Valerie the dachshund reunited with owners after Kangaroo Island rescue

A missing sausage dog that captivated the world after she disappeared on a South Australian island for a year-and-a-half has been reunited with her "euphoric" family.

Valerie the dachshund escaped from a Kangaroo Island campground while on holiday with her owners, Georgia Gardner and Josh Fishlock, in November 2023.

After an island-wide hunt, numerous reported sightings, and "round-the-clock" search and rescue efforts by Kangala Wildlife Rescue, she was found "fit and well" by the rescue last month.

Ms Gardner and Mr Fishlock made the trip from their home in Albury, NSW, to Kangaroo Island yesterday where they were emotionally reunited for the first time after 540 days apart.

"I was sitting on the ground when [rescue owners] Lisa and Jared brought Valerie in, and she ran straight up to me — I just burst into tears," Ms Gardner said.

"She was wagging her tail, making her little happy sounds, and wiggling around with joy."

Mr Fishlock also expressed his relief at finally laying eyes on Valerie, adding that the moment still did not feel real after so long apart.

"It was incredible — euphoric — we never thought we'd hold her again, and then suddenly, there she was," he said.

Sharing this because it's such a feel-good story and Lord knows we could all use a little of that right now.

Also sharing it because I'm the minion of a miniature dachshund myself. They truly are amazing little dogs! Some years ago I spent twelve months traveling across America, with my Tammy riding in my lap almost the entire time. She even steered the car a little along one stretch of desert highway in New Mexico (don't worry I had my foot right above the brake :-)

But I'm sharing this especially because I personally needed to read this story this afternoon. I've been trying to find a job for the past five months. I've been applying everywhere but only a few interviews and they have each led to nothing. My situation is very dire. I'm a hard worker. I've done everything from making auto parts, to being a mental health care specialist in a way few are qualified to be, to writing for a respected conservative news site (it was part-time) to being an artificial intelligence trainer. That last job dried up unfortunately and I've been trying to find ANYTHING that will let me pay the rent and the bills.

I am in a desperate situation. There have been some notions I've had about why I'm not getting hired. DEI is one of them. I'll do just about anything to provide for myself, and to provide for my dog. Dad and I got her together. The day before he died I promised him that I'd take care of her.

So I read this story about Valerie the dachshund. And this statement by her fur-mommy sang out to me:

"If the smallest sausage dog can survive 529 days in the bush, you, too, can survive whatever life throws at you," Ms Gardner said.

I'm going to do my best to take that to heart. Maybe God has something for me yet. If He can provide for a little wiener dog in the Australian bush for a year and a half, then anything's possible.

What's amazing about this story is that Australia is chock full of creepy things that want to kill you. Not the place for me. I'm too absent minded to survive there. But a dachshund that survives Australia for a year and a half is one tough wiener dog.

If you are out of work, go to a temp agency in your town. Usually a person can always pick up a day or two work there. Sometimes more. It's not a career, but you could bring home grocery money and utility money. Give it a try until something better comes along.

Kangaroo Island has no dingoes or foxes.
It does have feral cats but they’re unlikely big enough to take on a daschund, who can be mean little buggers when it comes to food.
A friend who lives on the island has 4 of them.
Aside from the hilarity of watching a 16 legged freight train running around the house she has seen them take down a fair sized wallaby and they will tackle most things that don’t get out of their way. So fortunately for little Valerie she wouldn’t have had much in the way of predators and would have had her pickings of lizards,rodents and birds to keep her fed.

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