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Rescued From River Flood Waters: Logjam’s New Home For Christmas

Rescued from the flood waters of the Escambia River, a little dog dubbed Logjam has a new home, and a new name, for Christmas.

Our Christmas tale of Logjam begins with Carl Godwin, Jr. About a month ago, Carl, Jr. heard his parents, Carl and Sylvia Godwin of Century, talking about the little dog down by the river at Fischer Landing, just up the Escambia River from the Highway 4 Bridge.

“He has such a big heart where animals are concerned,” Sylvia said of her son, explaining that his passion for animals led him to build a small tepee type house for the little dog to have some shelter from the winter’s cold and rain.

“We tried our best to get her so we could make sure she was taken care of, but could never get her to come to us,” Sylvia said. The little dog spent her days down by the river, returning to the handmade tepee house for food that the Godwins and others would leave.

All seemed well for the little dog in our story — until December’s flash floods. Her house was high and dry from the flood waters, up on the roadway that was once the approach to the old Highway 4 bridge. But the story of our little canine took a drastic turn thanks to nature’s fury.

The night of December 14, it rained. And rained, and rained. The river was rising quickly.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conversation Commission Officers Steve Hoomes and Gary Ridaught were patrolling near the Escambia River at Fisher Landing in Century. The officers heard barking from the river and investigated. They located the source of the barking under the Highway 4 Bridge where a large number of logs had created a log jam. A small dog had somehow become stranded on the logs piled against the bridge pilings.

With the recent rains, the river was extremely swollen and the current was swift. There was no way the dog could swim the distance to shore. The officers sought the assistance of a citizen who arrived at the boat ramp with a small boat. They maneuvered the boat to the log jam and “rescued the very wet, but grateful dog”. The dog was taken to the Escambia County Animal Shelter, where shelter employees named her “Logjam”.

But Logjam was not destined to spend her Christmas in the doggie pound, thanks to the Christmas wish of Heather Hodges of west Pensacola. Heather’s Christmas wish was — you guessed it — a dog.

Gina Hodges said her husband Bob and son Bobby went to the Escambia County Humane Society on Saturday, December 19, looking for that perfect Christmas pooch.

“They immediately fell for Logjam,” Gina said. “The workers told them her story and they were hooked!  We picked her up the next day after she had been spayed and she fit so well with our other dog and family.”

“Of course I didn’t like the name ‘Logjam’ – too much of a name for such a tiny creature, so we changed it to Lulu,” Gina said.

The Hodges family knew the story of Logjam — now called Lulu — and they discovered she was a little famous after a December 21 story on NorthEscambia.com. That’s where our tale, already full of coincidences, become a little more, well, coincidental.

“When I shared the story from the website with my husband, he knew both (Fish and Wildlife) officers involved from when he was a Reserve Game Officer many years ago!” Gina said. “Such a small world.”

“My heart breaks to think of the trials she’s endured in her short life (they say she’s about one), but I’m so glad we found each other,” Gina said.

Like all good Christmas stories, this one has a happy ending on this Christmas, as Lulu enjoyed her first Christmas morning with her new family — high and dry, a long way from the unpredictable waters — and the log jams — of the Escambia River.

Pictured top: Lulu — the dog briefly known as Logjam after being rescued from the flooded Escambia River — at her new home with Snickers. Pictured top inset: The tepee like house that Carl Godwin, Jr. built for the Lulu when she lived near Fischer Landing in Century. Pictured middle inset: A log jam against the Highway 4 bridge over the Escambia River. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.