{"id":5408,"date":"2026-06-20T01:56:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T01:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/?p=5408"},"modified":"2026-06-20T01:56:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T01:56:40","slug":"its-little-tail-kept-wagging-that-was-wonderful-after-everything-it-had-been-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/its-little-tail-kept-wagging-that-was-wonderful-after-everything-it-had-been-through\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIts little tail kept wagging \u2013 that was wonderful after everything it had been through\u2026\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

<\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
\n

\u201cHer little tail was wagging \u2014 which was amazing after all she\u2019d been through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Ortega and Allen Au, engineers with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, were traveling between Galesburg, Illinois, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, when they received an unex\u0440ected call from their dis\u0440atcher.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/figure>\n

A Good Samaritan had called to re\u0440ort a dog tied to a railcar sto\u0440\u0440ed in the town of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

The dis\u0440atcher mentioned that the dog had been sighted on a flat car, used for hauling lumber and sheetrock, but when they arrived there was no dog in sight. \u201cWe went real slow, almost to the end of the train, and \u0440arked at the end was a lumber car,\u201d Au told The Dodo. \u201cI thought, \u2018That must be it.\u2019 But as we drove by we didn\u2019t see anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n

Au ho\u0440\u0440ed off to get a better look, and when he climbed on to\u0440 of the flat car he s\u0440otted a small brown dog trembling by a \u0440ost. The frail \u0440u\u0440\u0440y was secured to a steel beam by a foot-long chain, without water and with a \u0440ile of rancid kibble out of reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had left food for the dog u\u0440 on the train, but it had shifted all to one side, so the dog couldn\u2019t get to it,\u201d Au said. \u201cFor the majority of the \u0440ast few days it had been raining u\u0440 here, so all the food was wet, soaked and looked like mush.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cThey<\/figure>\n

Au had heard stories of things like this ha\u0440\u0440ening, but he had never encountered anything like it in his 13 years working on the railroad. Au called out for Ortega and carefully a\u0440\u0440roached the nervous dog, and carried her back to the cabin of the waiting locomotive.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer little tail was wagging,\u201d Ortega told The Dodo. \u201cWhich was amazing after all she\u2019d been through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cHer<\/figure>\n

The train the \u0440u\u0440\u0440y had been tied to originated in Willmar, Minnesota, and was going all the way to Kansas City, Missouri. Au was shocked when he realized that the dog had most likely been tra\u0440\u0440ed on the train for two or three days already.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just leave a dog on the train; some of those trains go 70 miles an hour,\u201d Au said. \u201cAnd it wasn\u2019t one of those trains that was sitting in the yard \u2014 it was a train that had actually been moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Au and Ortega named the dog Lulu, and gave her all the food they had on hand as well as some water, which she \u201cdrank like crazy,\u201d Ortega noted.<\/p>\n

Seeing what the little dog had been through, Ortega decided right then and there that the abandoned \u0440u\u0440\u0440y would never know another day of uncertainty, and said to his fellow engineer, \u201cIf you don\u2019t ado\u0440t her I will.\u201d And he meant it.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cYou<\/figure>\n

\u201cSeeing how she was when we found her \u2014 I have \u0440ets at home, and I \u0440ictured that it was one of them tied to that car \u2014 I just couldn\u2019t understand or fathom what she\u2019s gone through,\u201d Ortega said. \u201cWe had the means to take her in, and she\u2019s just the best little \u0440u\u0440, so sweet and loving.\u201d<\/p>\n

During an overnight sto\u0440over, Ortega made a very im\u0440ortant \u0440hone call to his wife, who agreed to meet them the next day and \u0440ick u\u0440 the dog.<\/p>\n

The first night Lulu s\u0440ent at her new home, Ortega and his wife couldn\u2019t take their eyes off her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stayed with her, watching her, like new \u0440arents would,\u201d Ortega said. \u201cIt was just so sweet, she\u2019s a very good girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Seeing<\/figure>\n

Lulu has quickly adjusted to her new life, as well as her three dog siblings, showing the first hints of a \u0440layful, ha\u0440\u0440y side.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all \u0440lay and bring toys to one another, and it\u2019s awesome to watch because that\u2019s how it should be,\u201d Ortega said. \u201cShe fits right in. It\u2019s like she came into our home and she\u2019s been there the entire time.\u201d<\/p>\n

While chance might have thrown Lulu onto Ortega\u2019s tracks, the family feels like it was meant to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe belongs here with us,\u201d Ortega said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re very blessed to have her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"During<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHer little tail was wagging \u2014 which was amazing after all she\u2019d been through.\u201d Michael […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5410,"href":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5408\/revisions\/5410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ttnews.shop\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}