Police officer adopts dog she helped to rescue

Baby Girl is getting her happy ending.

On Monday, the 6-month-old dog that was dumped from a car in Lansford two weeks ago went home with her new family.

Lansford police officer Amie Barclay, who was one of the two officers who helped rescue Baby Girl on Jan. 7, knew as soon as the dog jumped in the police truck that night that she was meant for her.

“I knew I really wanted her,” she said. “She is a sweetheart.”

Now, Baby Girl, who was affectionately named by the Carbon County Animal Shelter staff after her ordeal, will be able to run and play at her new home in East Penn Township.

“I can’t wait to get her home and snuggle her,” Barclay said, adding that this isn’t the first time she has opened her heart to a rescue animal.

She has two rescue pit bulls — Ella, 4; and Brownie, 11 — as well as nine cats, all of which have a story that eventually led to a loving home with Barclay.

Baby Girl was dumped on the 400 block of East Abbott Street during an ice storm on the evening of Jan. 7.

Thankfully, Barclay said, there were people outside who witnessed the incident and called police.

“We were one block away so we were there quickly,” she said. “That night she was fierce. She was fighting for her life.”

Barclay chased her for about three blocks while her partner, officer Jarrod Bulger, drove the police truck ahead of them.

Finally, as a last resort they opened the truck door and said, “Come on, get in.” Never did they think she would listen, but Baby Girl jumped in.

“We were lucky there were people outside,” she said. “For how skinny she was, she would have never made it.”

Barclay figured that the dog probably hadn’t eaten in about two weeks with how emaciated she was at the time, but within the first few days of being at the Carbon County Animal Shelter, she started filling back out.

On Friday, Baby Girl got a clean bill of health and the OK to finally go home with Barclay.

Tom Connors, the animal shelter director, said that Baby Girl’s story is a sad one that he is seeing more often with dogs being dumped, left in the woods or left in homes when people move away.

In the past two months, Connors has been called to vacant homes where dogs were discarded, left inside by owners who chose to abandon them.

“This little girl is bringing attention to this problem,” he said. “We’re hoping for prosecution (of the person who did this) and Lansford is working on it. That’s really going to start making a difference with how people treat these animals.”

Baby Girl has also already helped a few other dogs at the shelter because people have donated money for the shelter’s spay and neuter program in her honor.

Lansford Mayor James Romankow even stopped by before she left the shelter to wish Baby Girl well at her new home.

He thanked everyone for supporting the officers and Baby Girl by sharing her story on Facebook because it has helped identify the person responsible for dumping the dog.

Charges will be coming, Romankow said.

“She did good,” Connors said. “We love her and are happy knowing she is going to a loving home.”