Hello everyone! My name is Laurie and Archie's my grandpuppy(his mom, Jen Welch, is my daughter). At the request of several people we have decided to start a gofund for Archie and his long road of recovery. Here's his story...

Archie is a beautiful miniature dachshund who is about 17 months old and like most pups his age he's silly, loving and super playful with his human siblings. He is the perfect addition to their beautiful crazy family.

The Welch family live in a small rural community in central Illinois and their house is surrounded on 2 sides by corn fileds(this is important). This past Saturday(8-23-25) started out as any busy Saturday when u have 4 kids(9yo girl, 6yo boy and 4yo twin boys).

Sometime around 3pm Archie was let out into their fenced in back yard to run around and take care of his doggie business...his usual routine since he came to live with them in 2024. The kids come in and out of the backdoor to play in the yard and Archie is usually following along happily. This time they noticed he had not. Upon checking the back yard they discovered that their special needs child had opened one of the gates(she has NEVER done this or even gone to the gates)...but nevertheless it was wide open..and panic set in. Several family members were at the house at the time (helping with a home project) and immediately all set out to find our Archie. Archie is little(maybe 12 pounds)..and we were hoping he hadn't gone far...but within minutes we realized he may have headed into the cornfields. In the span of 30 minutes we had any army of people looking for Archie..neighborhood kids on bikes or out playing, adults out on walks or doing yard work...all stopped what they were doing to help search. We walked corn fields the best that we could...if have ever been in one u know how daunting those fields are. Out here the corn is taller than u are and there is over 200 acres of fields behind their house. Finding him in there was gonna be near impossible. We also focused on getting the word out. We posted on social media..to sites all over the area..Vermilion county and Champaign county and every little small town news site. We went house to house..sharing his Pic. Saturday went by and no one had seen him anywhere. We were sick with worry...fear and heartbreak. Sunday we begin again...going house to house..updating social media..taking our mules around town yelling for Archie..driving the perimeter of the corn fields the best we could. Again friends and family marched back out into the fields..expanding our search area...there were thoughts that some had heard a dog barking..but with town nearby and the wind and corn stalks rustling around it was impossible to pinpoint. As it grew dark we again had to suspend our search. Jen had on Saturday reached out to a drone rescue non-profit to see if he thought they could help. He said if Archie wasn't back he would come out Sunday evening. So, that's what happened..Sunday night around 1 am the drone went up looking with thermal imaging for our sweet Archie. We were hopeful. He was able to tell us that he wasn't hiding or running in town..but unfortunately he could not get clear imaging of the corn or bean fields because of the ground still being too warm. We were crushed..we had hoped the drone could be the eyes we needed to see through the fields. After a good cry we made plans for Monday(today) to make and post fliers..to make reports at the county animal shelters and to call all area vets to see if anyone had brought a miniature daschund in to have his chip scanned. We were desperate and heartbroken.

Monday(today) rolls around and Jen is up early with the 4 kids walking them to the end of their drive to wait for the school bus. The boys are racing up and down the driveway as Jen turns around to watch them(she turns toward the field and into the shining sun)...she sees a silhouette....then it moves and she realizes it's Archie. She screams and runs to him..kids following..and drops down to him..realizing he is injured and not the same dog that had disappeared, she scoops him up gently and takes him in the house. The decision to get care for him was immediate. Its barely 7am and the only option was the U of I vet clinic.

So, off they go with a very injured, quiet and dehydrated Archie.

Upon arrival to the vet they took him back immediately and started an iv and began giving him fluids..with a quick assessment they told Jen & Shan that he was in pretty bad shape and it could go either way. What had been happy tears at seeing him back home have switched back to sadness and sobbing.

After meeting with the vet and finding out the details of Archie's injuries...possible tear in his esophagus or trachea, poss. skull fracture and brain bleed, poss loss of one of his eyes and a wound on his neck from where he had been attacked by an animal. The vet said at minimum he would need a CT scan to see the possible internal injuries...that scan alone is $2100. The drs. estimate his care would be at least $8,000-10,000...the other option would to euthanize him, words no pet owner or lover ever want to hear. Jen called me hysterical..not sure what to do. None of us are rich people..we are all just middle class paycheck to paycheck people.. the amount of money for his care seemed crazy....but its our Archie. He had survived..fought tirelessly and returned back to us still wanting to live and have his life with his family. God gave him back to us and in that moment we all decided we would stand with our little warrior dog and fight for him no matter the cost. Archie deserved that...and we want him with us. So that brings us to now...Archie has had his scan...as the day has progressed his vitals have improved..his CT scan shows that there is probably a tear in his esophagus that may or may not need repaired(depends on how big it is). He has to have a scope in the morning to evaluate that. They do not believe he has any brain damage or brain bleed and he woke up from his pain meds enough to nip at the staff when they messed with him..which is a good sign. He will have his wounds debrided tomorrow as well and then will need wound care daily for several weeks. He is on an antibiotic and will continue that as well. The dr said his prognosis is good. Still not sure about his eye or the extent of the damage..he will need to see a specialist and be evaluated. Jen was able to give him some kisses and loving tonight b4 they left..and he was very sweet. Thats where we are now. We are focusing on Archie's care and being his advocate..and waiting for him to come home and enjoy his puppy kisses and snuggles once again

If you are moved to help donate for Archie's care, it would be greatly appreciated. Jen had posted her cashapp & Venmo but we have discovered someone made a scam account so we decided to make this gofund. We would like to thank everyone who looked for Archie, shared his post, said prayer or sent good thoughts. ❤️. We will update when we learn more.