“He was outsmarting me left and right.”
When Jasmine Lawson spotted a small dog lingering near the edge of a Walmart parking lot in Birmingham, Alabama, she had no idea how long it would take to earn his trust.
The experienced dog rescuer soon learned that the stray had reportedly been surviving around the area for at least a year, possibly two. That was enough for Lawson to decide she was not going to leave him behind.
She named the dog Wally and began working on a plan to safely capture him.
At first, Lawson expected the rescue to take only a few days. Wally seemed cautious, but she had trail cameras and humane traps available, and she believed patience and food would eventually lure him inside.
Wally had other ideas.
Footage from one of Lawson’s cameras showed the dog entering a trap, only to become startled as the mechanism began to close. Before the door could secure him inside, Wally quickly backed out and escaped.
Lawson tried again with a larger and sturdier trap, hoping the extra space would make him feel more comfortable.
Once again, Wally managed to avoid capture.
The moment he heard the trap activate behind him, he rushed back out before Lawson could secure him. It became clear that this street-smart dog had learned to be extremely cautious about anything unfamiliar.
Instead of continuing to trigger the trap and risk making Wally even more suspicious, Lawson changed her strategy completely.
She began leaving the trap open at all times.
For roughly 40 days, she placed food inside without attempting to close the door. The goal was simple: teach Wally that walking into the enclosure did not automatically mean something bad was about to happen.
Day after day, he became more comfortable.
By the 70th day of Lawson’s rescue effort, Wally was finally walking all the way inside and calmly eating the chicken she had left for him. Watching him that evening, Lawson had a feeling that the moment she had been waiting for had finally arrived.
She decided to activate the trap again.
Lawson stayed awake through the night, keeping an eye on the cameras and waiting for Wally to return. At around 5 a.m., after weeks of patience and countless failed attempts, the trap door finally closed with Wally safely inside.
Lawson immediately rushed to get him.
After 71 days of trying, Wally was finally off the streets.
She brought the cautious pup home and initially planned to foster him while he adjusted to life away from the parking lot. But after spending about a month together, Lawson realized that saying goodbye was going to be much harder than she expected.
Eventually, she decided there would be no goodbye at all.
Wally officially became part of her family.
His personality today is almost impossible to reconcile with the elusive stray who spent more than two months avoiding every trap Lawson placed in his path. Once given the chance to feel safe, he developed into an affectionate, social dog who enjoys attention and happily asks for belly rubs.
He even enjoys going swimming.
Looking at the relaxed and playful dog Wally has become, the long nights, repeated setbacks and 71-day rescue mission no longer seem quite so exhausting.
For Lawson, every failed trap was simply another step toward the moment Wally finally realized he was safe — and toward the home that ultimately became his own.