Ella, a Rottweiler

Lost dog's hoarding helps rescuer reunite her with owners
7:52 PM, July 31, 2009
Lindsay Barnett

A lot of humans could learn a thing or two about loyalty from a Rottweiler named Ella. Ella's human family, the Kelleys, were in a horrific car accident in Hickman County, Tenn., on July 1. Ella escaped the wreck in good shape physically, but the Kelleys weren't so lucky -- paramedics rushed all five family members (parents Joe and Michelle and their three children) to a nearby hospital.

Ella was left behind. She remained near the site of the accident for about two weeks, when she was found by a kind rescuer, Kathy Wilkes-Myers. "That's the last spot she saw her family and she was going to stay there," Wilkes-Myers told Nashville's News Channel 5. "She was starved and covered with ticks."

Wilkes-Myers knew something terrible must have happened to Ella for her to be found without her family. She searched the nearby area and returned home with Ella and a plastic bag full of items the dog had hoarded in a little nest -- the family's toothbrushes, a hairbrush and other personal items. Among the personal effects Wilkes-Myers found was contact information for the Kelleys' insurance agent.
Wilkes-Myers got in touch with the agent, April Bowers, who immediately knew the lost Rottweiler was the Kelleys' missing Ella. The dog and her family were reunited at last, and -- we confess -- the happy reunion was enough to bring a tear to even our hardened eye. Bonus good news: The Kelleys are all expected to fully recover from their injuries.
Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2009/07/lost-dogs-hoarding-helps-rescuer-reunite-her-with-owners.html
Another version of the story here: http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?s=10784761&clienttype=printable
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ke8BOOJjmw
Video from late September: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXvy2S1X1S4&feature=player_embedded

Daizy, a Blue Lacy

Clear Lake family finds missing dog 10 months after Hurricane Ike

01:23 PM CDT on Monday, July 27, 2009

By Kevin Reece / 11 News

HOUSTON—Daizy, a 4-year-old Blue Lacy, is a survivor. For 10 months after Hurricane Ike, she was missing. Now, she's home again with the Bauer family in Clear Lake.



The hurricane blew down Joe and Kathy Bauer’s back fence, so they took Daizy and her Blue Lacy companion, Hank, to the Pet Palace in Webster for boarding until they could get the fence repaired.

“We ended up getting a call at 10 a.m. saying the dogs were gone. Both of ‘em,” said Joe Bauer.
They found Hank that same day wandering in a wooded area behind the boarding kennel, but Daizy was gone.

“The kids would ask when it was freezing cold, when we had the snow, when we had thunderstorms, they would say, 'Where is Daizy? What do you think she’s doing? Is she OK?'” said Bauer.

The family, with the help of their friends and an extended network of Blue Lacy advocates they found online, printed fliers, offered a reward and plastered neighborhoods with yard signs bearing Daizy’s picture.

“I couldn’t bear the thought of her thinking we abandoned her,” said Kathy Bauer. “I just couldn’t live with that.”

They traveled throughout the Clear Lake, Webster and Pasadena areas responding to reports of possible sightings. But for 10 months, Daizy stayed missing.

Last week, the family received the news they had been waiting for. Two of the Bauers' friends said they were positive they’d seen Daizy wandering in a wooded area along a power line easement in Webster, less than a mile away from the kennel where she was last seen, back in September.

With Hank leading the way, Joe went searching for Daizy and found her, just as their friends had promised. But after months on her own, apparently fending for herself, she was too skittish and nervously ran away.

Last Thursday night, Kathy made the trip with them. Neighbors reported seeing the dog emerge late at night from the wooded area through a break in a fence at the end of a cul-de-sac. Neighbors had become accustomed to leaving food out for her. She would make her rounds then disappear back into the woods at daybreak.

This time, Kathy called to Daizy and gave their familiar family whistle. The dog bolted right toward her.

“She sat and lifted her paw for a handshake like she always would. Then she started whimpering,” said Kathy, who admitted she was whimpering a bit, too.

“I was in the middle of the street at 11:45 at night crying and thanking the Lord. It was a wonderful, wonderful reunion.”

The Blue Lacy is the official state dog breed of Texas. The breed was developed in the Texas Hill Country and is reportedly a mix of Greyhound, scent hound and coyote. It's a breed that dog experts predict would be able to fend well for itself if lost or abandoned. And now, although still at times a bit shy and nervous around strangers after her 10 month solo ordeal, Daizy is back at home with the rest of the Bauer pack.

“When you have a bond with an animal like that and you know how strong-willed she is, you just don’t give up,” said Kathy.

And apparently neither does a little dog named Daizy.

Source: http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090726_nlc_clear-lake-dog-reunion.7c6d6a26.html

Another version of the story here

Shadow, a Belgian Sheepdog

This is one very cool story. I was poking around the Minneapolis Craigslist community (even though I live in Virginia) and I saw a posting that someone had found the lost dog she'd been looking for. The story is one of those rare stories where a third party that knows neither the person who lost the dog nor the person who found the dog, but happened to have seen postings for both the lost dog and the found dog, which were posted in completely different sections of Craigslist. My comments are in italics, most of the rest I pulled off of Craigslist follow-up postings. Enjoy the story.

Lisa's picture of Shadow that she would include in her weekly Craigslist postings, and then Shadow, shaved, after she was found.

Lisa, to whom Shadow belongs, tells the first part of the story. Then Sam, who found Shadow, tells her story. Then Lynn, who connected the two Craigslist postings and contacted Lisa, tells her story last.

On November 5, 2007 Shadow was scheduled to be picked up from my ex-husband's home and returned to me. When the dog transporter arrived at his house the front door was open and no one was home including Shadow. I was then notified that Shadow either ran away, was stolen or foul play was involved. Me and my girlfriend immediately printed thousands of posters and went door to door looking for Shadow. I never gave up looking for her, and always posted her on craigslist regularly. I have been posting Shadow on CL weekly since she disappeared. Below is how Shadow was finally returned to me thanks to Sam, Lynn and numerous emails....


I want to thank Lynn and Sam for bringing Shadow home to me again!!! I also want to thank my girlfriend Hollie, my family and friends for always helping look for her, and handing out missing Shadow posters. Please remember to always have an updated photo of your pets, and have them micro-chipped. The photos of Shadow I have saved her life!!! Never give up looking for your pets...they are out there somewhere. Miracles do happen....I am sooo happy now!!! Thanks again everyone!!!

