Mollie, a chihuahua

Bremerton Dog Reunited With Owner After a Year
By Josh Farley
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

BREMERTON
About 2 pounds heavier and 1 year older, Mollie the Chihuahua is back in Bremerton.

Three-and-a-half-year-old Mollie vanished from a neighbor’s yard in September 2007 with only her leash left behind. The loss was devastating for Kathy Swanlund, who bought Mollie in Mexico. The dog became a companion to her husband, who died from an illness. But Swanlund had prepared for the possibility of Mollie going missing, and installing a microchip in her neck.

“I knew she’d turn up eventually,” she said. But it was not the way Swanlund — or anyone, really — had expected.

Mollie turned up in a Tacoma veterinary hospital last week, and the vet believed the dog had ingested methamphetamine. The man who brought her in was suspected by hospital staff to be high on meth, according to Bremerton Police reports. The vet induced vomiting and cleared her system of stimulants, then found that the dog had been apart from her owner for the past year.

A Tacoma man who had brought the dog to the vet said that he had merely taken the dog as payment on a debt, and that he had no idea that she was stolen. When police notified her, Swanlund said she didn’t want to press any charges.

“She just wanted her dog back,” officers said in reports.

Born in Mexico, the 12-ounce Mollie came to Washington with Swanlund, who wanted a companion for her husband, Paul Miller, who had fallen ill. The dog was a source of happiness for the couple.


But following Miller’s death, one day Swanlund heard Mollie bark from her neighbor Ron’s yard one time, and then she was gone.

Saddened, but hopeful that the microchip would help locate the dog eventually, Swanlund in the meantime placed an ad in the Kitsap Sun looking for a new Chihuahua. She soon received a call that one found in a trash bin in Viewcrest Village needed a home.

Millie, now 1½, was tan-colored just like Mollie, only with a white stripe down her forehead.

Mollie didn’t seem to take well to other dogs, so Swanlund had no idea how the dogs would get along if Mollie returned. After a call from the veterinarian’s office, she learned she would finally find out.

The office said they would report the matter to police, who would have to handle returning the dog. Swanlund waited.


“And waited and waited and waited,” she said. She called Bremerton Police on Sunday repeatedly, waiting to hear from an officer. Sgt. Wendy Davis took on the case. Davis got a hold of the man who claimed ownership of the dog. She told him that he was in possession of stolen property and that he needed to return the dog.

Davis stopped by Swanlund’s home on Sunday. The 58-year-old looked tired, Davis said.

“I think she’d been up about 24 hours after she got a call from the vet,” Davis said.

In a Denny’s parking lot, Mollie was exchanged between the Tacoma man and Swanlund. Few words were spoken, Swanlund said.

“You could tell he didn’t want to give her up,” she said, adding that conversations with the family since have ensured her that the dog was well taken care of.

Still, no one knows who stole the dog. Bremerton police detectives have the case for review.

Mollie weighs in at about 7½ pounds, and Swanlund said she’ll be putting her on a diet to put a dent in her pudgy tummy. Otherwise, she’s perfectly healthy.

Swanlund introduced Mollie to Millie. It seems there’s some working out left to do.

“I tried to get them to get along, but (Mollie) wasn’t having it,” Swanlund said.

Source: http://m.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/Sep/23/lost-for-a-year-chihuahua-reunited-with-owner