NEW LENOX, IL — Amanda Briggs had fostered 62 dogs before one gave her the biggest scare.
The New Lenox woman’s newly rescued Bernese mountain dog Venus last week pushed open a door at her home and went on quite an adventure—before being pulled to safety by New Lenox firefighters.
Briggs was at work when the 4-year-old skittish foster through Halfway Home Animal Rescue out of Orland Park evaded Briggs’ fiance, trotting across railroad tracks near their home and slipping out of his sight.
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“He tried to approach her, slowly, tried to entice her to come toward him,” Briggs said. “She bolted the second he tried to grab her.”
Venus’ history has left her afraid of men, Briggs said. A breeder surrender, she had mothered several litters before finding her way to the rescue. Briggs took her in as a foster May 31, and her frightened tendencies left her shying away from Briggs, often hiding behind a desk in the first few days, before eventually tiptoeing out to explore her new surroundings.
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Slowly, she got to know her foster siblings Brody, an 11-year-old husky mix; Milo, a 4-year-old collie mix; Reese, a 9-year-old German shepherd—all adopted from Halfway Home. Venus also has a fur “cousin” in Briggs’ brother’s dog, 4-year-old Labradoodle Oakley. She was becoming part of the Briggs brood.
When Venus disappeared, Briggs’ heart sank. She turned to social media to spread the word, urging people to report sightings.
“Every time my phone went off, every time it dinged, I was frantic,” she said.
The morning of June 27, Briggs was at work when she heard that staff of the New Lenox Department of Public Works had spotted Venus, near a church on Haven Avenue. She had fallen into a manhole, and was 12 feet down.
Briggs, 40, couldn’t immediately get away from her job as a property manager. The public works staff called the New Lenox Fire Department and stood watch over Venus until they arrived.
“They pulled her out very carefully,” Briggs said. “There’s so many other bigger issues, but for them to come out and save a life that we already saved … it was great.”
A New Lenox native, Briggs only recently returned to live in her hometown. She was moved by the community’s response in her—and Venus’—time of need.
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“I was so touched by the sense of community,” she said. “Everyone coming together, having their eye out was so fantastic.”
The rescue of her rescued dog was something Briggs will never forget—the way Venus’ fear seemed to subside when she arrived.
“The second she saw me, she kinda relaxed,” Briggs said. “I got a bath of kisses the next day, and I started getting tail wags the next day.”
Though frightened by her fall, Venus was unharmed—although a little “fragrant.”
“She was sopping wet and smelled like a swamp,” Briggs said, laughing. “She was stinky.”
Briggs and a freshly bathed Venus paid a visit Friday to Venus’ new friends at the fire department, to say thanks.
Their encounter is just one chapter of Venus’ story, with so much left to tell. She remains in foster care with Briggs. Like other animals at Halfway Home, their early time with the rescue is spent in foster homes until adopted.
“She doesn’t know how great her life is going to be,” Briggs said, “But we’re just a pit stop in her journey.”
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