Sam's story of finding Shadow is.... My sister, Sarah, and I were riding 4-wheeler down the road by my dad's house who lives in Henriette/Grasston area. We saw her laying on the side of the dirt road in front of an abandonded house. We didn't know if we should stop or not because we didn't know how she would react. So we kept going. When we were coming back she was still laying there. I was afraid she was hurt so we brought the 4-wheeler back to my dad's house and parked it. We walked back to the spot where we saw her and we found her walking around someone's dirtbike jumps. I knelt down and she saw me. I called her to me and she came running over. She would not leave me side the rest of the night. We walked up and down the road for a while and she wouldn't go more than 10 ft from me. My sister ran home and grabbed a leash and we went door to door for over an hour asking if anyone had seen her before. No one had except for that day.

We then tried to find a shelter for her, because my dad told us we couldn't keep her, considering we have 3 dogs already at his place :) I drove around for over an hour trying to find a shelter in the Grasston area and north. I called the lady we contract with through work for animals but she doesn't take animals from Pine County where we are, just Isanti and Anoka. So we went back to my dad's house and left her outside to see what would happen. I woke up the next morning and she was laying on the kitchen floor of the houes :) My dad had let her in to eat. I brought her home Easter Sunday and dropped her off at my sister's house because my mom and step-dad wouldn't let me bring her home to Andover. I posted the ad on Craigslist on Monday right before I went to work and that was the end.

Lynn's story is.... I had drivin home from Minneapolis yesterday (6-1/2 hours) and when I got home I didn't feel like doing anything .. so just turned on the computer and was flipping through the CL ads. (Sometimes I have something somebody can use...and I go to the Cities quite often so occasionally will take an item down there for somebody.) It sparked my curiousity when I saw a "found" ad in the "wanted" section. Had the circumstances been different...or if the ad would have been placed a day later or a day earlier...I probably wouldn't have seen it.

I'd like to commend Sam,(the person that actually found Shadow) for taking the time and using good sense to post a picture of the dog she found. Had it not been for that picture, Shadow would still be missing! I had seen Lisa's ad many many times over the months while she was looking for Shadow, and when I saw the picture of the "found" dog, I knew I had to locate Lisa's ad and call her immediately. Yes, Sam's picture of the dog she had found showed more hair, but those ears were so distinctive! I was able to reach Lisa immediately and help her locate Sam's ad. (Thank goodness it hadn't gotten flagged for being miscategorized!) I wish more people would take the time and effort to post pictures of lost and found pets. I really believe more would be located! This is a wonderful story with a very happy ending! Shadow is home with Lisa...right where she belongs. A series of coincidences in her being found???? I don't think so! Some things are just meant to be.

Source: Craigslist, Minneapolis (there only temporarily)

Corky, the Maltese stolen by drug addicts

Viewer Viewpoint - Stolen Dog Recovered in Brooklyn, NY
From Janet Tobiassen Crosby, DVM,©2007
Submitted by Mary Ann Dineen

I'm writing to share my family's story with you. It's about a family who tracked down a 6 pound Maltese in a city of 8 million people. Our dog, Corky, was taken from in front of our home last Tuesday morning. We live in a brownstone on 9th street between 6th and 7th Avenue, and had never had a problem leaving him out for less than a minute to go grab something from inside.

After discovering that Corky was taken, we then combed the immediate area thinking maybe he got lost or something of the sort. We went down to nearby 5th avenue later that day and discovered that a man, a woman and their daughter came in holding a dog without a leash. The owner suspected something wasn't right from their disorientated state; they were carrying our 3 year old Corky in their arms, without a leash, saying they needed one because they just bought him.

Shortly after they left, my husband, a friend, and I went into that very same store with a description of our animal, and the owner told us his story. He said he had seen the "family" around, and they were wanderers, most likely on drugs.

How true that was.

We then began to comb the area, making black and white flyers and putting them everywhere we could possibly post them. It was an outrageous scene, four people worked day and night looking for Corky, meanwhile my four children were in such hysterics because they love Corky. Although this may seem like this is just a dog, Corky means a lot to us, this year has been incredibly rough, with the death of my mother on Good Friday, and a few weeks later, having to put my loyal, 16 year old dog, Heidi, to sleep. It was similar to the straw that broke the camel’s back. That very same day, people and a dog fitting the same description were caught trying to steal supplies in a different Petland in Sunset Park.

The next day, Wednesday, after spending hours upon hours looking for Corky, looking for those people, or any sign, we received another phone call from a young man who was approached by a male, with a small male Maltese in his arms, to purchase. The man declined to purchase the dog, his reasons being it sounded fishy, not to mention the man selling the dog said “How much would you pay? $150? What kind of dog is this?”. We used this information to concentrate our search in the 5th Avenue/Sunset Park area.

We decided to make color copies with more pictures of Corky, and picture with the kids, to maybe pull at the thieves’ heartstrings. We actually received the copies, free of charge, from an angel Susan, whose place of employment we’d like to leave out for the sake of her job. The color copies did the trick, because more people had either recognized the dog, seen the dog with the family, or in our case, one man actually knew of these people.

We received tips from one gentleman who was in the same "circle" as those people. We discovered that the adults frequented the methadone clinics in the area, and were accustomed to stealing animals to sell them for money. This just about broke our hearts, to think that drug addicts were holding our dog, or worse, selling him for a cheap high.

Neighborhood after neighborhood, bus drivers, sanitation workers, postal workers, fire fighters, school children, drug addicts, pretty much everyone was looking for Corky.

We also posted ads on craigslist.org, emailed local free papers to post ads, posted Corky’s information on Petfinders.com, Pets Missing In Action and etc. We received such a great response, from people sending us prayers, words of encouragement, ideas to recover our animal and even offers to come to Brooklyn to help find him. Every dog walker in the area was contacted to keep an eye out for Corky.

Now, that one gentleman who knew of the people stayed in close contact with my husband and I from Wednesday until Saturday, when we eventually recovered Corky. He gave us descriptions, exact methadone clinics they used, names of the people, and so on.

On Friday afternoon, while I was preparing myself for the speech I was going to give my kids, that sometimes things like this happen, and Corky won’t be coming home, our "informant" called us and asked to meet with me. I ran down to meet him and he went with my husband to the place where these thieves lived, in the Marcy Projects of all places!

