The Dog on the Hill

Many people in our region are familiar with a story some years ago, of a sweet little dog who escaped her previous home and spent months on the run, lost, frightened and living on whatever she could scavenge. She became known as the “Dog on the Hill” as people would see her in the distance on a property on the Bellarine.

A remarkable community effort coordinated by Di, Paula and Ashlea, led to her eventual capture, and she was brought to Cherished Pets by her rescuers for assessment and care. She was so frightened that she had shut down, her coat desperately in need of a groom. She was also suffering from the very early stages of rat poisoning, which affects blood clotting, probably because she was living off of the remains of poisoned rodent carcasses on the property where she hid.

Again through community and a touch of serendipity, her finder, Paula was talking about the Dog on the Hill at a local hairdresser, when the lovely Pam overheard. Her previous owner could not take her back and Yoyo was seeking a new home that would be sensitive to her very special needs. It was an instant feeling of belonging, and in no time Yoyo has found her safe place in the comfort of the McKeeman Family. Yoyo lived out her last three years in the luxurious and loving care of the McKeeman Family. More recently her health started to decline and a nasty cancer was diagnosed. Until her final day, Yoyo received the best of love and care and when her time came to cross the rainbow bridge last month, she was wrapped in love, secure and safe.

“People say all the time how lucky Yoyo was that she found us, we would just like everyone to know we were the fortunate ones, and that Yoyo was an absolute blessing to our family. Even though her young life had been so awful she had the most beautiful, gentle nature of any animal we’ve ever had, we were truly blessed to find our gorgeous girl’. – Pam, Yoyo’s human

Thank you to our beautiful community for rallying with love to help the Dog on the Hill, to her rescuers, and to the McKeeman Family for loving her for her final chapter.

Remembering Yoyo, the Dog on the Hill.