Hunter, JRT

Can you find the lesson in this story?  If your dog is lost, don't look only at the "dog found" ads on Craigslist. Look also at ads selling a dog, or "rehoming for a small fee".

Lost Wadsworth dog sold on Craigslist
May 06, 2009 16:25 PM

WADSWORTH -- A Wadsworth family is reunited with its little dog Hunter after a heart breaking three weeks of worry and searching.

Without some good "gumshoe" detective work by his owner, two-year-old Jack Russell, Hunter, may have been gone for good.

Hunter's adventure began at his front door, from which he escaped Easter Sunday.

"I actually got sick to my stomach because he is so a part of us. He's a part of our family," Hunter's owner Laurie Gordon said.

For three weeks, Gordon searched the streets, the neighborhood, even the internet for her missing dog.

Hunter ended up 20 miles down the road in the Village of Mogadore. He didn't get here by car or even on foot, but instead through the internet. It was a popular garage sale site called Craigslist.

Tony Hartman bought Hunter for $50 from a young couple who lied to him about the little dog's past.

"They were telling me the woman was actually pregnant and going to have a child and wouldn't have all the attention needed for the dog," Hartman said.

Hartman purchased the dog for his aging mother and step father who wanted companionship.

"We fell in love with the dog," Dorothy Hartman said.

Laurie also saw that Craigslist ad. While the name and age were different, this was definitely her dog.

"Instead of, 'I found a dog ad,' It was, 'I have a dog, I'm trying to find a home for a small fee,'" Laurie said.

Laurie confronted them. The couple admitted to snatching the runaway Hunter that Easter while visiting Gordon's neighbors. They admitted selling him to Dorothy.

"I had to give it back because I couldn't have slept at night knowing I had someone else's dog. It just wouldn't have been right," Hartman said.

Hunter is again behind his rightful front door, perhaps with plans of another escape.

Laurie has plans of her own. She's considering a new fence.

The Gordons are not filing charges against the young couple that picked up Hunter. Laurie hopes they learned their lesson about making a quick buck on the misery of others.

Source: http://m.wkyc.com/news.jsp?key=89754