That evening we tried everything possible, we did a stakeout, hoping they’d walk Corky or someone would have recognized him. My husband stood there, in the midst of drug deals, police alarms and the like, trying to get people to throw him a bone, no pun intended. With no progress, my husband had to leave for a work related obligation. He then wound up speaking with a tenant who actually knew someone in the same building we were staking out. They went over together, but weren’t successful and had to leave because it was getting late, and of course much more dangerous since the people in the area assumed my husband was a cop.

The next morning at 5am, my husband went out to talk to people at the building, while I watered the plants, Sean was there with one of our tenants, trying to exchange money for information. One child even said "I recognize that dog, I kicked him yesterday", which was so miserable. At around 5:30am, our tenant went into the building, with his ear to doors, trying to see if he could hear a dog, his method, although not exactly scientific, proved to be successful. He came back down and told my husband he found the apartment, and my husband sent him up with money, although money could never replace Corky, the type of person who steals a beloved animal is an animal themselves, who responds to monetary exchanges.

With $500 in hand, our tenant went up, and came back down about 15 minutes later, with a scared, dirty, white Maltese, OUR CORKY!! What makes this is even worse, is that Corky had tags on the entire time, so if these people were decent human beings, they would have returned Corky. I suppose they did not feel any remorse for taking him from in front of our home, or they would have called us or brought him back. Not to mention they had definitely seen the flyer, with over 1,000 being disbursed.

Source: http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/petadoption/a/VVP_founddog.htm
http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/petadoption/a/VVP_founddog_2.htm

Domino, rat terrier

AMAZING VIDEO: Total strangers come together over lost dog
An online photo prompts a Laguna Beach woman to help someone she never met.
By Chris Caesar, The Orange County Register
Thursday, April 30, 2009

Kim and Jason Southwick don't have kids, but they have created a family that's tighter than most – Jason with his black pug, Mr. Big, and Kim with her prized rat terrier, Domino.

Kim was there when Domino was born in a backyard shed. And, in turn, the dog has spent a lifetime being there for her. When Jason wrestled with a near-death bout of pancreatitis, Domino sat with Kim as she cried and prayed for his recovery. Later, when Kim recovered from a hysterectomy, Domino was there, keeping her spirits up.

So, last month, when Domino went missing while the couple was on vacation from their Phoenix home, staying at a place near San Diego's Chollas Lake Park, Kim says the pain she felt was a struggle to comprehend.

"I had always really wanted kids, but could never have them," Kim says. "Everyone was trying to get it off my mind. But they didn't understand that (losing Domino) was like someone had ripped a child out of my womb. I was beyond devastated."

During the half-week left in their trip, Kim and her family spent every waking hour calling for Domino in the park, posting flyers and asking strangers if they'd seen a rat terrier with a curled tail and loving, beige eyes.

No luck. When the Southwicks drove back to Phoenix that Sunday night, they were a family member short.

"I had plans to fly to Atlanta for my mother's birthday," Kim says. "If I didn't already have the plane ticket, I would've stayed there and searched every single day."

Still, it's the Internet age, so Southwick's hunt for Domino didn't have to end. She went online for hours, sent faxes to potential leads, and followed up every relevant "lost dog" posting she could find in an effort to find Domino.

The distance between Kim and San Diego was an admitted setback, but she says she's no stranger to longshots. She didn't lose hope when doctors dismissed Jason's pancreatitis as untreatable, and she wasn't giving up on Domino, either.

"Every day I was looking at Websites," Kim says, "It was like I had OCD."

What Kim didn't know was that she wasn't alone.

•••

At about the time Domino went missing in San Diego, Vicki High was working at her job – painting murals – at a home near her own house in Laguna Beach.

As she painted, a tiny, cream-colored rat terrier wandered into the client's lawn. After some food and a little play, High snapped some photos of the dog and posted them on the Internet. Almost immediately, those images were seen, online, by Kim.

The description wasn't a strong match – "a shot in the dark," Kim admits. But Kim was desperate, and decided to contact Vicki.

It wasn't the right dog, but Kim and Vicki connected.

"(Kim)… kept asking if I was positive that the dog didn't have some black and white spots," Vicki remembers. "It didn't. But she was crying and crying, and I thought, 'Well, maybe I should help.'"

"I guess I just talked to her at the right moment," Kim adds. "And, after two to three weeks of talking to people who could just care less, I heard her express some real genuine care."

A few days later, Vicki called Kim, saying she'd have some free time that weekend, and would drive down to San Diego and post flyers if Kim could send some photographs. Kim, feeling something special about Vicki, agreed.

"A couple of my friends were like, 'You've got to be kidding me. You're posting flyers for someone you met online? Do you really think it's going to work?' And so on," Vicki says.

"Sometimes, you just have to have the time to do what it takes to help someone who needs help. This was a situation where I thought, if I had been missing my pet, if I was her, completely helpless, what would I want someone to do for me?"

Still, even though Vicki was game, she was also prepped for failure. Why would her posters get better results than the posters Kim and Jason had already put up?

After she taped her second poster to a San Diego wall, Vicki was surprised to find a lead.

"This really nice young woman pulled over and said that her mom had spotted this dog in the wooded area behind their house, but that (the dog) couldn't come to her when she called," Vicki says. "She brought me to her home, and said 'There, that's her.'"

Vicki remembers having one thought: "You've got to be kidding me."

Vicki spoke to other neighbors, who all confirmed the dog had meandered around the neighborhood for weeks.

Feeling assured that she wouldn't offer Kim false hope, Vicki called with the unbelievable news.

•••

Southwick was so caught up in what she describes as a "whirlwind of faith" that she ran out of her Phoenix home without locking the door – or securing a return flight. Instead, she sped down the highway to catch the first plane to San Diego.

"I just prayed and prayed on that plane, and said "Jesus, I know I am pushing it, but please let me have (Domino) back tonight'," Vicki says.

The two women – now practically old friends – met in a terminal at San Diego International Airport. Then they drove to the neighborhood where Domino was last seen.

Kim called out for Domino. And, within moments of hearing the familiar voice, Domino – a "white burst," according to Kim – emerged from the woods. She instantly resumed her role as Kim's pet, rolling on her back and wagging her tail frantically.

Vicki videotaped the incident and posted the video on YouTube.

"That laughter you hear?" Kim says of the video's 1:46 mark. "I did that for about 30 minutes."

