(Smith) Stunned, the Spurrs couldn't imagine how the dog could survive the fall, much less the debris-laden current.   But there was nothing they could do, so they pulled themselves together and went on to where they spent the night.  Next morning, they returned home and were talking with some friends at the local store when Juju came around the corner of the building. Jeff says they later learned a neighbor had seen her walking in a nearby field and had called to her.

(Spurr) "But she apparently was so scared and traumatized from it, that she just kept on walking, and walked up the dirt road and across the covered bridge and came back down and was headed home." 

(Smith) Juju had been missing for about five hours.  There was no telling how far down river she'd been swept, nor how far she'd walked to get home.  She was limping slightly from a torn dew claw on one foot, and looking, says Lynda.

(Lynda_Spurr)  "Just worn out, tired, beat and matted in mud.  So of course she had to go down to Willow Farm and get her bath. We took her to the vet first and they x-rayed her and everything. She had no broken bones. Yep. Unbelievable."

(Smith)  So Juju is back at Spurr's garage, greeting customers and enjoying her new-found celebrity status.

For VPR News, I'm Betty Smith in Weathersfield.