Around 3 p.m. in the afternoon, Patrick Carty and Dana Sampson, two young Manitobans, are driving to a new job in Kelowna, with a Monday start date. In the area of the Stoney Nakoda Casino, the men pull over for a quick break on a side road. As Dana steps away from the car, a puppy comes out of the grass and walks towards him. The men look around, call out and realize that the owner, if there is one, is not in the area.
“We saw homes in the general area so we drove to each of them, knocked on the door, and showed the pup to whoever answered, but no-one claimed the pup. We were on a dirt road coming back from a house when the oil gauge warning light lit up on the car. The car died just as we made it back to the main highway. So now we’re in a dead car with a strange pup, which we can’t leave behind because what would happen to it? We called a tow truck and, with the pup riding up front with us, we were towed to Canmore. When we got to Canmore, we learned it would be a few days before anyone could even look at our car so we called the local animal shelter (Bow Valley). They told us they were full and then they gave us the number of the Cochrane animal shelter. So then we called the Cochrane shelter, and Amanda, the lady that works there, told us they could take the pup, but that they closed at 5:30 p.m.”
Patrick Carty
Patrick and Dana then made a very generous, very expensive choice – they called Canmore Cab and asked for a return trip cab ride from Canmore to Cochrane.
“I couldn’t believe it, these guys had to leave the next day to get to Kelowna, they had been driving for hours on end, and they were still willing to spend their time and money to bring this pup to Cochrane.” Amanda Larabie – CAHS receptionist
The two Manitobans arrived 45 minutes later with the pup in hand. They filled out the paperwork, surrendered the pup and left for their hostel in Canmore.
The pup is now safe in the Cochrane & Area Humane Society. The two young men? Without their car, both Patrick and Dana rode the bus to Kelowna, arriving midnight on Saturday the 22nd. And their car? Patrick and Dana are now waiting on the repair bill for their car and readying themselves for another bus ride back to Canmore to pick up that car, when it is finally ready.