Now, Vicki and Kim are looking into ways of providing other online services to other pet owners. One of their ideas is an improved "lost pet" Web site, as well as a site that would offer online support for people who are rescuing pets from public shelters.

For now, Kim spends her afternoons with Domino. The tiny dog survived the ordeal with only a thorn in her side and a small sore on one of her paws.

"She was extremely tired; probably slept with one eye open for three weeks," Kim says.

"I know she was waiting for me."

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnHUAeL3yWM

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/kim-domino-vicki-2384586-says-dog#

Sweetie, a small poodle

I have a new hero - Ann O'Malley, formerly of Cedar Rapids IA, now in Bella Vista AR. Since she volunteered for a local animal shelter during Katrina and saw the distress that animals in shelters go through, she's made a hobby of searching the web for pictures of lost and found dogs to try to make a match. Sounds like it's taken three years, but she's gotten her first match. Go Ann!!!!

Home"Sweetie" home
Bella Vistan helps reunite lost dog with Arkansas family
Douglas Grant
Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Aaron Morris/The Camden News Ronda Parks has her beloved dog Sweetie home with her again thanks in part to Ann O'Malley of Bella Vista. Pictured with Parks are husband Greg and son Thomas.

A south Arkansas woman was reunited with her lost dog thanks to a woman in Arlington, Texas, and a Bella Vista resident.

Ronda Parks, of Camden, was in the Dallas area of Texas on March 14 with her husband and son. The family was on a pleasure trip following her release from a hospital, where she was treated for cystic fibrosis.
On the way back home, the family stopped around 6 p.m. at a Texas Roadhouse in Grand Prairie. When they came out of the restaurant, they discovered somebody had broken into their vehicle.

Parks said the back window of their pickup truck was broken out and their personal belongings were gone, including the intravenous medication she needed and their beloved poodle, Sweetie. Parks said she doubted the 8-year-old dog jumped from the truck and ran, as she was recovering from a broken leg and was not yet walking quite right. The family searched for Sweetie without success for nearly five hours.

"We went all over the place calling her name," Parks said.

Eventually, they decided to go home so Parks could have access to medicine. They arrived in Camden about 4 a.m. March 15. When Parks awoke later that morning, she began surfing the Internet for any sign of her dog.

"I started searching the shelters (in the Dallas area) and placed an ad on PetFinder.com." She also paid to run an ad for two weeks in The Dallas Morning News. The ad resulted in a couple of crank calls, but nothing concrete about Sweetie's whereabouts, Parks said. She never lost hope. "Every day I would spend two or three hours on the computer."

Angels appear

Sweetie was found a week after she disappeared by Jan Warlock of Arlington, Texas. Warlock said the dog was darting in and out of traffic at a busy intersection and was nearly hit several times. Arlington is about six miles from Grand Prairie.

Warlock's son was able to capture Sweetie, and the two began searching for the owner. Parks found out later the dog's identity tag was missing, but Sweetie was still wearing her collar. Warlock placed ads in local papers in the Dallas area, hung fliers and even checked with local veterinarians, but nobody knew the dog. She then put Sweetie's picture and some information about her on www.FidoFinder.com.

About the same time, Parks, back home in Arkansas, was doing a similar thing on www.PetFinder.com.
However, for some unexplained reason, she was unable to post a photo of her dog on the site. Finally, on March 31, more than two weeks after losing her dog, Parks was successful in posting a picture on the Internet.

That night, Parks had a message from Bella Vistan Ann O'Malley on her home answering machine.

"I think I have a match," were the words O'Malley had spoken. When Parks called her back O'Malley told her to go on the Internet to www.FidoFinder.com and look at Warlock's found-dog announcement. Once Parks did, it was obvious the dog was Sweetie.

"(O'Malley) was screaming, 'It's a match, it's a match,' like it was her dog," Parks said. "I'll never forget that moment. It took my breath away." After talking to O'Malley, Parks immediately called Warlock.

"She said Sweetie was OK," Parks said.

Not knowing anything about the dog, Warlock had taken her to a local veterinarian, where she checked out fine. Warlock even had the doctor administer a standard battery of vaccinations, just in case.

The O'Malley factor

O'Malley was living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when Hurricane Katrina hit the southern United States in 2005.
Working as a volunteer in an animal shelter, she saw dozens of dogs make the trip from Louisiana to her home state.

"I saw how distressed they were," she said of the displaced animals. Wanting to make a difference, she began visiting PetFinder.com in hopes of matching up a missing dog with its rightful owner. Before long, she was using other Web sites as well, including FidoFinder.com and Craig's List.

On March 31, she was at her home computer checking out the listings on PetFinder.com. She entered "Arkansas," as she usually does, to see what dogs had been listed since she was last online. She came across an entry about a poodle belonging to somebody in Arkansas that had been stolen in Texas. For the heck of it, she searched the site under "Texas," but nothing came up.

She wanted to research more, so she changed over to FidoFinder.com. While there was no listing for Arkansas, she did get a "hit" on Texas. When she compared the two dogs - both sites included pictures - she was confident it was the same animal. O'Malley immediately contacted Warlock in Texas. After helping Warlock link to PetFinder.com, the women came to a consensus - the Texas woman had the Arkansas woman's dog.

"This is the first (successful reunion) I have ever had," O'Malley said. "I was just so high afterward." O'Malley knew what Parks was going through. Several years ago, her two dogs ran away but were later recovered safe and sound.

She offers two bits of advice for pet owners who might someday find themselves in a similar situation.
"Get your dog (micro)chipped and get photos of them."

Home sweet home

On April 1, the Parks family returned to Texas, this time headed for Arlington. Ronda Parks' parents had put up a reward for the dog, but Warlock declined, Parks said. "When we left, we put the money on her coffee table."

What happened to Sweetie during the one week she was missing will probably never be known. Whatever it was, it doesn't seem to have had any lasting affect on her, Parks said. If anything, it has brought the two closer together.

"She won't let me out of her sight," Parks said of Sweetie.

As for the two women who made the reunion possible, Parks has but one word - angels.

"It's weird how this all came together," she said. "God sent those angels and answered my prayers." Parks said she prayed daily for the safe return of her dog.

"I prayed that they (whoever broke into the Parkses' vehicle) would let her go and that God would lead her to an angel who could help her get home."

During the ordeal, Parks had a dream about Sweetie.

"I saw her. She was in a white house, and the other houses were built really close together. God was telling me she was OK, that I just had to be patient."

