Entrant's Name
Lisa

Animal Bio
When Luna arrived at our farm last spring, she was a ghost of the dog she was meant to be. Her ribs jutted out beneath her thick coat, her eyes were wary, and every muscle in her body braced for the next hardship. She had known nothing but survival for months on end, and trust was something she had long forgotten. But beneath the fear and the hunger, there was something else—a quiet strength, a will to live, and a spirit that refused to break.

Luna’s journey began with promise. Born to a respected breeder of Swedish Elkhounds, she was part of a line bred for endurance, intelligence, and loyalty. She had a strong lineage, with generations of hunting companions behind her. Like any young dog, she was eager to learn, to run, to explore the world. But fate had other plans.

One day, while out training with her breeder and her mother in the rugged Kootenay wilderness, something went terribly wrong. Whether it was a chase gone too far, a sudden storm, or simply the vastness of the land swallowing them up, Luna and her mother became separated from their humans. Lost in the backcountry, with nothing but their instincts and each other, they vanished into the wilderness as winter descended.

It was no ordinary winter. The Kootenays are known for their brutal cold, and that year, temperatures plummeted to -30°C and beyond. Snow buried the landscape, rivers froze solid, and the wild became even more unforgiving. Luna was only a young dog, barely past puppyhood, but she had no choice—she had to become a survivor.

No one knows exactly how Luna and her mother made it through those long, dark months. There were no warm beds, no easy meals, no safety nets. They would have hunted whatever they could find, competing with coyotes and wolves for scraps. They would have huddled together for warmth against the biting wind, navigating the deep snow in search of food and shelter. Each day must have been a battle, and yet, somehow, against all odds, they endured.

As spring arrived and the snow began to recede, a miracle happened—Luna and her mother showed up on Gibbs Creek Farm. Emaciated, exhausted, but alive, they were finally brought back to safety.

When she came to us, she was no longer just a lost puppy—she was a dog forged by the wild. She had lived on the edge of survival for so long that she didn’t know how to be a pet.

But if Luna had learned one thing in her time in the wild, it was resilience. Slowly, day by day, she began to trust again. Through patience, love, and a steady hand, Luna began to rediscover the part of her that was meant to be a companion, not just a survivor.

Today, Luna is still the fierce, independent spirit that carried her through the coldest of winters, but she is also so much more. She runs freely across our farm, her thick coat gleaming in the sun, her body strong and healthy once more. She plays, she explores, and she watches over her home with the keen intelligence of her breed. She has found her place, not as a lost soul in the wilderness, but as a beloved member of our family.

Luna’s story is one of survival, but more than that, it is a story of resilience, healing, and the incredible capacity of animals to trust again, even after the hardest of trials. She may have been shaped by the wild, but her heart has found its home.

In her, we see not just a survivor, but a reminder of the strength that lives in all of us—the will to endure, the courage to heal, and the power of love to bring even the most broken souls back to life.