Lucious, a sharpei mix

Dog's safe return brings joy to Burleson family
The Burleson Star
Posted 9/23/2009 02:46 pm

There is nothing like the feeling you get when you are able to reunite a lost dog with its anxious owners. Huguley Memorial Medical Center employee Sheri Pettit experienced this heart warming feeling several months ago when she helped to reunite Lucious, a frisky Sharpei mix, with the loving family who adopted him from the Humane Society of North Texas earlier this year.

Lucious a frisky, Sharpei mix was reunited with his loving owners Kym, right, and John Seals, left, after being lost for several weeks earlier this year.

Pettit’s friend Jennifer Szarek was volunteering at an adoption event at PetSmart in Burleson when a PetSmart employee who had seen the dog in the hospital parking lot came up to her and asked if she could do anything to help catch the dog because she feared it might get hit by a car. Szarek called her friend Andrea Kyle who she knew had some dog traps to see if she could help her catch the dog.

The dog became separated from the Seals family after their 6-year-old grandchild opened the front door and he escaped unexpectedly. The Seals conducted a thorough search for Lucious and even put out food and a jacket with their scent on it in hopes this would help him find his way home. Their search was unsuccessful and eventually Pettit discovered Lucious in the HMMC parking lot, but by then time had begun to take its toll and the weary canine was all skin and bones.

“When Sheri found him at Huguley he had a possible broken leg and she was feeding and watering him even though he would run from her,” former animal humane officer Andrea Kyle said. “Jennifer Szarek and I learned about Lucious from another good Samaritan, Natasha Vella, who worked at PetSmart and transports rescue dogs to adoptions at local PetSmart locations.”

Kyle and Szarek wanted desperately to help the ailing dog, so the trap they set up was humane and fully equipped with barbecue to entice the hungry animal, which was captured within minutes.

“Luckily, he was tagged with a 24 hour pet watch microchip and rabies tag, so we called the phone number listed, but it was disconnected,” Kyle explained. “The address was given and it just happened to be less than a mile away. When we took him home to his owners, Luscious wagged his whole body when he saw his mama and daddy. The tearful, happy owners were amazed that he was still alive because they were sure the bitter cold weather or coyotes had killed him.”

Since his return home, Lucious has recovered remarkably and after he arrived, Pettit made sure to take a special trip to PetSmart to thank Vella for her part in helping to rescue the lost dog.

“Lucious is pretty popular and when he was first rescued we were all crying because we were so happy that he was so loved and that he was tagged,” Kyle added. “His first night home, Lucious got a warm bath, enjoyed hot dogs for dinner and slept in his nice warm bed. The day after his rescue, the area suffered a pretty bad hail storm and we were all thinking about him as the hail came down and how lucky he was to be home in his own bed.”

Because so many people cared enough to offer assistance to a stray animal, Lucious celebrated his first birthday in June. Kyle encourages people to provide this type of assistance to stray animals whenever possible.

“When you see an animal in need, I encourage people to give it some food and water and call someone for help,” Kyle said. “If no one had fed that poor lost dog, he would not have survived to be reunited with his owners. His mom has rescued many dogs and she felt like she was rewarded with the safe return of Lucious.”

This experience was highly emotional for Szarek also and for this animal lover who makes her living working for a local veterinarian, there was never any question about whether or not she should try to help the injured dog.

“I would help any animal in need and Lucious’ case reconfirmed my belief in having your dog micro chipped,” Szarek said. “If Lucious had not been chipped and since he did not have a collar or other forms of identification on him, he may have never been returned to his owners. This was very emotional for everyone involved and we all cried out of joy. Lucious recognized his owners immediately.”

Source: http://www.burlesonstar.net/Index.asp?Story=1982