When the Parks family arrived at Warlock's home, Ronda Parks said she could not believe her eyes.

"(Warlock) lived in a white brick house, and the neighbors' houses were close to her."

When the family arrived to pick up the dog, they found another interesting twist to the story. Warlock thought the little dog was so nice, she dubbed her "Sweet."

"She said Sweetie was so well mannered and so sweet, that is the only name she could come up with that would fit her," Parks said. "When she called her Sweetie, (the dog's) ears perked up."

Parks and her dog are planning a visit to Bella Vista in the coming days so they can meet O'Malley and thank her personally. O'Malley is looking forward to that day.

"There are so many things that could have happened differently," she said.

Sources:

Northwest Arkansas News story at http://www.nwanews.com/bvwv/News/8489

Arkansas Matters story at http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/?cid=209392
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Alternate version of the story below

Strangers Help Reunite Lost Dog
Mallory Hardin, KARK 4 News
Tuesday, Apr 7, 2009
What are the chances you'll ever see your pet again, if it's lost or stolen? On-line websites help find dogs, but there are thousands to search through. But one person was looking in the right place at the right time, to bring a Camden dog back to its owner.

A Camden family was in Texas when their car was broken into and their dog sweetie was stolen. They searched the streets of Texas for hours calling her name, but eventually they had to come back home to Arkansas. But that's not where the story ends, it's actually only the beginning. For the past eight years, Ronda Parks and her poodle Sweetie have been inseparable. Parks has cystic fibrosis, and sweetie helps her make it through.

"She's my moral support. When I’m sick, she sits up with me and stays up with me all the time," Ronda Parks whose dog was stolen said. Though a trip to Texas would change that. Parks' car was broken into. Her purse and wallet were missing. But that wasn't all.

"I said, 'Where's Sweetie?' They said "'he's gone too'. It was a gut wrenching feeling, made you want to throw up," Parks said. Parks thought she would never see her dog again.

"The whole way home, all three of us cried." They posted a lost picture of her on the website, www.petfinder.com. But seventeen days later, no luck.

"It was a terrible 17 days that we didn't have her," Parks said. Meanwhile, a family in Arlington, Texas found Sweetie darting through traffic. They posted a found picture of her on the website, www.fidofinder.com. But how would the lost and found pictures ever be matched? That's where a woman in Bella Vista comes in.

"My hobby is trying to find lost dog ads. I've been doing it since Hurricane Katrina, but never had a match," Anne O’Malley of Bella Vista said. Until now. She immediately called Parks to tell her the good news.

"She says I think I have a match. I think I know who has your dog," Parks said. Parks rushed to Texas for Sweetie. "It was a very joyful reunion. A very joyful reunion," Parks said. She's so thankful for the matchmaker that brought them together.

"We're going to meet. She says she wants to hug me," O’Malley said. And Parks says she'll never forget the journey that brought Sweetie home, and the ride back to Arkansas when they were finally together.

"She didn't want me out of her sight. I put her in the front with my dad, and she turned her head the whole time. She wasn't happy until she was in my arms," Parks said.

Bichon Travels from Maryland to New Jersey

Right now, a group of folks are trying to corral a "stray" beagle in Alexandria. While we are leaving food out, checking a camera we've installed at the feeding station, and taking turns monitoring the trap, one volunteer was in charge of posting the pictures our camera took to Craigslist to see if someone is looking for a lost beagle that might be this dog.


We got a response from someone that lost a beagle with similar markings, four weeks ago, from Woodbridge -- a distance of 22 miles. While we wait (not necessarily patiently) for the woman to come out to see the dog that may be hers, volunteers are comparing their notes about what differences and similarities they see between the pictures of the stray and the picture the woman provided of her lost dog. And there is speculation about the probability of the woman's dog traveling 22 miles from Woodbridge to Alexandria.

So, the following story was provided by Sam Connolly of Pure Gold Pet Trackers, and she refers to Laura Totis, who also, like Sam, works with her dog, trained to track missing pets.

From Sam, on 9/4/09:


The dogs that Laura and I refer to as "abducted by aliens" where the track just disappears near a road or parking lot are probably picked up by kindly strangers that just got lucky and got the dog in their car.


The way this dog (referring to the stray we are trying to bring to safety) acts when she jumps on the side of Ronnie's car, means that she recognizes a car "type" and may have done the same when she first got loose and jumped into an open car door. If the people were at work (when they picked her up in Woodbridge) and then brought the dog back home (to Alexandria) to have it scanned by their vet, she could have bolted as soon as that car door opened again. We know she's fast!

I had a client in Rockville (Maryland, a suburb of Washington DC) who had an 8 mo old Bichon that was let out by someone working on their house. The track ran around the block and up to a drug store parking lot, then disappeared.

She put ads in the paper, put up hundreds of posters, did the FindToto calls, etc. Two weeks later she had not had any sightings and thought that she would never see her little dog again. The third week she got the surprise of her life.


She got a call from a man in Central New Jersey who had just had her dog scanned by the neighborhood vet. (Thank goodness she was microchipped!) It took a little investigative questioning to get the rest of the story.

Apparently the dog had run up to his (the NJ man's) sister's car that was parked with her kids in the parking lot in Rockville while she ran into the store for some snacks for their trip to NJ. The kids opened the door and the pup jumped in. No tags or collar so they deemed it a "stray". They decided to take it to Grandma in NJ because she lives alone and would love a puppy!


Fortunately, after a couple weeks, Grandma decided she really didn't want a puppy. She called her son, who lives nearby, and asked him to come get the dog that his sister had dumped on her.


When the son saw the dog, he (unlike his sister) knew right away that it was NOT a stray. The dog was imaculately clean and freshly groomed so he took it to the local vet to see if it had a microchip.


The moral of the story (besides MICROCHIP all of your animals) was that a pet can get very far away in a very short amount of time (over 200 miles in 1 day) with human assistance. Twenty two miles in a week is NOTHING!!

Dog Lost Inside a Neighbor's House

An email by Stephen Benson Farrell,
submitted by Beth Massey to IndyWeek.com

Shelter from the storm

Hi folks! Some of you may remember me saying today how the storm hit really close to my house last night and the thunder blew open our front door. Well, I had a surprise waiting for me when I got home ...

I got out of my car, grabbed the mail and looked through it to see someone's missing dog poster ...

I opened my door, sat down my books and began my daily routine of obsessing over things to do ...

