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It took nearly seven months to see results, but dog rescue members are calling the homing of a pair of pups nothing short of a holiday miracle.

Edie Kelley, with Paws Crossed Dog Rescue, shared a story that can make even the hardest of hearts soften.

“We were contacted in late May or early June about this pair of dogs,” Kelley said. “Greg Fleming was at the farmer’s market at the (Murder Creek) bridge and called us about them. When I went to meet the dogs, they growled and lunged at me. I told Greg they were Ferrell and that we couldn’t catch them. We gave him a bag of food and he used some he had to feed the dogs.”

Kelley said that others in the community were trying their hand at feeding the dogs to try and secure them, but had no success.

We would get dozens of calls a day about these dogs,” Kelley said. “Animal control had gotten a lot of calls and none of us could catch them. We got messages from people saying we weren’t doing our job, but they were just aggressive and didn’t want to be caught. We were able to get some drugs from Dr. Nobel to try help us be able to catch them. We put it in a bowl and they ate it. I watched them get drunk and fall over, but when we tried to leash them, their adrenaline kicked in and they took off.”

Kelley said although Paws Crossed Dog Rescue never took the animals into their program, they did follow the progress and capture of the pair.

“Several people let us know that they were feeding the animals and we had said if anyone caught them we would help,” Kelley said. “One lady, Ms. Patricia, began feeding them Arby’s sandwiches and continued to try to earn their trust.”

That trust was earned and Kelley said she got the call a week ago that the dogs were in Ms. Patricia’s care.

“She was their person,” Kelley said. “When she went to feed them last Friday, one of them jumped in the car with her. Office (Charles) Land with the East Brewton Police Department picked up the other dog and put it in her car. She took them home and called me to let me know she had the dogs.”

Kelly said these dogs that were believed to be aggressive when she first had contact with them in the summer, were now docile and loving animals.

“When I went to see the dogs, they crawled up in my lap and licked my face,” Kelley said. “They are the most sweet, loving dogs and they fit right in with Ms. Patricia’s other pets.”

Kelley said that consistency and patience paid off for these two animals who are now in a good home for them.

“Ms. Patricia said she wanted us to make sure that if anything happened to her that we would take the dogs,” Kelley said. “We are going to have some papers drawn up to make that happen.”

Kelley said the dogs, originally referred to as the EB2, are now wearing their new names, Leigh and Layla, well.

“This is a rescue miracle,” Kelley said. “ These dogs are amazing in their transformation. We wanted to help and did with some vetting of the dogs, but the people of East Brewton and Ms. Patricia made this happen.”