Rescued box puppy makes headlines again

WASILLA — There were a hundred different ways Pam Flowers might never have found her dog Ellie.

If no one had seen the box of puppies dumped on Schrock Road three years ago Ellie and her littermates — who were 4 weeks old at the time — likely wouldn’t have survived for long. If Rhonda Weinrick, working at the time with Alaska Dog and Puppy Rescue, hadn’t taken them in, Ellie might have wound up in a shelter and not the subject of a newspaper article. Flowers might not have heard of her at a time when she’d been looking for a puppy for months.

But as it is, Ellie was the second-to-last puppy to be adopted.

“This dog changed my life,” Flowers said.

She lives by herself in a remote area of the state — Talkeetna. Ellie is her companion.

“When you live alone, if you have a dog that never has a bad day, that’s a big advantage,” Flowers said.

Ellie’s attitude was also a big help when she and Flowers took on the Appalachian Trail from August 2008 to March 2009.

Ellie is everyone’s friend, Flowers said, which helped when they came across other hikers. Like a lot of Labs, she’s always happy, a fact that helped spur Flowers to go on when she was cold, wet or hurt.

Without Ellie, Flowers said, she might not have finished the trip. Giving up would have meant the death of a dream she’d had for years, ever since she learned the Appalachian Trial existed. The trip was a gift she gave herself when she turned 62.

Flowers said she really needed Ellie’s help when, in Virginia, she took a fall on a icy trail that seriously injured her back. She and Ellie were alone. Ellie wasn’t on a leash and was running free. But she’d never get too far from Flowers; walking a few steps ahead then waiting patiently. Flowers said it was Ellie that urged her on, eventually to a hotel where she recuperated.

The trek from Maine to Georgia, which took 199 days, is the subject of Flowers’ latest book, “Ellie’s Long Walk.” Between books and presentations she gives at schools all over the country, Flowers is more-or-less a professional author. The book is Flowers’ third children’s title. All three have been about her dogs. “Douggie” tells the story of Flowers’ lead dog from her mushing days. “Big-Enough Anna” is about Douggie’s granddaughter, who also served as Flowers’ lead dog.

“Ellie’s Long Walk” comes out this week with a debut Saturday at Petco across from the Dimond Mall in Anchorage. On Nov. 13, Flowers will have a book signing at the headquarters of Alaska Dog and Puppy Rescue in the Trinity Barns on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

Profits from the sale of the book will go to the rescue group.

“I’m so grateful to them for saving Ellie’s life,” Flowers said.

As she spoke, she stood in Weinrick’s living room. Weinrick, who still fosters a dog or two for the rescue, said she has mostly moved on, founding her own cat rescue group that she runs out of her house. She said that when Flowers adopted Ellie she had no idea she was an author of children’s books and didn’t really think too much of it.

“A couple months ago I got an e-mail from her,” Weinrick said.

The e-mail started out reminding Weinrick who Flowers was and then detailed how she’d made the trek with Ellie and written a book.

Weinrick said it brought tears to her eyes.

She still takes in a puppy now and then, but the cats seem to need her help more — they reproduce faster and owners aren’t as quick to spay and neuter them as they are for dogs. She’s had more than one litter of kittens find its way to her in a box someone abandoned or was about to abandon.

Flowers said she still wonders about how Ellie wound up in that box.

“How anybody could do that I don’t know,” she said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.