I walked over to my coffee table to set down the mail, and casually glanced around the room; everything was in place, the TV was off, the room was fairly clean (for us anyway), the cats were conspicuously absent, the fish tanks were humming away, and the black and white pitbull/hound mix was sitting terrified in the corner ...

WHAT THE ... ?

I jumped back, nearly killed myself on the coffee table, and probably made the dog want to soil my carpet!

He was the exact match of the dog in the missing animal poster. His family lost him three days ago, and he had been adopted from an animal shelter after an abused past.

When his Dad got there to pick him up, he went from huddled in the corner shaking to wagging like he'd shake the house down.

It was wonderful seeing him reunited with his family. The fellow offered me a reward but I couldn't take it. I still remember the terror of my cat being lost for a month when I was young.

What really strikes me as funny is that this poor dog had sat there huddled in the corner most of last night and all of this morning unnoticed while Barbara and I got dressed, kissed our goodbyes and shuffle-stepped our lazy-butt and sleepy-eyed selves out the door to work and school. We didn't notice a thing!

And by the way, for anyone wondering, the cats are fine, all present and accounted for!

Click for a larger view of the published email

Source: http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A262348

Inky & Bossy, French Bulldogs

I found this story on a French Bulldog Meetup page; apparently the author and the person named Pavla are volunteers with a French Bulldog rescue group in Miami. The man who either found the dog, or if the dog was stolen, recieved the stolen dog, had written to the local french bulldog rescue group's main email number when he had a question. As the author points out in the first paragraph and the last, there were a lot of elements that needed to come together for this one to have a happy ending. Enjoy the story.



MIAMI FRENCHIES HELPS RESCUE 2 STOLEN DOGS
Tatiana
Posted Apr 11, 2008

Miami Beach, FL   It's just too incredible to be true, but 2 STOLEN French Bulldogs that were reported on Miami's Craig's List several weeks ago are back at home, safe and sound, and happily reunited with their family - and it's all thanks to Pavla Gibson and the wonderful marvels of modern-day cell-phones, emails and search engines...

The victims of a home invasion returned to find that they'd been robbed of personal effects and that their 2 Frenchies were gone... I'd found their ad on Craig's List several weeks ago and stayed in touch with the dog owner via email and on the phone, on and off, trying to encourage her not to give up hope of finding her precious pets...

Talking to Pavla the other evening, she confided that she'd received the oddest email from a man saying: "My family and I have a female French Bulldog. She is heated up. Can you help us? Try to reply back when you can." Amused, at first, Pavla jokingly responded by asking: "What do you mean heated up?", to which the man then wrote: "She is currently having her period, we need a male dog so that she can have puppies. thanks" The man then called Miami Frenchie's number and Pavla asked polite questions about the age of the dog and her provenance, and whether she'd been shown in conformation, whereby the man then claimed that he'd been "given" the dog for free and Pavla quickly realized that there was something awfully suspicious and sordid about the entire discussion as she quickly tried to explain that French Bulldogs required costly pre-natal examinations and C-sections, ending the conversation and calling me up to share the laugh...

We were giggling hysterically about the man writing "heated up" when it occurred to both of us that no one gets a Frenchie for free and this man was genuinely clueless about the care and well-being of these very special dogs... And then I reminded Pavla about the two stolen Frenchies on our local message board...

Pavla had managed to save the man's phone number on her mobile phone and she sent me copies of his emails where the (idiotic) man had signed his name... [And it's here that we have to pause for a second and nominate this man for a Darwin Award]. When I googled the telephone number - which coincidentally had exactly the same first three digits of the dog-owner's number - also displaying the address only a few blocks away from her home...

Pavla and I put two and two together and surmised that either the people had found the dog wandering around the neighborhood, or that the thieves had either given or sold the dogs to this man, so I called the lady and passed her all the information that Pavla and I had managed to gather...

And to make a long story short, the lady called the police this afternoon and armed with a copy of the emails this man had sent to Miami Frenchies, along with the phone number that matched the address that we'd Googled, the officer knocked on the door and was greeted by two barking Frenchies... The dog owner was then contacted by the kind officer and told that her pooches were both at the office of a veterinarian and that they were both perfectly fine.

We're all ecstatic as you can imagine... We're especially thrilled that Inky and Bossy are back home with their real family... And to put an end to this public bulletin, we thank the world wide web, Craig's List, Pavla Gibson's mobile phone and email, Google and the Miami-Dade Police Department while reminding all owners of pets to either micro-chip or tattoo your dog, keep current photos on hand, spay or neuter them responsibly, and please follow all the steps listed at FBRN'S MISSING DOG LINK to ensure the retrieval of your lost, missing or stolen dog.

Source: http://frenchbulldog.meetup.com/boards/thread/4515660

Kobe, a small poodle

Lost poodle reunited with family after picture published
By Courtenay Edelhart, Californian staff writer
Posted on August 28, 2009

A lost dog has been reunited with his family with a little help from East High football players photographed with him for Thursday's Californian.

A photographer was on the practice field earlier this week taking pictures for the newspaper's annual high school football preview when a dirty, mangy poodle wandered over.

Staff photographer Henry A. Barrios snapped a photo just as junior varsity quarterback Austin Charles reached down to scratch the little guy's head. The image made the front page.

Team members couldn't bear to just leave the dog on the field, so they queried one another about taking him home. No one was in a position to accept the dog, so they reluctantly took him to the Bakersfield Animal Shelter on Mount Vernon Avenue.

That's where he was about 6:30 a.m. Thursday, when Mike Martinez's phone began ringing off the hook.

Friends who recognized Kobe the poodle (named after that Kobe, from the Lakers) were breathlessly telling him to get a copy of the paper. Wasn't that Kobe on the front page?

Martinez and his family had arranged for his mom to dog sit before going on vacation to Morro Bay a couple of weeks ago.

"He might have thought we abandoned him and was trying to make his way home," said Martinez, 38, who works in sales for the wine industry.

The family, including three children ages 14, 10 and 1 1/2, was devastated to return home and learn Kobe was missing.

"He'd already been gone for a couple of days, so we didn't know if we'd ever find him," said Martinez's son, 14-year-old Michael Jr.

Kobe usually wears a collar, but it had been removed just before the trip because it had a bell on it that was bothering people.

A cloud hung over the household with Kobe gone, Martinez said.

"Michael was waking up early to go look for him, and you know it's bad when a teenager wakes up early on a Saturday over summer break," he said.

