Kristina Munford together with her siblings and her father had a road trip to explore the Grand Canyon from Oklahoma in January. They never thought that their fun family trip would result to discover one thing that they would never forget.
Munford and his family had stopped on the side of the road for an impromptu photoshoot.
“We could hear skewering and skimping. We were in the middle of nowhere, there was nothing forever, but we kept seeing these beautiful formations and we were like ‘we will stop on the next one.’”
The family decided to take a pit stop at Elephant Feet Rocks, 26 miles from the nearest town. While they were taking their family photo, they were shocked to see something that is moving in the bushes.
They saw a young, malnourished and exhausted, but still alive dog.
Munford told KPNX, “His face had like … a gash … kind of in the middle. He wasn’t really moving his back legs. We thought he was injured, but it just turns out he was exhausted,” she added ‘Dad, we can’t leave him out here, we gotta take him with us.’”
The family welcomed the new passenger onboard and took him with them to their next stop—the Grand Canyon. Because of that, Munford named him Canyon.
The pup quickly bonded with the family, sleeping on their lap and giving them kisses as he rode in a car for the first time.
Watch it here: Adriana Loya/video
Though they still have a few more locations to go, but the hotel they booked in does not allow dogs to stay, so they made arrangements for the dog, now called “Canyon,” to stay with family in California
“I wanted to keep him, but we had just started our trip and hotels wouldn’t allow us to have him there, so he’s going to stay with our family,” Munford said. “They are going to foster him until they either fall in love with him and keep him themselves or find him a good home.”
They had pulled over in the middle of nowhere and luck would have it, they crossed paths with the puppy.
The founder and president of Yavapai Humane Trappers, Katrina Karr of the local group that has been rescuing pets abandoned in the desert since 2016 said that Canyon is very lucky. “Canyon is lucky, he was very lucky he was found.”
Karr added that since the start of the pandemic, Karr said the number of animals they are encountering or getting calls for has increased drastically.
“2021 has been the worst year that we have seen in decades,” Karr said. “It’s bad, sometimes we can’t keep up.”
She also added, “It’s been a rough year and 2022 isn’t any better, please volunteer, we need you, there is a lot of good you can do and so many little lives you can save.”
Munford also created a Facebook page for Canyon called the AZ Canyon where she posted “On a driving vacation from Oklahoma to California this past Saturday, this little pup (now called Canyon) was found alone in the Arizona desert, 26 miles from the nearest town,”
After Canyon arrived in California, he went to a vet visit and was checked by a vet and confirmed he was not microchipped.
“This page will document his journey to his forever home.”
“He’s safe! That’s the best part,” said Munford. “We love animals in our family, they’re innocent, and us humans should be appreciative of the loyalty these animals give us.”
Sources: Western Journal, 12News