Lost dog collects clues which lead rescuers to her family

We all know that a dog can teach us a lot about friendship and unconditional love but in Tennessee, one family's Rottweiler is offering an astonishing lesson in patience and loyalty. Sitting on the front porch of Kathy Wilkes-Myers' house, Ella is happy but not at home. Ms. Wilkes-Myers says “if her eyes could talk, speak words I mean they'd speak volumes."

Most humans would say that Ella is lost, but she'll tell you it's the other way around. Her family has been missing ever since a serious accident in which Ella’s human mum Michelle Kelley flipped her car on July 1st. Husband Joe Kelley described the accident saying “she slammed on the brakes and we went into a spin."

Michelle Kelley also remembers the crash "I just remember slamming right into the mountain.” A frightened Ella watched as the medics took Joe, Michelle and their three children away to the hospital. Mr Kelley said “the last thing I’ve seen was her looking straight in the eyes before she ran up into the woods.”



From then on Ella was alone but she waited for her family to return for 13 days. Ms Wilkes-Myers drove by the accident the day it happened and two weeks later she spotted a dog near the same spot. “I saw a beautiful Rottweiler drinking water out of a ditch. She was starved and covered in ticks."

Ms Wilkes-Myers brought Ella back to her rescue ranch where the two became friends. She also brought back a plastic bag full of clues hoping they could lead her to Ella's owners. It's a pretty normal list of things - until you realise where Ms Wilkes-Myers discovered them. "I found another little nest ... where she had put all these personal items."

Since Ella couldn't find her family at the crash site, she decided to find everything that belonged to them. Wilkes-Myers said “it just blew my mind ... this dog was just trying to find some comfort.” While searching the area, Kathy also found a notepad that led her to insurance agent April Bowers. Ms Bowers said when she got the phone call “I knew exactly who it was, whose dog it was...what was going on.” And just like that the pieces came together and Ella was reunited with her family.