They put up fliers all over the neighborhood and visited local shelters.

There were heartbreaking false alarms, calls about found pooches who turned out not to be Kobe.

Then, 15 minutes of fame.

It wasn't Kobe's best shot, to be sure. He was scrawny, filthy and matted from having spent a week outside. But East High isn't far from where Martinez's mother lives. He knew the minute he saw that picture and was at the shelter as soon as it opened Thursday.

"Kobe was so excited to see us," Martinez said. "And the kids were ecstatic."

Plus, Kobe got a free grooming out of it. Platinum Paws heard of his ordeal and donated a bath and haircut.

"He's all fancy and pretty now," Martinez said.

Source: http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x538994305/Lost-poodle-reunited-with-family-after-picture-published

Tequila, a miniature poodle

One of the reasons that lots of lost dogs are never found is because their owners give up the search, thinking they can't have survived being out on their own. It's an understandable stance to me, but it's often wrong. This is one of many stories that offers proof. Enjoy the story.

Small dog survives 30 days in Wyoming wilderness
Ryan Vogler, the Beacon
June 4, 2009

Windsor resident Eika Haas hugs her miniature poodle Tequila. The dog recently spent 30 days alone in the Wyoming wilderness.

The Wyoming wilderness can harbor some harsh conditions, especially against small animals. Common sense and logic would argue that any helpless lapdog wouldn't survive alone for more than a few days. But, obviously, Tequila, didn't get that message

Tequila, a 10-year-old miniature poodle raised primarily as a breeding dog, recently spent more than 30 days in the wilderness, braving cold temperatures and snow and fending off a slew of predators.

It was quite a change for an animal that had been accustomed to spending a lot of time enclosed. "When a dog is held in a small space like (a kennel) for so long, they can become kennel crazy," said Windsor resident Eika Haas, Tequila's owner.

"Tequila actually developed OCD because of it. She would always walk around in a figure eight even if she was out in an open space."

When she became too old to breed anymore, Eika was more than happy to adopt her and take her into her home. Tequila immediately became attached to Eika and rarely left her side.

"She preferred my lap over anything else," Eika said.

Taking into account how loyal and attached the poodle was to Eika, she and her husband, Steven, believed that they could bring Tequila, along with their other two dogs, Blaze and Emma, with them on a recent camping trip to Wyoming.

Eika and Steven Haas' annual camping trip takes them to a remote part of Wyoming near the small town of Dubois.

Having owned Tequila only for a short time, this would be the first time the Haases would bring her along.

Everything went fine, Tequila always at their side, until halfway through the trip when Eika went out on a kayak to go fishing in a nearby lake. Only two minutes had gone by until they realize that Tequila was nowhere to be found.

"We figured that she was worried that she wasn't by my side, so she ran around the lake to try and find a way to reach me," Eika said. "Even at home, she will run all over the house to try and find me if I walk out of the room."

They immediately began searching for Tequila and continued until nightfall, staying up as late as they could, but were not able to find her.

"We started a campfire and stayed up long past the stars, hoping that Tequila could hear us or be drawn in by the warmth of the fire," Eika said. "She had to be cold and scared."

The dog was obviously in no condition to be out on her own. She had never been in a position like this and had no outdoor experience.

"She had no survival experience," Steven said. "She practically screamed, 'Eat me!' "

Eika and Steven had stayed out there for four additional days, spending most of the time looking for Tequila. Unfortunately, she never turned up. Discouraged by the odds against her, they decided to pack up and face the facts that the likelihood of Tequila surviving was minimal.

"Even as we packed up camp, we kept calling her and hoping that she'd come running back as if she had only been gone a few minutes," Eika said.

As they returned back home, they settled back into their regular routine which helped ease the sorrow of her disappearance, although never able to fully recover from their loss.

About 30 days had gone by since the vanishing of Tequila when they received a phone call from an unrecognizable number. It was Midge Dandridge. She explained how she and her partner Dick Woltering had found their dog out in the forest and had brought her back.

"All I could think about was a pile of fur, bones and a ripped up collar," Eika said. "I pretty much just assumed that they found her dead body."

Eika assumed that if anyone was going to call about Tequila, it would be about how someone had found her carcass.

Thinking that the dog was only missing for a day or two, Dandridge spoke like there was no problem and explained how Tequila was just sitting on her lap. Eika was shocked, to say the least.

"Of all the dogs, we thought that Tequila would be the least likely to survive," Steven said. "There was no reason that she should be alive." During this time in the Wyoming Mountains, there were wolves, coyotes and bears everywhere and it had also snowed.

Excited by the good news, Eika left her house an hour later and was able to reach the Dandridge house in Dubois early the next morning. When Eika was reunited back with her dog, she was amazed by the fact that Tequila had very little wrong with her, aside from the malnutrition. Tequila had lost approximately 38 percent of her body weight. She had gone from 16 to 10 pounds over the course of about 30 days.

"We supposed that her diet included grubs, worms, grasshoppers, grass, seeds or even a mouse," Eika said. "Who knows for sure?" Eika had her examined by a veterinarian and had her put on a special diet to help her gain her weight back and build back her muscle mass.

"Although she was emaciated, slightly dehydrated and covered in burrs, Tequila had survived almost a full month on her own in the wilds of mountainous Wyoming with no injuries or illness," Eika said.

Since her return, Tequila has returned to her old self and has actually improved a bit. Being forced to travel, she now has reduced her OCD problems and has become less skittish.

"You'd never think a poodle could survive," Steven said. "There still must be some instinct in her after all. She has grown from the experience." Thankful and amazed by Tequila's story, Eika now calls the poodle her "miracle dog."

The Haases have agreed never to take Tequila camping with them again. The next time they go back to Wyoming for their annual trip, they will leave her with her saviors, Dick Woltering and Midge Dandridge to babysit her.

"If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have her," Eika said. "We are more than happy and willing to let them take care of Tequila for us."

Source: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20090604/WINDSORBEACON01/906040334/1131/WINDSORBEACON01

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Rynnet, JRT/fox terrier mix

In this story, the dog's whereabouts were known but capturing her was what was difficult. An unusual technique was used, and it's not the answer for every case. Definitely a vet's care is required (even though the people here didn't have a vet present). Give it a read and see what you think about it. Enjoy the story.







