By Suzi Nelson
Published: Wednesday, August 5, 2009 4:15 AM CDT
World-Herald News Service
ASHLAND - A microchip and a stroke of luck led a dog back to its owner after more than eight years.
After more than eight years, Chip, a German shorthair pointer, was reunited with his original owner Joe Evans on Monday night at the Ashland Police Station. Pictured are (front row) Heath Evans; (back row) Derrick Schneckloth, Mandy Evans and Joe Evans.
The dog, ironically renamed Chip somewhere along the way, was reunited with his original owner at the Ashland Police Station Monday night.
The story starts in April 2001, when Ashland native Joe Evans went to the Nebraska Humane Society in Omaha to get a puppy. He found an energetic six-month-old German shorthair pointer and named him Luther.
"He caught my eye and I said, 'I've got to have him,'" Evans recalled.
A couple of months later Evans, a 1995 graduate of Ashland-Greenwood High School, was moving back to his hometown from Elkhorn. He asked a friend in Ashland to watch the dog during the move.
Evans got a call from his friend that Luther had gotten loose and had been hit by a car and was gone.
"I thought he was dead," he said. Given that news, Evans didn't think he'd ever see the dog again.
Here's where the story gets a little mysterious. It's hard to make heads or tails of Luther's whereabouts for the next couple of years. A man had found the dog running loose at Mahoney State Park near Ashland. He took the dog with him to Kansas City. But his wife didn't want the dog, so he gave Luther to man named Tracy.
Tracy moved back and forth a few times, finally landing in Lincoln, where his landlord would not allow dogs. He asked a friend to watch the dog, who by now had been named Chip.
That's how Chip made his way roundabout back to Ashland nearly four years ago. Derrick Schneckloth thought he was doing a friend a favor by keeping the dog for a few months, but Tracy moved again, and Schneckloth lost contact with him.
Chip fit in well in the Schneckloth household in Ashland, which included a boxer named DJ. Chip made himself comfortable every night on an old chair, his favorite place to sleep. He enjoyed going for rides in the car and especially liked it when Schneckloth took him to Wehrspann Lake in Omaha for walks.
Ironically, just a mile or so away lived Evans and his young family.
"We can see the lake from our house," Evans said.
Last weekend, Chip was on one of his beloved car rides when he got a little too excited and jumped out the window at 84th and Giles streets in Sarpy County. Schneckloth attempted to pull off the busy road and find the dog, but was not successful. He returned later that night and again the next day with no luck.
Once again, Chip was on the run. But this time, when he was found, the authorities realized he had a microchip implanted in his ear. When they scanned it, Evans name came up. However, they also saw the dog was licensed in Ashland, and through the city's records found Schneckloth.
Evans received a call he never thought he'd get.
"Out of the blue yesterday [Sunday] I get a voicemail on the answering machine that a guy found my German shorthair pointer," he said. "I almost didn't believe it."
Evans returned the call and when the man described the dog, he knew it was Luther. He still had the receipt from the Humane Society to prove the dog was his. He contacted the Saunders County Sheriff to see if he could locate the dog.
But Evans still couldn't fathom that his long lost dog had been found.
"I thought, even if it is him, who in the world would believe this story?" he said.
Meanwhile, authorities had also contacted the Ashland police to find Schneckloth. A note was placed on his door telling him the dog was in LaVista and Chip was brought back to Ashland.
When Engel informed Schneckloth that the original owner had been found, it wasn't easy to break the news.
"I said, 'I don't know how to explain this to you, but it's not your dog,'" Engel said. Schneckloth understood, and didn't hesitate to give Chip back to his original owner.
"In a way, it was kind of good. If anything happened to my Boston Terrier, I'd hope they'd do the same for me," he said.
Chip seemed to know Evans, even after more than eight years. He also remembered Mandy, who had moved in with Evans a month before they got the dog.
"He wagged his tail when he came up to [Evans]," said Engel. Mandy Evans was equally overwhelmed when she was reunited with Chip.
"You don't know how much this means," she told Schneckloth. And 7-year-old Heath, who was born well after Chip disappeared, seemed pretty excited to have a new member of the family.
The Evans family asked Schneckloth many questions about Chip's habits, food preferences and health information. He warned them that Chip has gotten loose a couple of times over the years and that he likes to run.
"We've got a pretty good-sized back yard," said Evans.
When it was time to say goodbye, Schneckloth grew emotional, but kept it in check to make sure Chip didn't sense something was wrong. After posing for pictures and a brief goodbye from DJ, Chip climbed into the backseat of the Evans' vehicle with Heath, and was off to meet his new "sibling," a rat terrier named Baby, and start a new life with his new, but not new family.
Chip's first night with the Evans went surprisingly well, Mandy reported on Tuesday morning.
"When we got home, it was like he never left," she said.
Chip slept on a blanket near their bed, and woke Joe up to go outside very early, one the habits Schneckloth warned them about.
Their family seems complete now, Mandy said.
"We couldn't be happier."
In Chip's life, he made a lot of stops along the way, but it seemed his fate was also tied to Ashland. HBut, having started his journey in Ashland, then ending up back there and finally being reunited with his original owners there, he somehow always returned home to Ashland.
Source:
http://www.nptelegraph.com/articles/2009/08/05/news/state/60003760.txt
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