Posted By TONY RICCIUTO Review Staff Writer
Posted 17 hours ago
Chaz, the dog that ran away from home and was mistakenly adopted out by the Niagara Falls Humane Society, is home for the holidays. And, he's expected to be spoiled rotten this Christmas.
The Chojnicki family from Welland has been reunited with their dog, Chaz, who went missing from their six-acre rural home on Aug. 24.
The dog was picked up the next day, but the humane society failed to check the dog's ear for an identification tattoo and it eventually ended up being adopted by John "Ringo" Beam's family in Niagara Falls.
Both families wanted the dog and were prepared to fight for ownership. The Chojnicki family had the dog for five years, while the Beam family, had it for nearly three months.
Beam's 12-year-old son, Johnny, had bonded with the new dog, which he named Vincent. It was his first dog and he was reluctant to give it up.
Fortunately, the two sides were able to resolve this problem before it ended up in Small Claims Courts.
On the weekend, the Beam family returned the dog to the Niagara Falls Humane Society where it was later picked by members of the Chojnicki family.
"Thank you very much to so many people that have been calling and sending emails," said Lena Chojnicki. "In my heart, I thought we might not get him back, but when it all came through it was so nice."
After the story appeared in the Review, a Facebook group was started and more than 1,200 people posted their opinions and comments about the story. And, more that 300 people from around the globe signed an online petition to have the dog returned to the Welland family.
"He's been gone so long, but he hasn't forgotten anything. Dogs are amazing animals," said Lena, noting one of the first things Chaz did after getting home was go looking for their cat, Lloyd, which he licks and plays with on a daily basis.
Her husband, Ted, said the family never really lost hope. They kept looking and it eventually paid off when their one son noticed the dog up for adoption on the Niagara Falls Humane Society website. Unfortunately, the website had not been updated and Chaz had already been adopted.
The humane society acknowledged an error was made in this case.
The three Chojnicki boys, Adrian, 21, Justis, 23, and Alex, 25, said they are just glad to have their dog back and it was never their intention to hurt any members of the Beam family.
"There's a lot of animal lovers out there, that's for sure," said Alex, commenting on the number of people who pledged their support. "Chaz hasn't changed a bit. He was pretty excited when he saw us and he hasn't stopped smiling. It's unfortunate what had to happen, but we're just happy with the outcome."
Adrian said they had no idea what to expect once the Facebook group was started. At best, they thought one or two hundred people might respond so they were really surprised when it passed the 1,200 mark.
"It was really crazy. It seems like every body wanted to get involved and it just spread," said Adrian. "We just wanted to get Chaz back home, that was our only intention."
A family from Fort Erie contacted the Review after reading the stories and have offered the Beam family a 15-month-old dog, the same kind as Chaz, a husky and German shepherd mix, if they would like to have it for free. The family has two dogs and they need to find a home for their younger dog.
The information has been passed along to the Beam family.
Source: http://www.nfreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2231459
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