Lost and found
By ANGIE ALVARADO
The Palestine Herald

PALESTINE— Where one man’s search for his family’s missing dog began months ago, it ended Wednesday afternoon.
“That’s her, Daddy! That’s her!” an excited Colton Frazier said as he laid eyes on a small white and tan terrier mix.

Eight-year-old Colton Frazier, left, and his brother Cory Frazier, 6, right, are happy to have Rynnet, who was missing for more than three months, back home. The boys’ father, Timmy Frazier, said the Jack Russell-Fox Terrier mix is the smartest dog the family has ever owned.

“I looked for that dog every day,” an emotional Timmy Frazier, Colton’s father, said Wednesday after recognizing Rynnet, the family’s pet that had been missing from their home in Elkhart since March 9. Colton, who was Rynnet’s constant companion, was hurt and devastated when he realized his beloved dog was missing. Although the family had another dog, Rynnet and Colton were best friends, Frazier said.

“They did everything together,” Frazier said about Colton and Rynnet. “She slept in his room on his bed. They went squirrel hunting together all the time. Wherever he’d go, she’d go.” Not knowing if someone picked her up or if she just wandered away from home bothered Colton’s young mind.

“I prayed every night for her to come back home. My prayers have finally been answered,” he said as he stared at his long-lost friend standing in the middle of the parking lot at the Herald-Press. Ironically, the long overdue reunion was taking place outside the newspaper office where Timmy Frazier began his search for their dog in March.

As 8-year-old Colton kneeled and called her name, the Jack Russell-Fox Terrier mix stood frozen, a look of confusion on her face. After being away from home and apparently living on the streets for more than three months, the young dog was scared and untrusting. Instead of running toward Colton and Timmy Frazier, she kept backing away all the while watching the people who called her by name. For most of the afternoon, the Fraziers and a couple of volunteers tried to catch the skittish dog.

“I’ll stay out here all day if I have to until I catch her,” Frazier said. “You can’t replace Rynnet. She’s the smartest dog we’ve ever had.” At least now the family knew Rynnet was alive and well. In a matter of hours, she’d be home, they thought.

“I prayed every day,” Colton said again unable to take his eyes off Rynnet. “I knew she wasn’t dead. I knew she’d come home.”

A Long Way from Home

Rynnet’s long journey began in early March when Frazier went to the hospital for the birth of his fourth son with his wife Janie. His parents, Paul and Adell Frazier, stayed home to “dog sit” the family’s pets. Rynnet, who had been an inside pet, was let outside to relieve herself. When the Fraziers could not locate her 30 minutes later, they knew something was wrong.

Fearing the worst but trying to remain hopeful, Frazier placed a “lost dog” advertisement in the Herald-Press on March 9. The ad contained a picture of the 18-month-old dog the family had adopted four months earlier from BARC, the Humane Society animal shelter. After the ad ran multiple times, people started calling the family with information on the dog’s whereabouts.

“She was spotted at Cartmell (Home for Aged) looking through the windows,” Frazier said. “She was spotted behind the hospital, at the movie theater and other places.”

For more than three months, Rynnet walked the busy streets of Palestine. The spunky little dog also was spotted all over the downtown area including on Magnolia, Lacy, Elm, Mallard and other streets. For the past month at least, she rested her weary paws at the Herald-Press, sleeping underneath parked cars or sunning in the parking lot.

When severe afternoon storms drenched the area a few weeks ago, she found shelter nestled in the flower beds against the newspaper office. Some people who worked in the area would leave food and water out for her. Others suspected she lived nearby and was just roaming the streets.

Patience is a Virtue

As Wednesday afternoon turned into evening, efforts to catch Rynnet were suspended. The Fraziers did not want to scare her and cause her to run off. But Frazier had a plan. After all, they had waited for Rynnet for months, another night without her would be tolerable.

Thursday morning, Frazier talked with a local veterinarian who gave him a tranquilizer to mix in with some moist dog food hoping that Rynnet would eat it and her reflexes would be slowed enough to allow her capture.

Karen Martin, a Herald-Press employee who was instrumental in reuniting the dog with her family, put the sedative in the dog food and the unsuspecting Rynnet ate every bit of food. After the sedative kicked in, Martin, one of several Herald-Press employees who had befriended Rynnet, coaxed her to come toward her, allowing Frazier to sneak up behind her and capture her.

At first, the dog was terrified but as soon as Frazier called her name while holding her, she just relaxed in his arms. Surrounded by his sons and his parents, Frazier hugged the family pet, tears of joy running down his face. Those watching could do nothing but be touched by the moment.

“I think she was ready to go home,” Martin said.

Other than fleas, Rynnet seemed healthy; perhaps a couple of pounds heavier than her picture in the “lost dog” ad. She was taken to the animal shelter where she was dipped for fleas and then bathed. Frazier then noticed she had a cough and carried her to a local veterinarian’s office where she was checked out and treated for an upper respiratory infection. While there, she also received antibiotics, worm medicine and was checked to make sure she was not pregnant. “She’s going to be fixed on July 2, so we had to make sure she wasn’t pregnant,” Frazier said.

After hearing the tale of Rynnet’s three-month ordeal, the veterinarian said “she’s a little warrior,” a delighted Frazier stated.

Home at Last

“As soon as we pulled up in the yard at home, her ears went up,” Frazier said in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon. “It’s like she knew she was home. As soon as she got in her environment, her tail started wagging.”

There to welcome Rynnet was her best friend Colton and his brothers, 6-year-old Cory, 2-year-old Chase and 3-month-old Colby, in addition to the rest of the family. Rynnet seemed excited and happy to be surrounded by her family and to see the family’s other dog, a black Labrador.

“She acts like she never left,” Frazier said. “She’s laying in my lap right now. I’m so glad she’s home.

“As soon as I call her name, she comes and jumps in my arms and licks my nose. “It’s funny that she was found right where I started looking for her, at the newspaper office,” Frazier said.

One of the newspaper employees who watched the tearful reunion said, “It’s almost like she knew where to come to be found.”

A somber Frazier said that during the whole experience, he learned a big lesson from his oldest son.

“At times we thought she was dead and gone. But not Colton, he’d say ‘No Daddy, she’s not dead. God will answer my prayers,’” Frazier said.

“He (Colton) has taught me patience,” the father stated.

At last, the little boy with unwavering faith had his best friend back.

Source: Palestine Herald
http://www.palestineherald.com/homepage/local_story_174021303.html?keyword=leadpicturestory

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